Differences in clinical outcomes for Asian and non-Asian patients with gastric cancer might not be solely due to differences in clinical management, as previously thought. Gene expression profiles of 1,016 gastric cancers from six Asian and three non-Asian cohorts were compared, and the findings validated in two independent tissue microarray cohorts from Asian and non-Asian localities. Asian and non-Asian patients were found to exhibit distinct tumour immunity signatures that might have an influence on clinical outcomes.