Artificial intelligence is transforming Hungary's business service centres (BSCs) rather than eliminating them, Shadeh Fadi said at a HIPA (Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency) conference. According to HIPA's analysis, in 2026 there are 259 business service centres in Hungary employing roughly 119,500 people.
The numbers point to structural change: the number of centres increased by 5.7 percent year-on-year, while employment rose by only about 0.8 percent. New offices are appearing with far fewer additional employees, meaning headcount increasingly fails to capture a centre's performance.
AI adoption and role changes
HIPA's research shows that 91 percent of Hungarian centres have adopted or are adopting AI technologies. Some 42 percent reported that they eliminated lower-value tasks and instead brought more complex work to Hungary. Deeper in the data, nearly half of those reporting headcount reductions linked them to digitalisation and automation.
Shadeh warned that AI adoption is spreading faster than the strategic planning around it: without clear objectives and adequate training, companies may invest in tools that do not materially improve operations. Automated data collection becomes a business advantage only if freed-up time is used for better analysis, faster decision-making or increased output.
Competitive pressure from low-cost and AI-enabled locations
The analysis highlights a two-sided competitive pressure on Hungary: lower-cost Asian and Latin American locations compete for the same mandates, while Western centres are becoming more productive through AI. Shadeh cited an Everest Group finding that 65 percent of the world's 2,000 leading companies still lack a global capability centre, so centralisation demand persists.
As an illustrative point, a well-prepared, AI-enabled US or Western European professional can match the output of five to six colleagues, implying that when productivity differences exceed wage differences, a higher-paid worker can nonetheless be cost-competitive.
Operating models and service focus
According to HIPA, 66 percent of Hungarian centres primarily serve their parent company, 20 percent work for external clients and 13 percent follow a mixed model. This means many Hungarian units compete first with sister centres within their corporate group for new functions and expansion budgets.
Staff distribution by function: 27 percent are in finance, accounting and controlling; 13 percent in IT; 11 percent in HR; and 8 percent in procurement and logistics. Traditional corporate support functions remain dominant, but economic value increasingly depends on expertise and decision-making authority.
Labour-market trends and training needs
Employee turnover decreased from 14 to 11 percent, and the share of foreign nationals fell from 25 to 21 percent, trends Shadeh linked in part to regulatory hurdles for third-country workers. Lower turnover can reduce recruitment and training costs, while reduced access to foreign specialists may constrain rare language and technical skills.
The report notes that 81 percent of employees hold a university degree and centres provide services in more than forty languages. Including related activities, Shadeh referred to a potential talent pool exceeding 300,000 professionals, but stressed this is not an automatic reserve: transitions require training, language skills and corporate experience. Cooperation with universities and training providers can help increase the number of suitably qualified candidates.
Budapest and regional centres
Budapest is already specialised in knowledge-intensive services and accounts for about 85 percent of Hungarian BSC employment. ABSL data cited in the analysis show that 53.2 percent of business services employment in the Budapest region is knowledge-intensive, compared with a 42.96 percent European average; among 50 regions studied Budapest ranks fourth by that share, but twenty-ninth by absolute number of such jobs.
Debrecen, Szeged, Pécs and Miskolc offer different opportunities: together they host roughly 95,000 students. Regional centres can begin with more traditional service tasks and gradually build the expertise needed to take on complex functions, reducing dependence on Budapest recruitment.
Outlook and investment promotion implications
Three-quarters (75 percent) of surveyed centres plan to bring more high‑value functions to Hungary. HIPA-supported 13 BSC projects in 2025 were associated with 3,236 new jobs, though these figures do not equal net sectoral employment growth.
Going forward, investment promotion will need richer metrics than job counts alone: control of global processes, technological capabilities and value added per employee will better indicate whether Hungary retains and upgrades work. The broad lesson is that AI will be adopted widely by Western colleagues as well — Hungary's comparative advantage will depend on competing with skills and higher added value rather than solely on lower headcount.
