Taiwan’s enterprise AI deployment leads the world! Investment return lags behind South Korea, survey reveals "1 key"

Dun & Bradstreet, an American company, announced today (4th) the "Taiwan Enterprise AI Momentum Index" survey for the fourth quarter of 2026. The results show that Taiwanese enterprises are leading the world in AI deployment progress. 78% of Taiwanese enterprises surveyed have passed the AI ​​planning or pilot stage, which is higher than the global figure of 64%.

According to a Dun & Bradstreet survey, the pace of AI introduction among Taiwanese companies continues to accelerate. At present, only 1% of the companies surveyed have not launched any AI-related plans, 21% are still in the planning or trial stage, 40% have entered large-scale introduction, another 29% have integrated AI into multiple core business processes, and 9% have adopted agent AI (Agentic AI) workflows.

Further observing the maturity of AI, 64% of the global companies surveyed have passed the planning or pilot stage, and 78% in Taiwan. Among them, 38% of Taiwanese companies have entered operational or agent-based AI workflows, higher than the global 27%, indicating that some companies are expanding AI from single-point applications to core business and daily operations.

In terms of AI investment benefits, 27% of Taiwanese companies surveyed have achieved extensive or significant investment returns, which is similar to the global level of 28%. However, further looking at the Asian market, although AI deployment in Taiwan and South Korea has entered a more mature stage, 44% of the companies surveyed in South Korea have expressed that they have achieved extensive or significant returns on AI investment, which is higher than Taiwan's 27%.

What exactly is the key to AI investment return? American business firm Dun & Bradstreet pointed out that "data readiness" is the key to improving the efficiency of AI investment. The survey shows that currently only about 9% of Taiwanese companies surveyed said that their corporate information is fully ready, and 57% are still partially ready, lowly ready, or not yet ready.

The corporate information readiness index also dropped from 70 in the second quarter to 62 in this quarter. During the same period, the AI ​​investment return index dropped from 63 to 51, reflecting that as companies expand their AI applications, there is still room for improvement in data foundation and value realization.

Looking further, 77% of the Taiwanese companies surveyed that have fully prepared their corporate data have achieved extensive or significant returns on AI investment; the figure for those whose data is only partially ready is 13%, highlighting the connection between data readiness and AI investment benefits.

Bao Wen'an, Executive Vice President of Global Business Operations and Transformation and General Manager of Dun & Bradstreet in Taiwan, said: "Taiwanese companies are advancing AI into production and operating environments faster than most markets, but what is important is whether these deployments can truly translate into business returns. The survey shows that the proportion of companies with fully prepared data that has achieved extensive or significant returns on AI investment is nearly six times that of companies with only partially ready data, highlighting the importance of data in creating substantial value for AI."

He believes that the future competitiveness of Taiwanese enterprises does not lie in adding more pilots, but in establishing a trustworthy, connectable and suitable data foundation for AI use, coupled with a sound technical architecture, governance and risk management mechanism, to transform AI into sustainable and scalable business value.