Annual report shows C-suite leadership is driving adoption and expect rapid financial returns on AI spending
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Flexential, a leading provider of secure and flexible data center solutions, has found that C-suite executives have taken command of AI initiatives, according to 81% of respondents — a dramatic rise from the 53% who identified the C-suite as the main driver just one year ago. Furthermore, 51% expect ROI within the next year while 21% have already seen financial benefits. However, this executive-led acceleration is not without challenges: nearly one-third (29%) of IT leaders now feel overwhelmed by artificial intelligence (AI) implementation requirements — more than double the percentage who felt that way just one year ago (12%).
That sentiment, captured in the 2025 State of AI Infrastructure Report, reflects the accelerated integration of AI into core business operations. Organizations face unexpected challenges as they integrate sophisticated AI technologies with existing systems, manage heightened cybersecurity risks, scale implementations across departments, and address critical skills shortages among technical teams.
Enthusiasm for AI remains strong despite these challenges. The report revealed that 75% of respondents are still excited about their organization’s AI implementations while 71% said they’re extremely confident in their ability to execute their AI roadmaps — a considerable increase from the 53% who shared that belief last year.
The report findings draw from a comprehensive survey of more than 350 IT leaders at organizations with over $100 million in annual revenue, including 100 respondents from companies exceeding $2 billion. IT leaders identified concerns related to competition, staffing, infrastructure, performance, security, and sustainability, all of which reflect an environment where AI is becoming more mainstream: Just 5% of organizations described their AI adoption as nascent, down from 10% last year.
As AI initiatives accelerate, organizations are shifting toward longer-term infrastructure planning to remain competitive and resilient. According to the survey, 62% of respondents plan their IT and data center needs one to three years in advance, while 17% are looking three to five years ahead. This strategic foresight is increasingly critical—44% of respondents identified IT infrastructure constraints as the greatest barrier to expanding their organization’s AI initiatives. Without proactive investment and long-range planning, many may find that competitors have already secured the critical resources needed to scale AI capabilities effectively.
“The Flexential State of AI Infrastructure Report shows that AI has moved well beyond the experimental stage and is now a cornerstone of business operations,” said Chris Downie, CEO of Flexential. “Forward-thinking organizations recognize its role in achieving a competitive advantage, yet there’s still a gap between AI ambition and infrastructure readiness. The most successful companies will be those that build practical, scalable foundations to support the increasing demands of their AI workloads.”
Additional key findings from the 2025 State of AI Infrastructure Report include:
- If their organization falls short of the goals laid out in its AI roadmap, 28% of survey participants said it would lose market share to competitors, and 26% said it would take longer to bring new products or services to market.
- Skills shortages in managing specialized computing infrastructure have increased to 61% from 53% over the past year, highlighting the growing strain on IT teams as AI deployments grow in scale.
- More than half (53%) of organizations have encountered skills or staffing gaps in data science and data engineering roles — up from 39% last year.
- Performance issues have intensified, with bandwidth shortages affecting 59% of respondents (up from 43% last year) and 53% impacted by excessive latency (up from 32%).
- Storing and processing more sensitive data than ever before is fueling heightened security concerns, as 55% of respondents said it has expanded their vulnerability to cyber threats — up from 39% in 2024.
- Sustainability remains a priority despite changing regulatory pressures: 79% of those surveyed feel increased pressure to make infrastructure more sustainable compared to a year ago, and nearly a third (27%) are willing to pay at least 20% higher costs for renewable energy solutions.
“The pressure on executive leadership to deliver tangible returns on AI investments has never been greater.” said Chris Downie, CEO of Flexential. “With the C-suite now directly steering AI strategy, the mandate is clear: convert innovation into impact—fast. Organizations that can bridge ambition with execution will be the ones that define the next era of market leadership.”
Click here to access the full Flexential 2025 State of AI Infrastructure Report. For more information on Flexential’s suite of high-density infrastructure capabilities and customized IT solutions, visit www.flexential.com.
About Flexential
Flexential empowers the IT journey of the most complex businesses by offering customizable IT solutions designed for today’s demanding high-density computing requirements. With colocation, cloud, connectivity, data protection, and professional services, the FlexAnywhere® platform anchors our services in 40 data centers across 18 highly connected markets on a scalable 100Gbps+ private network backbone. Flexential solutions are strategically engineered to meet the most stringent challenges in security, compliance, and resiliency. Experience the power of IT flexibility and how we enable digital transformation at www.flexential.com.
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