Belgian women rapidly closing GenAI gap, outpacing men in awareness growth
Deloitte’s latest outlook highlights how AI adoption, sustainability demands and shifting consumer habits are reshaping Belgium’s digital economy.
Brussels, 2 June 2025 – Deloitte has released its 2025 global Technology, Media, and Telecommunications (TMT) report, offering a forward-looking analysis of the most significant trends set to transform industries worldwide. The report examines how the rise of generative AI (GenAI), shifting consumer behaviors and infrastructure pressures are reshaping business strategies across sectors. For Belgium, this year’s predictions highlight the country’s evolving role in the European digital ecosystem. From accelerating AI adoption to growing concerns around energy use, the findings reflect how global trends manifest locally, with implications for both business leaders and policymakers.
Key findings:
- GenAI adoption among Belgian women is rising rapidly, but trust remains a challenge. Awareness of GenAI among Belgian women increased by 47 percent, significantly outpacing the 18 percent growth observed among men
- Streaming frustrations pushes consumers toward video aggregators
- AI-driven cyberattacks surge, prompting major investments in cybersecurity
- Data centers search for greener power as GenAI drives energy demand
- Telecom sector faces mounting pressure, sparking consolidation and fixed wireless growth
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Belgian women are closing the GenAI adoption gap, but a trust gap remains
In Belgium, women are adopting GenAI at an accelerating pace, steadily closing the historical gender gap in awareness and usage. Between 2023 and 2024, awareness of GenAI among Belgian women increased by 47 percent, significantly outpacing the 18 percent growth observed among men. Similarly, usage of GenAI grew by 22 percent among women over the same period, compared to 14 percent among men. These figures indicate that women are engaging more actively with GenAI technologies and are quickly catching up with their male counterparts in terms of adoption.
However, despite this momentum, a notable trust gap persists. Belgian women continue to express lower confidence in the reliability and safety of GenAI tools, which may hinder long-term engagement and limit the inclusivity of AI-driven solutions. Addressing this trust deficit will be essential for organizations seeking to promote equitable access to and participation in the AI-driven economy. This challenge presents a clear opportunity for developers, educators and policymakers to build more inclusive, transparent and trustworthy AI ecosystems.1
Streaming services face user frustrations, aggregators promise clarity
Streaming video on demand (SVOD) and ad-supported video on demand (AVOD) are now firmly established as mainstream viewing options in Belgium, with 69 percent of households having access to at least one service. At the same time, 58 percent of Belgian households combine two or more subscriptions, leading to increasing frustration around content discovery, pricing and subscription management.2
As these challenges grow, the market is gradually moving away from a purely direct to consumer model and towards a more aggregated viewing experience. Global device manufacturers such as Samsung and LG, along with major technology companies like Google, Amazon and Apple, are in a strong position to lead this shift by offering integrated content hubs. Local telecom operators, however, struggle to take on this role effectively. With the rise of this additional aggregation layer, local media may become even less visible on smart TV interfaces, further complicating efforts to ensure the discoverability of Belgian content.
Belgium’s data center landscape evolves as green energy becomes a strategic priority
Belgium is positioning itself as a strategic hub for data centers, with 46 facilities currently in operation and more than 1.4 billion euro in investments projected over the next four years.3 In 2022, data centers in Belgium accounted for approximately 2 percent of national electricity consumption. This puts the country on par with France and Germany, ahead of Spain and Italy, but still behind major players like Ireland and the Netherlands, which continue to dominate the European data center landscape.
As electricity demand rises, operators are increasingly concerned about future power supply, driven by signs of grid overload and by EU regulations encouraging sustainable practices. In response, major players such as LCL and Google are actively pursuing more reliable and cleaner energy sources. This shift marks a broader trend in which sustainability becomes a critical factor for both operational continuity and long-term digital growth.
GenAI reshapes the cybersecurity landscape in Belgium
The rise of generative AI is transforming cybersecurity, bringing both major risks and new opportunities. In Belgium, AI-driven cyberattacks are becoming increasingly common, with 80 percent of cybersecurity experts in the Benelux already reporting experience with such threats.4 The country is also seeing a surge in deepfake-related incidents, ranking among the top targeted EU nations and recording an 800 percent increase in 2024 alone.5
At the same time, Belgium is gaining global recognition for its cybersecurity expertise. Mastercard recently established the European Cyber Resilience Center, reinforcing its strategic role in the international security landscape. Belgian players such as Proximus are also stepping up, investing heavily in AI-powered cybersecurity tools and developing their own Centers of Excellence, such as the Ada platform. This dual reality highlights both the urgency of the threat and the innovation potential of the local ecosystem.6
Additional Belgian insights from Deloitte’s TMT Predictions 2025:
- Belgian telecom under pressure as consolidation and fixed wireless reshape the landscape: The Belgian telecom market is undergoing structural shifts, driven by stagnating mobile revenues, rising infrastructure demands and the arrival of new players like Digi. This growing pressure is accelerating consolidation and collaboration efforts, particularly those aimed at operational cost-efficiency. At the same time, fixed wireless access (FWA) is gaining ground as a scalable broadband solution to bridge fiber rollout gaps. With investment plans stretching through 2032, telecom providers are offering speeds of at least 100 Mbps at significantly lower costs than fiber, especially in rural areas where deployment is two to three times more expensive. As 28 percent of Belgian households still lack high-speed fixed broadband and 44 percent of consumers are open to switching, FWA is becoming an increasingly credible alternative.7
- 5G standalone appears to be at a standstill: Despite promising early use cases in areas like medical drones and remote audiovisual production, Belgium’s 5G standalone (SA) rollout is lagging. Lack of industrial demand and delays in 5G NSA continue to slow momentum.
- Ambitious stadium projects aim to bridge public-private investment goals: Large stadium projects in Belgium have long faced delays due to profitability concerns, zoning restrictions and local opposition. Yet multifunctional venues like the Ghelamco Arena in Ghent and Stayen in Sint-Truiden prove that integrated concepts — combining sports, retail, hospitality and business infrastructure — can succeed as MICE (+250 events a year) destinations. Inspired by this model, the ZebrArena project in Charleroi is now underway, while others, such as Club Brugge’s new stadium, remain stuck in planning hurdles.8
1 Digital Consumer Trends 2024; Trust in Generative AI: A Belgian Perspective
2 2024 GroupM - Belgian Video Streaming
3 State of the Belgian Data Centers 2024 - Belgian Digital Infrastructure Association, Belgium Data Center Map)
4 DataNews.be, 2025
5 Sumsub.com, 2025
6 L’Echo, 2024
7 DESI, 2024 ; Trends-Tendance, 2023; European Broadband Consumer Survey | Deloitte Belgium
8 Sporting-Charleroi.be ; L’Avenir, 2025 ; Walfoot, 2025; Footnews.be ; Eventnews.be, 2019 ; Eventplanner.be ; Sterck-magazine.be, 2021
About the Global Technology, Media & Telecommunications Report
Deloitte’s annual TMT Predictions report provides an outlook on technology, media, and telecom trends that may disrupt and transform the business and consumer ecosystems worldwide.
Read the full report: www.deloitte.com/be/tmt-predictions
Deloitte in Belgium
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Deloitte Belgium BV is the Belgian affiliate of Deloitte NSE LLP, a member firm of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited that focuses on the highest quality in delivering professional services and advice. Its services are based on a global strategy covering more than 150 countries. To this end, the expertise of over 460 000 professionals is available in all continents. For the financial year 2024, the turnover was more than 67,2 billion US dollars.
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