RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. -- Enterprises have moved decisively from AI pilots to scaled implementations, driven by proven benefits and expectations of significant financial returns, according to Lenovo CIO Playbook 2026 with research insights by IDC. Nearly half (46%) of AI proof-of-concepts have already progressed into production, with some organizations projecting returns of $2.79 for every dollar invested.

AI is now recognized as a core engine of business reinvention and competitive advantage. However, there is a clear overconfidence problem among CIOs. While 60% of organizations are in late-stage AI adoption, only 27% have a comprehensive AI governance framework. Further limitations in data quality, in-house expertise, integration complexity, and organizational alignment are causing a mismatch between ambition and readiness.

With Agentic AI overtaking Generative AI as the top priority for CIOs in 2026, these factors will prevent many organizations from fully capitalizing on AI’s potential, leaving significant returns unrealized. Three in five (60%) surveyed stated that they are more than 12 months away from being ready to scale Agentic AI across their operations, and only 21% report significant usage today, with the majority still piloting or actively exploring use cases.

Released today, the fourth annual global Lenovo CIO Playbook, entitled The Race for Enterprise AI, draws on insights from 3,120 IT and business decision makers in key markets around the world. It captures a global inflection point and reinforces the value proposition for enterprise AI as both real and immediate, calling on CIOs to act now to avoid lagging competitors. The research marks a clear shift from AI experimentation to measurable value creation, with nearly all (96%) of those surveyed planning to increase AI investments in the next 12 months at an average growth rate of 13%, and 93% anticipating positive returns.

“Organizations are putting intelligence to work across the enterprise, but too many are doing so without the skills, governance, and readiness needed to scale,” said Ken Wong, President, Solutions & Services Group, Lenovo. “As AI priorities shift toward Agentic AI, the next phase will not reward experimentation - it will reward those able to operationalize AI across hybrid environments with trust and scale built in. Lenovo helps organizations move beyond pilots, unifying infrastructure, platforms, and services to turn AI ambition into real, measurable outcomes.”

Hybrid AI Now Preferred Enterprise Architecture

The research shows real-world business and financial considerations - ensuring data privacy, implementing advanced security strategies, and flexibility to customize and optimize infrastructure - are driving the continued rise of hybrid AI, an operating model that blends public cloud, private cloud, and on-premises compute. Nearly two thirds (62%) now prefer hybrid as their primary AI deployment model.

Infrastructure efficiency is a top success factor (21%), specifically high-performing, scalable, and energy-efficient AI compute ranks among the top five enablers of AI success.

“CIOs are entering a decisive new phase of AI adoption, where Agentic AI and enterprise-scale inferencing are rapidly moving from experimentation to business priority,” said Ashley Gorakhpurwalla, President, Infrastructure Solutions Group, Lenovo. “The upside is enormous—driving efficiency, automation, and productivity—but most organizations are not ready to operate AI at scale. Success depends on the right foundation: secure, energy-efficient infrastructure, flexible hybrid architectures, and governance that builds trust. At Lenovo, we’re helping enterprises move beyond pilots to deliver reliable, scalable AI outcomes—wherever the data lives.”

With AI PCs and edge endpoints central to an effective Hybrid AI strategy and securely running AI workloads locally, deploying AI-capable devices has emerged as the top IT investment priority for 2026.

“AI is scaling faster than ever, but CIOs are telling us the same thing: Trust and readiness remain the biggest barriers to unlocking real enterprise value. As hybrid AI becomes the architecture of choice and data sovereignty moves to the top of the board agenda, organizations need absolute confidence that intelligence can extend securely from the cloud all the way to the device,” said Luca Rossi, President, Intelligent Devices Group, Lenovo. “This year’s research makes it clear that AI devices and edge endpoints are now the frontline of enterprise AI in powering every employee, securing workflows, and putting intelligence exactly where work happens. When combined with the right infrastructure and services, this end-to-end approach gives enterprises what they’ve been asking for: a way to innovate confidently, responsibly, and at scale.”

Lenovo recently introduced Lenovo Agentic AI, a full-lifecycle enterprise solution for creating, deploying, and managing AI agents, alongside Lenovo xIQ, a suite of AI-native platforms designed to simplify and operationalize AI across the enterprise. Built on the Lenovo Hybrid AI Advantage™, these offerings combine hybrid infrastructure, platforms, and services to address governance, integration, and performance from day one. Supported by the Lenovo AI Library of proven use cases, CIOs can reduce risk, accelerate time-to-value, and scale AI initiatives with greater confidence as they move beyond experimentation.

To further enable real-world deployment, Lenovo ThinkSystem and ThinkEdge inferencing servers help enterprises turn trained models into production-ready, low-latency AI applications across data center, cloud, and edge environments. By enabling faster, more efficient inference at scale, Lenovo helps CIOs bridge the gap between AI ambition and day-to-day business impact.

Building on this end-to-end AI foundation, Lenovo’s Smarter AI for All vision is focused on bringing AI to more people and businesses at scale, from enterprise infrastructure to AI PCs that deliver intelligent, personalized experiences directly to users. As outlined at Lenovo Tech World at CES 2026, Lenovo is advancing this vision across its AI PC and smartphone portfolio, with Lenovo and Motorola Qira representing one example of how personal AI can enhance productivity by understanding context across devices and helping users get things done.