12/01/2026

BIZ & FINANCE MONDAY | JAN 12, 2026

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O RGANISATIONS in Asia Pacific (Apac) enter the new year with a sharper focus than ever before as they shift from trying emerging technolo gies to transforming with them. Leaders have moved past experi mentation and are now focused on how to operationalise them res ponsibly, at scale and with measurable returns – embedding AI into the core of their digital platforms. The AI era is moving towards specialisation, and organisations want systems that are tuned to their industries, data and operational realities. They also want the freedom to run these workloads wherever it makes most sense: be it on-premises, in the cloud or at the edge. This combination of specialised intel ligence and architectural flexibility is what I believe will shape the defining trends of 2026. AI becomes practical – and fit-for purpose models will take centre stage If 2023 to 2025 was defined by the excitement of generative AI, 2026

Five forces shaping Apac’s AI-driven future this year

stock surged 8.6%. Meanwhile, Dufu warrants attracted significant interest, with over 100 million units traded and a turnover of RM12.8 million, riding the bullish momentum in the Bursa Malaysia Technology Index, which gained 6.06%. Dufu itself advanced 13% for the week, reinforcing strong sentiment in the tech space. To view the full list of structured warrants available on Bursa Malaysia, visit malaysiawarrants.com.my. Provided for Malaysian residents’ information only. This commentary has not been reviewed by the Securities Commission Malaysia. It is not an offer or recommendation to trade and is not research material. Past performance is not indicative of future performance. You should make your own assessment and seek professional advice. The warrants will not be offered to any US persons. vendor selection and skill priorities. Enterprises will seek open, trust worthy solutions that allow them to examine how models are built, how data is used and how decisions are made. In regulated industries like financial services, these capabilities will become non-negotiable. Skills, communities and colla boration become the real acce lerators No transformation happens without people. The demand for cloud native, AI and cybersecurity talent continues to outpace supply across Asia-Pacific, and in 2026 the gap will only widen unless organisations invest in a skills-first approach to build, operate and optimise modern digital systems. Open source communities will play a central role in this shift. They provide shared knowledge, trans parency and a global ecosystem rooted in collaboration. Tools and frameworks are also made available to everyone, instead of just a few. As more enterprises contribute back to these communities – by building on ideas quickly and responsibly – Asia Pacific will strengthen its position in digital innovation, not just as a consumer but increasingly as a creator. The right model, in the right environment, on the right archi tecture will define the next era of enterprise AI. The success of agentic AI will hinge not only on powerful models, but on the infrastructure, governance, and skills that support them. In 2026, openness, flexibility, and collaboration will remain the principles that help organisations move from potential to real, measurable outcomes. With no single model suited to every enter prise context, open source will continue to underpin the freedom and innovation needed to build what comes next. This article is contributed by Red Hat Malaysia country manager Tammy Tan (pic).

connecting enterprise application platforms with cloud-based AI accelerators, giving organisations a more seamless way to operationalise AI at scale. By pairing flexible platforms with specialised computing, enterprises can accelerate the shift from pilots to producing measurable business impact. Virtualisation evolves to meet the demands of AI-era workloads AI is reshaping how enterprises think about infrastructure. Traditional virtualisation approaches, built for predictable and uniform workloads, are now being stretched by the needs of modern AI – which demand higher performance, lower latency and far more flexibility. In 2026, enterprises will in creasingly adopt virtualisation strategies that bring together virtual machines, containers and specialised compute under a single operational model. This helps platform teams modernise at their own pace while supporting both existing applications and new AI-driven workloads. The result is an infrastructure foundation that is flexible enough to run traditional applications and intel ligent systems side by side – without sacrificing governance or control. Hybrid cloud becomes the default architecture for modern AI As AI models increasingly rely on real-time data, distributed systems and specialised computing re sources, enterprises need archi tectures that allow them to run workloads as close to their data as possible while still main taining scalability and resi lience. The demands of AI require the hybrid cloud. And in 2026, hybrid cloud will solidify its position as the standard operating model for intelligent enterprise systems. Organisations will prioritise platforms that help them maintain control over sensitive workloads on-premises, scale using

