SINGAPORE — Tech giant IBM said Asia-Pacific is positioned to lead the next phase of enterprise artificial intelligence as organizations shift from isolated AI projects to operating AI across their businesses, underpinned by digital sovereignty, hybrid cloud and quantum computing. Enterprises are entering a new phase in which AI becomes part of core business operations rather than a productivity tool. The company outlined an AI operating model built around intelligence, action, operations and trust, while unveiling new AI, data and quantum technologies and regional collaborations, IBM executives said at the IBM THINK on Tour Singapore on July 21 at the Marina Bay Sands Expo & Convention Center. “Asia-Pacific is uniquely positioned to be a leader in the race to AI-first enterprises,” said Hans Dekkers, general manager, IBM Asia-Pacific. “The region is already navigating the realities of fragmented regulations, data sovereignty requirements, and complex hybrid environments at scale. By treating this complexity as a strategic advantage, and building AI that is sovereign by design, organizations here are setting the global benchmark for how trusted AI is governed and scaled.” Dekkers compared the rise of agentic AI to previous technological shifts involving personal computers, the internet and smartphones, saying enterprises will need to redesign how they operate. “The next chapter is already unfolding, which is the era of agents,” he said. “We will have a multitude of agents working alongside us in our normal lives, but also on the enterprise side.” He said organizations that fail to modernize their operating models risk falling behind as AI increasingly influences business decisions and workflows. “And together with a lot of our clients, we’ve been working on a playbook — the definitive playbook on how to do this for the enterprise,” Dekkers said, describing IBM’s framework of intelligence, action, operations and trust as the foundation