The global operating environment for businesses in Asia has grown more complex, where cost-efficiency must be balanced with other key concerns including supply chain resilience amid intensifying geopolitical uncertainties. In this landscape, dominance in three critical strategic domains—artificial intelligence (AI), new energy, and digital finance—are increasingly defining national advantage.

The Asia Business Council conducted its annual survey of members in July and August 2026, gathering perspectives from CEOs and Chairmen of predominantly Asian businesses. Business sentiment across Asia was cautiously optimistic, with inflation emerging as a major economic concern. The U.S. remained the leading destination for new or increased investment, followed by India, while investment interest in Europe and Singapore increased relative to the previous year.

Geopolitics and domestic politics were seen as a key source of volatility among CEOs and Chairmen around Asia and beyond. Trade deals with the U.S. were widely perceived as more favorable to the U.S., while tariffs were seen as lose-lose, leaving both Asian economies and the U.S. worse off in the long term.

Advanced Asia is undergoing a critical transformation as aging populations, fiscal constraints, and slowing productivity converge with technological disruption and trade fragmentation. Traditional growth models built on industrialization and global integration are being tested, requiring policymakers and business leaders to rethink strategies. This briefing explores the structural risks to employment, public finance, and inequality, proposing reforms focused on industrial renewal, labor market redesign, fiscal innovation, and leveraging technology as a tool for inclusive and sustainable growth.

The Asia Business Council conducted its 2024 survey of members in July and August 2024, offering a set of perspectives from CEOs and Chairmen of predominantly Asian businesses. Overall business sentiment was split, with 43 percent of respondents indicating optimism about business conditions improving in the next year, 11 percent foreseeing a worsening business environment, …

The steady rise of AI technology has left governments, industries and institutions scrambling to catch up and establish rules of the road. As a knowledge-based economy, Hong Kong can lead the way in building a regulatory framework that limits the harmful impact of AI and maximises its benefits.