According to executives in Germany and Switzerland, artificial intelligence will become a key growth driver by 2030. According to a new study by the IBM Institute for Business Value, 81% of German and 73% of Swiss managers surveyed expect AI to make a significant contribution to company revenue. These figures currently stand at 43% in Germany and 30% in Switzerland. At the same time, only 25% of German and 20% of Swiss respondents state that they clearly know from which sources this additional revenue will come.

The study is based on a global survey of 2,007 C-level executives, including 100 from Germany and 40 from Switzerland. It was conducted in the third and fourth quarters of 2025 in 33 countries and 20 industries. The aim was to analyse expectations for the development of organizations between 2025 and 2030, including with regard to AI-supported operations, new AI models, skills requirements and quantum computing.

Despite strategic uncertainties, the respondents expect investments to rise sharply. By 2030, they expect AI investments to increase by 148% in Germany and 156% in Switzerland. At the same time, 59% of German and 68% of Swiss managers are concerned that AI initiatives could fail due to insufficient integration into core business processes.

In terms of content, the focus is shifting from efficiency gains to innovation. Around 45% of AI expenditure in Germany and Switzerland currently goes towards increasing efficiency. By 2030, German managers expect 62% of expenditure to be innovation-oriented, compared to 63% in Switzerland. Accordingly, 61% of German respondents and 55% of Swiss respondents believe that competitive advantages will come from innovation rather than pure resource optimization in the future.

Worldwide, the study participants expect AI to increase productivity by 42% by 2030. 56% of German and 65% of Swiss managers expect to have realized the majority of these effects by then. A significant proportion of the productivity gains will be reinvested in growth, particularly in Germany (77% compared to 55% in Switzerland).

In technological terms, many companies see their strength in the maturity of their AI models. At the same time, they often lack a clear roadmap: Only 23% of German and 35% of Swiss respondents know which AI models they specifically want to use by 2030. The majority expect multi-model-capable architectures and a growing importance of small language models over large language models. In addition, those companies worldwide that scale AI across multiple workflows with specialized models expect higher productivity and margin growth.

According to the study, management roles and qualification requirements will also change significantly. Around two thirds of respondents expect AI to reduce resource and skills bottlenecks. At the same time, many assume that current qualifications will largely become less important by 2030 and that new leadership roles will emerge.

"AI will not only support businesses, it will define them," said Mohamad Ali, Senior Vice President at IBM Consulting. "By 2030, the companies that succeed will incorporate AI into every decision and every workflow."

The complete study is available for download here.