Red Hat has released new survey results highlighting the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in the IT strategies of Swedish organizations. The study indicates that these organizations plan to increase their AI investments by an average of 37% by 2026.
Despite this planned increase, 99% of organizations say they have not yet succeeded in creating customer value from their AI investments. This figure is expected to remain high, at 95%, even by 2030.
The survey shows a paradox in Sweden’s AI development. While 77% of Swedish IT leaders see Sweden as a global AI powerhouse, only one third of organizations expect to move beyond the pilot phase by 2030. In contrast, 79% believe they will still be in the exploratory or early adoption stages in five years, with over a quarter expecting to remain in the initial awareness-building phase.
This gap between national confidence and organizational readiness illustrates both the ambition and the challenges in Sweden’s AI adoption. Many organizations recognize Sweden’s potential to lead in the AI economy, but few have managed to translate this confidence into advanced implementation and tangible value.
Confidence in Sweden’s global AI potential is strong, with 77% of respondents believing that Sweden is already, or could become within three years, a global AI leader. These numbers are similar to those in other European countries.
To address challenges and realize their ambitions, Swedish organizations are increasingly relying on open source as a key part of their IT strategies. The survey found that all respondents consider enterprise open source critical for security, and nearly all see it as important for digital sovereignty, virtualization, AI, and cost optimization.
Cloud computing remains one of the top three priorities on IT agendas. However, AI introduces additional complexity that must be integrated with evolving cloud strategies. Barriers to cloud adoption persist, with most respondents citing paused infrastructure investments due to market uncertainty, concerns about sovereignty, skills shortages, and internal silos. In terms of cloud sovereignty strategies over the next 18 months, Swedish organizations prioritize data integrity and protection, operational control and independence, and regulatory compliance.
When asked about their IT strategy for the coming 18 months, respondents ranked virtualization highest, followed by cost optimization and AI.
The top AI priority among respondents (89%) is agentic AI—systems capable of acting autonomously and performing complex tasks with minimal human involvement. Other priorities include enabling broad use among employees and creating flexibility to support different AI models.
Maintaining and developing the right skills remains a challenge. Operations skills are the most urgent gap, according to 82% of respondents. For AI, the most significant shortage is the ability to train staff in AI usage, followed by skills for effectively leveraging AI capabilities and applying agentic AI appropriately.
All respondents report encountering obstacles to AI adoption, especially when AI departments are separated from IT, when there is a lack of infrastructure or resources, or when AI models are seen as insufficiently transparent.
Additionally, 97% of respondents say they struggle with “shadow AI”—unauthorized use of AI tools by employees.
Fredrick Ericsson, Country Manager, Sweden, Red Hat, said: “This year’s Swedish survey shows a clear paradox: organizations see great potential in AI, but most are still at an early stage of implementation. Despite increased investments, few companies have yet managed to turn their ambitions into concrete results. To bridge this gap, AI must move from exploration to execution, as an integrated part of core systems and closely linked to cloud strategies. Here, open source plays a crucial role by providing transparency, digital sovereignty, and the flexibility needed to accelerate development. By building on common standards and ecosystems, Swedish companies can ensure that AI investments become sustainable, reusable, and truly value-creating.”
Hans Roth, Senior Vice President & General Manager EMEA, Red Hat, said: “Organizations are seeking greater operational control and resilience in their IT environment to adapt in a world characterized by constant change. The survey results—as well as our daily conversations—show that sovereignty is high on the agenda, both in ongoing cloud strategies and emerging AI opportunities. Open source is central to this transition as it gives companies the transparency and flexibility needed to innovate quickly without compromise. Red Hat helps organizations maintain control over where data is stored, how infrastructure is run, and which partners they choose to work with. Sovereignty and resilience are created through ecosystems—not silos—and Red Hat’s mission is to enable every model, every accelerator, and every cloud, with trust at its core.”
The survey was conducted by Censuswide and included 9,097 IT leaders and directors from companies with more than 500 employees across EMEA countries, including 102 from Sweden.
Swedish organizations have strong ambitions for AI and plan increased investments, but nearly all report they are not yet generating customer value from these efforts, and most believe they will still be at an early stage five years from now.
