If you’ve followed my work for a while, you know I care deeply about three things: open source, hybrid cloud and data. So when we had the opportunity to survey nearly 600 enterprise technology leaders across the U.S., UK, Japan, India and Germany on how AI is reshaping infrastructure priorities, I had to see it firsthand.
The results are in, and they confirm something I’ve been hearing from customers and partners for months: the “public-cloud-first” era is maturing into something more intentional and governed, and AI is not surprisingly on everyone’s minds.
I’ll be diving deeper into these takeaways during a TechStrong webinar on April 8th. Until then, here are some of the highlights of what we found.
AI is reshaping IT budgets at the infrastructure level
Globally, implementing AI ranked as either a critical (24%) or major (37%) challenge for enterprise technology leaders. AI is the top budget priority line item in four of the five surveyed countries. Yet despite the urgency, many organizations are realizing their existing infrastructure wasn’t built to support AI at scale.
We’re seeing a significant re-architecting of how and where workloads run. Enterprises are demanding more granular control over their cloud infrastructures. Maybe not surprising, but it is interesting to see how AI prioritization and investment are aligned, or not.
Hybrid cloud and multi-cloud are becoming the default
Across every geography we surveyed, hybrid and multi-cloud are emerging as the go-to models. Organizations need to support regulated, sensitive and edge workloads without sacrificing flexibility. 59% of respondents plan to prioritize hybrid cloud deployments for workloads where digital sovereignty is required, with 16% relying purely on private cloud. Over half plan to increase spending on scaling across multiple cloud environments.
We also confirmed that digital sovereignty is no longer just a European concern. In the U.S., where data protection and control are increasingly urgent, nearly a third of respondents cited digital sovereignty as a top tech priority this year.
39% of U.S. enterprises expressed concern about vendor lock-in, outpacing the global average of 25%. To me, that’s a call for choice. We need to build infrastructure that adapts as your environment changes.
IT resilience is the new baseline
U.S. respondents cited IT resilience as their most important technological priority at a rate higher than any other country: 64% compared to a global average of 55%. Whether it’s trying to optimize existing infrastructure, implement AI, or modernize existing applications, resilience becomes a core infrastructure requirement.
The data we collected at SUSE makes one thing clear: organizations are moving toward open, interoperable environments that give them long-term control. It’s why we’ve planned SUSECON 2026 around this theme of resilience.
Join us on April 8, 2026, to go deeper
These findings are just the beginning of the story. On April 8, I’ll be co-hosting a live webinar with Alan Shimel, Founder and CEO of Techstrong Group. You’ll hear us talk through the full global benchmark data, dig into regional differences and discuss what these shifts mean for your 2026 strategy.
I’d love for you to join the conversation.
Register to attend The 2026 IT Investment Benchmark: Navigating Sovereignty, AI and Resilience
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Facts Only
A survey of nearly 600 enterprise technology leaders was conducted across the U.S., UK, Japan, India, and Germany.
AI implementation is a top budget priority in four of the five surveyed countries.
24% of respondents cited AI as a critical challenge, and 37% as a major challenge.
Many organizations recognize their existing infrastructure is inadequate for scaling AI.
Hybrid and multi-cloud models are becoming the default for enterprises.
59% of respondents plan to prioritize hybrid cloud deployments for workloads requiring digital sovereignty.
16% of respondents rely purely on private cloud.
Over half of the respondents plan to increase spending on scaling across multiple cloud environments.
Digital sovereignty is a top tech priority for nearly a third of U.S. respondents.
39% of U.S. enterprises expressed concern about vendor lock-in, compared to a global average of 25%.
IT resilience is the most important technological priority for U.S. enterprises, with 64% emphasizing it compared to a global average of 55%.
A live webinar on April 8, 2026, will discuss the full global benchmark data and regional differences.
Executive Summary
Full Take
The strongest version of this narrative highlights a clear shift in enterprise IT priorities, driven by the need to integrate AI, ensure digital sovereignty, and maintain resilience. The survey data is robust, drawing from a diverse set of geographies and enterprise leaders, which lends credibility to the trends identified. The emphasis on hybrid and multi-cloud models, coupled with concerns about vendor lock-in, suggests a growing demand for flexibility and control in IT infrastructure. The focus on IT resilience as a baseline requirement reflects the increasing complexity and criticality of digital operations.
However, the narrative could be seen as reinforcing a tech-industry perspective that assumes AI adoption is inevitable and universally beneficial. The framing of AI as a "top budget priority" without deeper exploration of its risks or alternative strategies might oversimplify the challenges enterprises face. Additionally, the emphasis on digital sovereignty and vendor lock-in could be interpreted as a subtle endorsement of open-source solutions, which aligns with the author's stated interests in open source and hybrid cloud.
Patterns detected: ARC-0024 Ambiguity (the narrative assumes AI adoption is universally positive without addressing potential downsides), ARC-0043 Motte-and-Bailey (the focus on "resilience" could be a broad term used to justify specific tech investments).
Root cause: The paradigm driving this narrative is the tech industry's push for AI integration and cloud flexibility, framed as essential for competitiveness and security. The unstated assumption is that enterprises must adapt to these trends or risk falling behind, which may not account for varying organizational needs or capacities.
Implications: For human agency, this trend could empower enterprises with more control over their IT infrastructure, but it also risks creating new dependencies on hybrid and multi-cloud solutions. The costs of re-architecting infrastructure for AI and resilience may disproportionately burden smaller organizations. Second-order consequences could include increased fragmentation in cloud ecosystems and heightened competition among vendors.
Bridge questions: What are the potential downsides of prioritizing AI and hybrid cloud models, and how might they affect different types of organizations? How can enterprises balance the need for resilience with the risks of over-investment in unproven technologies? What perspectives from non-tech industries or smaller enterprises might challenge this narrative?
Counterstrike scan: If this narrative were part of a coordinated influence campaign, the playbook would likely involve promoting AI and hybrid cloud as inevitable trends, using survey data to create a sense of urgency, and framing resilience as a universal need. The actual content aligns with this pattern but does not appear to be part of a malicious campaign; rather, it reflects genuine industry trends and concerns.
Sentinel — Human
The article is likely to be human-written due to variable sentence length, passionate framing, and a lack of historical inaccuracies.