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10/13/25, 11:03 AM Red Hat Survey: UAE Organisations Prepare for Widespread AI Adoption and Upskilling - Middle East Business News and Inform…
Red Hat Survey: UAE Organisations Prepare for

Widespread AI Adoption and Upskilling

October 12, 2025

71% of UAE businesses agree the UAE is a global AI powerhouse

UAE organisations plan to boost AI investment by nearly a third by 2026 on average (31%),

but over 90% of respondents say their organisation is not yet delivering customer value
from AI

76% agree there is an urgent AI skills gap, with agentic AI skills most in demand (57%)

70% say that they are experiencing a “shadow AI” problem

98% of respondents agree they experience barriers in adopting AI technologies.

Respondents unanimously agreed that open source is crucial to cost optimisation and
virtualisation.

Red Hat, Inc., the world’s leading provider of open source solutions, today announced new
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survey results highlighting the prominence of AI for UAE organisations’ IT strategies . The
findings reveal UAE organisations anticipate boosting AI investment by an average of 31% by
2026 2

Advertise here.

When asked about their organisation’s IT strategy for the next 18 months, AI is one of the top-
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ranked priorities among 82% of respondents, along with security (83 %), followed by cost
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optimisation (81% ), and sovereignty (76% ).
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However, 96% of organisations surveyed report they are not yet driving customer value from
their AI investments.

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