Steve Brazier, Informa Fellow and Co-founder of Canapii, highlighted the unprecedented pace of artificial intelligence adoption during the opening session of Canalys Forums APAC 2025 held on December 3 in Danang, Vietnam. Speaking in the session titled Opportunity in Uncertainty, he said AI is the fastest technology ever adopted, with 4 to 5 percent of users already converting into paying customers. According to him, consumers show a clear willingness to pay for premium AI services, signaling a strong commercial foundation for the next wave of AI growth.
AI Platforms Lead the Next Technology Wave
Steve Brazier presented a chart tracking the rapid expansion of major AI platforms. Companies such as OpenAI, Gemini, Microsoft, Perplexity, Deepseek, and Anthropic are experiencing steep growth curves due to rising customer adoption and enterprise integration of AI services. These companies are accelerating innovation cycles and competing aggressively to build broader platforms that reach both consumer and business markets.
Hyperscalers Commit Massive Capex for AI Infrastructure
A major highlight of his presentation was the scale of investment by hyperscale companies in AI infrastructure. Total capital expenditure commitments reached 616 billion dollars in 2025. Out of this, AWS, Google, Meta, and Microsoft accounted for 361 billion dollars.
These investments directly support the expansion of data centers, GPU clusters, and next generation cloud platforms essential for training and deploying advanced AI models. Brazier noted that such spending reflects the global race to secure AI leadership and build long term competitive advantage.
Rising Investment in Sovereign AI and Neoclouds
The session also covered the growing focus on localized and specialized cloud ecosystems. Sovereign AI spending is expected to reach 75 billion dollars, driven by government initiatives around data control, national security, and domestic technology development.
Neocloud providers, which offer alternative cloud architectures optimized for AI and high performance workloads, will contribute 181 billion dollars in spending. These providers are becoming important partners for enterprises seeking flexibility beyond traditional hyperscalers.
Canalys Forums APAC 2025 Brings Leading Analysts and Industry Executives
The opening session brought together senior industry analysts and technology leaders to examine how organizations can navigate shifting market conditions. The forum features perspectives from:
Aditya George, Research Analyst, Omdia;
Foong Chee Ngiem, Asia Channel Partner Marketing Leader, Microsoft;
Heather Gordon, Chief Partner Officer, Asia, Microsoft;
Jaideep Malhotra, President, Asia Pacific and Japan, TD SYNNEX;
Jimmy Go, President, Philippines, VST ECS;
Jonathan Ong, Senior Analyst, Omdia;
Lindsay Zwart, EVP and GM APAC, Pax8;
Mark Iles, Chief Analyst, APAC Channels, Omdia;
Matthew Ball, Chief Analyst, Omdia;
Maxine Holt, Vice President, Enterprise and Channel Research, Omdia;
Nicole Peng, VP Research, Consumer, Omdia;
Rachel Brindley, Senior Director, Channels, Omdia;
Rachel Lashford, Senior Director, Marketing, Omdia;
Raghavendran Balasubramaniam, CSO, Redington;
Ravi Bharadwaj, Vice President, Partner Ecosystem, Asia Pacific, Japan and Greater China, Dell Technologies;
Sheena Wee, Principal Analyst, Omdia;
Steve Brazier, Informa Fellow and Co-founder, Canapii;
Tim Dillon, Chief Analyst, Omdia;
Trevor Clarke, Chief Analyst, Enterprise IT and Channels, Omdia.
Their combined insights will shape the forum’s deep dive into market opportunities, technology disruption, and strategies for navigating a period of uncertainty across the global technology and channel ecosystem.
The strong emphasis on AI adoption, hyperscaler investments, and cloud transformation underscores the shift toward a technology landscape driven by intelligence, scale, and continuous innovation.
Baburajan Kizhakedath
