For two decades, high-tech enterprises have used Global Competency Centers (GCCs) primarily to extend engineering capacity, increase development velocity, and provide global delivery coverage. That mandate is now broadening. As AI increasingly connects silicon, systems, software, cloud, data, and cybersecurity, the strategic question is no longer only how much engineering work a GCC performs, but how much of the product and technology life cycle it can influence and own.
Avasant’s GCC Economics 2026 report on high-tech GCCs indicates that several foundations for this shift are already in place, although the evolution remains uneven. These centers are also more established and strategically significant within their parent enterprises. The median high-tech GCC is 18 years old and represents 8.3% of its parent enterprise’s global head count (significance ratio), versus 3.15% across all GCCs surveyed, allowing them to have the time and scale to move beyond narrowly defined delivery mandates. They span a broad technology stack and are weighted toward experienced and specialist talent. Yet most of their effort still sits in back office (62%) and mid-office (30%) work, with only 5% in the front office (as these functions are considered separately, the values do not add up to 100%). The gap between what high-tech GCCs are capable of and what they are formally accountable for is where the next phase of maturity will be decided.
High-tech GCCs now span multiple layers of the technology stack, from application development and IT consulting to AI/ML, analytics, cloud, cybersecurity, engineering, and R&D. This breadth provides the capability base for GCCs to participate across multiple stages of the product and technology life cycle.
The breadth is particularly pronounced across digital and engineering capabilities. Among GCCs delivering digital services, 91% report AI/ML, analytics, and cloud capabilities, while 77% report cybersecurity. Among those delivering IT services, 94% handle application development and 89% handle application maintenance. Nearly three-quarters deliver ER&D services, with all of these centers reporting R&D capabilities and 94% reporting engineering. The implication is not that all high-tech GCCs have moved into product ownership; rather, the capability base required to support broader product mandates is increasingly present.
High-tech GCCs report a median of 15 AI use cases in production, increasing to 20 at the 75th percentile. The scale of production adoption indicates that AI is becoming an embedded operating capability within high-tech GCCs rather than remaining limited to experimentation. This shift reflects a focus on shortening product cycles and managing rising engineering complexity. As a result, AI is increasingly used as a productivity lever in areas such as software development, testing, and design validation, where it can directly accelerate product engineering and release.
High-tech GCCs continue to receive significant investment as their mandates and technology capabilities expand. The median high-tech GCC operated on a $59 million budget in 2025. Median operating budget growth reached 16.6% in 2025, ahead of the 15.3% median across all GCCs surveyed. At the 75th percentile, high-tech GCCs reached a 22.8% growth rate in 2025. Centers expect a further 15% increase in CY 2026. The above-average growth indicates continued investment in high-tech GCC capabilities and provides a financial foundation for expanding mandates.
Recent enterprise announcements provide illustrative examples of how this investment is translating into expanded product and technology mandates.
The workforce profile of high-tech GCCs is weighted toward L2 and L3 roles rather than entry-level L1 positions. For 2026, the expected median high-tech GCC workforce is 34.2% at L2 and 34.1% at L3, compared with 26.1% at L1.
How the mix is expected to move between 2025 and 2026 adds further detail.
| Work Complexity Level | 2025 (Median) |
2026 (Median) |
Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| L1 – Transactional/Rules-Based Execution | 25.0% | 26.1% | +1.1 pp |
| L2 – Process Execution with Limited Judgment | 33.8% | 34.2% | +0.4 pp |
| L3 – Analytical/Specialist Execution | 32.4% | 34.1% | +1.7 pp |
| L4 – Design/Advanced Problem Solving | 4.5% | 4.5% | Flat |
| L5 – Strategic/Ownership/Enterprise Leadership | 1.3% | 1.6% | +0.3 pp |
Note: Medians are calculated independently for each level and therefore do not sum to 100%.
Source: Avasant Research, 2026
The expected workforce shift is modest but directional. L3 specialist roles show the largest increase, rising 1.7 percentage points (pps) at the median, while L4 design/advanced problem-solving roles remain flat at 4.5%. This suggests that workforce evolution is currently occurring more through deeper specialist execution than through a significant expansion of senior design and ownership roles.
Enterprise announcements point to the same emphasis on specialist capability.
These examples illustrate that high-tech GCC expansion is increasingly centered on specialized engineering capabilities rather than workforce scale alone. Hiring trends point the same way, with global semiconductor design companies rapidly expanding their chip design workforce in India.[6] This signals a move toward specialist talent, consistent with the expected gain at that level in the survey data. For high-tech GCCs, where VLSI design, AI engineering, cloud architecture, and product security are core to the product rather than adjacent to it, depth in these roles will shape the scope of mandates they can take on.
