AI infrastructure is now a board-level concern, not just IT's problem
AI infrastructure has moved beyond the IT department and into the executive suite. Heo Cheol-hoe, head of STT GDC Korea, said infrastructure decisions now determine whether companies can compete. Without the right foundation, even strong AI strategies fail.
STT GDC surveyed 644 companies across six Asian countries to measure how ready they are for AI workloads. The results show most firms are nowhere near prepared.
Most companies are stuck in early stages
The research classified companies into four readiness stages: exploring, building, integrating, and leading. Only 1 percent have reached the leading stage, where AI generates measurable business advantage.
Across all respondents, 12 percent were exploring, 71 percent building, and 16 percent integrating. South Korea performed better than the regional average-30 percent of Korean companies are in the integrating stage and 2 percent in the leading stage-but the global picture remains one of early adoption.
Heo said companies have started using AI, but very few have integrated it into operations to build actual competitive edge.
Budget and measurement problems block progress
Fifty-six percent of companies struggle with budget constraints and difficulty measuring return on investment. These aren't technical issues-they're business problems that require executive attention.
Infrastructure gaps are worse. AI workloads are expected to jump 72 percent over the next three years, but computing, storage, and network capacity aren't keeping pace. Eighty-two percent of companies hit network bottlenecks.
Buying GPUs alone doesn't solve the problem. Companies need integrated planning across workload environments, operational expertise, and governance.
Three questions separate leaders from the rest
Heo identified three characteristics shared by companies that reach the leading stage. They design infrastructure as distributed rather than centralized. They build sustainability and energy efficiency into initial designs. And they use strategic partnerships to create flexible scaling.
He also outlined the three questions executives must answer to move up a stage:
- Where will you build it?
- How will you operate it?
- Who will operate it?
The answers matter more than the technology itself. Competitiveness comes from infrastructure choices, operational capability, and the strategy built on top of them.
Speed creates a structural problem
Building infrastructure takes 12 to 18 months. AI technology changes every 6 to 9 months. That mismatch leaves companies adding physical capacity while the technology they're building for shifts underneath them.
Korean companies face this acutely. They rank security and stability highest when selecting infrastructure, but lack skilled personnel and operational capability to scale. They rank third globally in AI models held and first in AI patents per capita, yet struggle to move past the building stage.
For executives, the lesson is clear: infrastructure is strategy. The companies pulling ahead aren't those with the best algorithms-they're the ones that planned infrastructure decisions as business decisions, not IT decisions.
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