Asia-Pacific AI agent market to surge 14-fold to US$11.2 billion by 2030, Omdia says

By 2030, the Asia-Pacific AI agent software market is projected to surge 14-fold, reaching a value of US$11.2 billion, according to research firm Omdia. This growth is driven by the increasing adoption of automated tools by Chinese tech companies across office and industrial operations. As of 2023, the regional market revenue is estimated at US$782 million, with AI agents accounting for 12.3% of AI software revenue, up from 1.7% in the same period.

These AI agents leverage models to autonomously plan and execute multi-step tasks, such as data analysis, report writing, and software operations. China aims to have more than 70% of its next-generation intelligent devices and agents deployed by 2027, and 90% by 2030, under its "AI Plus" initiative. Leading Chinese tech firms, including Alibaba Group Holding and Tencent Holdings, are accelerating the deployment of AI agents to capture growing market adoption.

Alibaba has unveiled AgentCore, an enterprise platform for building, running, and managing AI agents, while Tencent is expanding its WorkBuddy agent workspace capable of editing various documents and connecting to external services. Moody's Ratings predicts that Chinese tech giants' combined capital spending on AI will more than double to about US$140 billion this year, with cloud services remaining the primary monetization channel.

However, intense price competition and limited cloud infrastructure resources in China may hinder further AI infrastructure expansion. Omdia chief analyst Su Lian Jye emphasized the importance of maximizing return on investment by assessing the value of AI's output and matching tasks with appropriate models.