The data also highlights a potential constraint on the transition to ownership: while specialist L3 talent is increasing by 1.7 pps, the L4 design/advanced problem-solving layer remains flat at the median, and L5 strategic/ownership roles continue to account for a small share of the workforce (1.3%–1.6%).
Avasant sees high-tech GCCs entering a new phase of maturity in which capability breadth, AI adoption, investment, and specialist talent are increasingly in place. Still, accountability is not yet scaling at the same pace.
The data points to an important distinction: high-tech GCCs are becoming more capable, but capability does not automatically translate into ownership. L3 specialist talent is increasing, while the L4 design/advanced problem-solving layer remains flat, and L5 strategic/ownership roles remain limited. At the same time, only 5% of the delivery effort is currently concentrated in the front office.
The next maturity frontier is therefore the conversion of capability into decision rights: ownership of products, platforms, architecture, road maps, and intellectual property.
- Expand the GCC scorecard. Track not only head count, cost per FTE, and utilization, but also products and platforms supported or owned, architecture and road map decisions influenced, and the share of GCC effort linked to front-office outcomes.
- Assign decision rights, not just work packages. Give GCC-based leaders explicit accountability for product modules, architecture choices, and release decisions, with matching budget authority.
- Build the Level 4 bridge. Invest deliberately in architects, platform leads, and product managers who can convert specialist depth into product decisions; this layer is expected to hold flat at 4.5% between 2025 and 2026.
- Organize around the full technology stack. Build integrated product teams that draw on the breadth of high-tech capabilities GCCs already have across application development, AI/ML, analytics, cloud, and cybersecurity, with production AI embedded in their delivery.
High-tech GCCs have already proven they can build at scale. Over the next three to five years, the opportunity lies in extending that strength into greater ownership of what gets built.
1. Texas Instruments, “A new chapter begins in our India journey!” LinkedIn. February 2026. https://lnkd.in/p/dkD6Thxk
ETGCC (The Economic Times), “Texas Instruments opens new R&D facility in Bengaluru,” February 7, 2026. https://gcc.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/texas-instruments-expands-its-rd-presence-in-india-with-new-bengaluru-facility/128030509
2. Amtech Software India, “Built over four decades.” LinkedIn. January 2026. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/amtech-software-in-india_hiringnow-bengalurujobs-gccjobs-activity-7417060432005292032-SypT?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAACydk8oBRm4najxAyEx6FKqyjXgQEIZ9BCM
Amtech Software India, “A landmark day for Amtech Software and for Bengaluru!” LinkedIn. May 2026. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/amtech-software-in-india_amtech-software-india-office-launch-activity-7462365155817857024-Uips?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAACydk8oBRm4najxAyEx6FKqyjXgQEIZ9BCM
Business Wire, “Vista-Backed Amtech Software Opens Bengaluru Innovation Hub, Betting on Indian Talent to Power Global AI-Powered Packaging Technology,” May 18, 2026. https://secure.businesswire.com/news/home/20260518623463/en/Vista-Backed-Amtech-Software-Opens-Bengaluru-Innovation-Hub-Betting-on-Indian-Talent-to-Power-Global-AI-Powered-Packaging-Technology
3. PIB India, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurates SEMICON India 2026.” YouTube. September 2026. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blq-pgQ9TUk
The Times of India, “Applied Materials plans $5 billion India investment by 2035,” September 17, 2026. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/applied-materials-plans-5-billion-india-investment-by-2035/articleshow/134303689.cms
4. The Times of India, “How AMD’s 11k engrs in India shape its next chips,” September 18, 2026. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/technology/times-techies/how-amds-11k-engrs-in-india-shape-its-next-chips/articleshow/134329057.cms
5. Mattias Stenberg, CEO, Octave Intelligence, “Thank you, Honourable Minister Sridhar Babu Duddilla, for inaugurating our Technology and Innovation Centre this morning, and to the Government of Telangana for the welcome extended to us here in India.” LinkedIn. August 2026. https://lnkd.in/p/d_vek9M4
Octave, “Three days.” LinkedIn. August 2026. https://lnkd.in/p/dQe5un6e
The Hindu, “Octave opens global tech, innovation centre in Hyderabad,” August 26, 2026. https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/octave-opens-global-tech-innovation-centre-in-hyderabad/article71392573.ece
Business Standard, “Octave Intelligence opens GCC in Hyderabad, plans workforce expansion,” August 26, 2026. https://www.business-standard.com/industry/news/companies-octave-intelligence-sets-up-gcc-in-hyderabad-to-scale-centre-to-2000-engineers-126082600587_1.html
6. Press Information Bureau, Ministry of Electronics & IT, Government of India, “India’s Semiconductor Vision Gathers Momentum with 3nm Chip Design and Large-Scale Talent Development Initiatives,” July 25, 2025. https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2148393
By: Rohan Sahoo, Lead Analyst, Avasant, and Sahil Chaudhary, Associate Research Director, Avasant
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