In financial services in particular, fit-for-purpose AI can help automate complex, high-volume processes such as client onboarding, trans action monitoring and fraud analysis – areas that remain heavily manual today. For institutions under mounting regulatory and operational pressure, specialised AI systems offer a clearer path to improving accuracy, reducing cost, and strengthening risk manage ment. Business leaders will need to rethink their infrastructure strategies to support more diverse and demanding AI workloads. We will see growing

public cloud capabilities, and bring intelligence closer to where data is generated at the edge. For financial institutions, the hybrid cloud model is especially critical. Sensitive and regulated workloads must remain on-premises, while AI-driven analytics often require the elasticity and specialised compute of public cloud environments. This balance is becoming foundational for FSI firms modernising their risk, compliance and customer systems. This reflects a broader industry truth: there will not be one place where AI runs. Enterprises that design environments capable of running AI anywhere will be best positioned to capture its value. Governance frameworks reshape digital strategy across Asia-Pacific As AI adoption accelerates, governance will become one of the most defining forces shaping digital strategy in Asia-Pacific. Stronger governance frameworks will in fluence how AI is adopted across the region. Organisations want systems with greater security, transparency, and alignment with local regulations – and increasingly expect their technology platforms to support these requirements across hybrid and multicloud environments. Financial services will play an outsized role in shaping these standards. With stringent require ments around auditability, trace ability and model behaviour, FSI organisations are already setting the benchmark for responsible AI adoption – creating patterns that other industries are likely to follow. These guardrails are not slowing innovation – they are enabling it. In 2026, enterprises will increasingly prioritise AI systems that can be audited, monitored and governed across hybrid environments, en suring that decisions remain traceable and models behave as expected. This governance shift will also influence architectural choices,

interest in unified inference layers that can support a wide range of AI

will be defined by its practicality. In the last two years, we have gone from proving AI’s potential to proving its value in meeting specific business needs. A recent IDC study found that 70% of Asia Pacific organisations

models without compromising performance and cost effi ciency. At the same time, there is strong momentum a r o u n d

expect agentic AI to disrupt their business models within the next 18 months. Enterprises are beginning to realise that the future of AI lies not in models that attempt to do

everything, but in specialised, right sized and ex plainable systems designed for speci fic industries and workflows. This shift aligns with another IDC pre

diction: by 2027, 40% of organisations will use custom sili con, including ARM processors or AI/ML specific chips, to meet rising demands for per formance optimisation, cost efficiency and specialised computing.

Bull versus bear – HSI issues lead turnover in both directions

“Donroe Doctrine” following the capture of then Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro in a US military operation. Against this backdrop, the HSI started the week on a muted note on Monday and subsequently posted a 1.3% gain on Tuesday before reversing course midweek and closing 0.7% lower. Trading activity in HSI warrants was mixed, with both bullish and bearish positions seeing strong participation. Overall, HSI warrant turnover surged more than 200% week-on-week. The most actively traded call warrant was HSI-CWML, with 411 million units changing hands, while the top put warrant, HSI PWNP, recorded 206 million units traded. Momentum was also evident in Hong Kong stock warrants, which saw turnover climb 42.8% compared to the previous week. The standout

Top stock warrants by volume traded: Warrant Volume Issuer Exercise

WARRANTS WATCH

Expiry date

STRUCTURED warrants in Malaysia started 2026 on stronger footing, with total turnover reaching RM520.4 million last week, a sharp 127% increase from the previous week’s RM229.4 million. This surge aligned with expectations as it was a shorter trading period in the week prior due to the New Year’s Day holiday. As is often the case, warrants linked to the Hang Seng Index (HSI) were the most popular, contributing 49.6% of total turnover, while warrants over Malaysian stocks followed closely with RM207.8 million, accounting for 40% of overall turnover. Last week, global investors navigated geopolitical developments, most notably the US administration’s implementation of the so-called

name

(mil) 411.0 206.3 118.8 105.7 82.7

level

HSI-CWML HSI-PWNP HSI-CWMQ HSI-PWNJ HSI-CWM7

Kenanga Macquarie Macquarie Kenanga Macquarie

30,000 26,000 28,000 23,000 28,000

26 Feb 2026 29 Jan 2026 29 Jan 2026 26 Feb 2026 26 Feb 2026

Nvidia’s H200 AI chips for commercial use as early as this quarter, with Alibaba reportedly planning to purchase over 200,000 units to power its large language models and compete with US AI leaders such as OpenAI. On the domestic front, warrants over Malaysian stocks recorded an 88% week-on-week increase in turnover, led by Sunway Construction and Dufu Technology. SUNCON-C54 saw 16.1 million units traded as the

performer were warrants over Alibaba Group, contributing 5.4% of total warrant turnover, with call ALIBABA C49 and put ALIBABA-H1G being the top traded warrants over Alibaba. The group’s shares began the week on a strong note but surrendered gains over the next three days before rebounding on Friday, trimming losses to a 1.7% decline for the week. The late-week rally followed a Bloomberg report that Beijing is preparing to approve imports of