White paper identifies CEO challenges and opportunities for the realization of optimized, effective and sustainable AI infrastructure

A new survey of top global executives by NTT, Inc. and WSJ Intelligence reveals a firm belief in AI as a key enabler of next-generation enterprise technologies, as CEOs plan to increase AI investment in the near future while raising important questions about scalability and sustainability. The survey found that 68% of global CEOs plan to increase AI investment in the next two years even though only 18% believe their technology infrastructure is highly optimized to support AI at scale. Overwhelmingly, 83% acknowledge the environmental cost of rapid AI scaling.

A new whitepaper from NTT and WSJ Intelligence leverages these findings to provide insights into how enterprises can efficiently, sustainably and securely invest in and develop AI-ready infrastructure: “The Future Framework: Resilience, Connection and Ethics in the Age of AI.”

“Amidst historic AI investments, business leaders are asking vital questions about achieving an AI-empowered future with the potential to unlock unprecedented growth and productivity but without sacrificing quality, resilience, and the employee and social contract that is expected of businesses,” Abhijit Dubey, CEO and chief AI officer of NTT DATA Inc. “By combining direct insights from CEOs and senior executives of large global companies with NTT’s first-in-class experience developing and deploying leading enterprise AI solutions, we are building a framework to realize AI’s full impact responsibly.”

Demand for AI Investment Outpaces Scaling Readiness

When prompted about their organization’s active deployment of infrastructure specifically for AI, only 18% of respondents believe their technology infrastructure is highly optimized to support AI at scale, even as 68% plan to increase investment in the next two years.

As Dubey explains in the white paper, an enterprise’s AI investment philosophy must reflect the company’s core ethos: “AI scales not through advanced models alone, but also through the strength of the foundations beneath them. When organizations invest in skilled talent, unified teams, resilient platforms, and trusted data, AI moves from isolated experiments to a disciplined capability that drives enterprise transformation.”

Nearly half of the executives surveyed plan to increase AI budgets by 11% or more. While two out of three CEOs currently regard predictive AI as their top strategic priority, they acknowledge that the combined implementation of predictive, generative, and agentic AI will yield the most significant business results. However computing power constraints, legacy networks and data-preparation bottlenecks represent major obstacles to achieving AI maturity and scaling.

CEOs Call for AI Resilience, Connection and Ethics

According to the survey, 83% of executives identified that human-AI collaboration skills will become critical by 2030, with AI now a core driver of competitiveness for their organizations. However, three key challenges still define these integrations:

• Performance Over Planet: About 70% of CEOs prioritize either maximum performance or a performance-first approach to AI workloads; 75% still believe sustainable practices will sacrifice profitability, revealing a persistent zero-sum mindset.

• Data Integrity and Cybersecurity: Respondents identified top risks associated with Shadow AI as data leakage (41%), data integrity (40%), security vulnerabilities (38%) and unreliable decisions (35%); 67% of leaders believe their organizations have implemented effective AI governance processes.

• AI Infrastructure Scaling Demands: 83% of respondents think executives face immense pressure to prioritize rapid AI scaling benefits over energy concerns. At the same time, new technologies such as optical networking and computing are viewed as potential solutions for a more sustainable AI infrastructure.

Growing Workloads Driving Interest in Photonic Infrastructure

New information technology infrastructure is needed to meet growing workloads and increased capacity requirements intensified by AI without proportionally increasing power consumption. A clear example is NTT’s IOWN initiative which facilitates the move from electronic to optical data transmission across networks and in data centers - between circuit boards, silicon packages on circuit boards and silicon die inside packages. IOWN is designed to ultimately achieve three key performance targets for data transmission in networks and data centers: up to 100x less power consumption, a 125x increase in capacity and a 200x reduction in end-to-end delays compared to conventional infrastructure.

The survey revealed that 91% of executives are familiar with photonics, with 55% expressing strong interest in adopting this technology into their operations and 36% already using photonic technologies in some capacity.

Methodology

Report findings are drawn from a survey of 359 global CEOS of companies with at least $1 billion in annual revenue (for U.S.-based companies) or $500 million (for internationally based companies).

The research measured investment priorities, infrastructure maturity, perceived risks, workforce expectations and attitudes toward sustainability, photonics, data governance and AI regulation.

About NTT

NTT is a leading global technology company providing services to consumers as a mobile operator and businesses by providing infrastructure, networks, applications, and consulting services. NTT contributes to a sustainable society through the power of our innovative offerings. These include business consulting, AI solutions, managed application services, global networks, cybersecurity, data center services and edge computing, all supported by our deep global industry expertise. We are over $90 billion in revenue and 340,000 people, investing 30% of our profits into fundamental research and development each year. Our operations span across 70+ countries and regions, allowing us to serve clients in over 190 of them. We work with more than 70% of Fortune Global 100 companies, thousands of enterprises, government clients and millions of consumers.

About WSJ Intelligence

WSJ Intelligence conducts bespoke research for brands and client brands of The Wall Street Journal and Barron’s Group. Through rigorous analysis, WSJ Intelligence provides relevant, timely and reliable insights. We can create and distribute powerful executive-level business support by using various methodologies and our world-class distribution channels, collaborating with clients on compelling and unique data-backed insights targeting their core constituents.

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