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Why Singapore, India are winning the AI race

By Sohail Khan 26 August 2026, 3:47 pm

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Business News›AI›AI Insights›AI adoption surges in Asia as companies set up new hubs in Singapore, India

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AI adoption surges in Asia as companies set up new hubs in Singapore, India
Synopsis

AI and generative AI investment in Asia is projected to reach $175 billion by 2028. Many employees across Asia-Pacific already use AI at work weekly. Singapore and India are becoming important bases for AI development and deployment. Companies are increasingly using AI tools to transform their business workflows.

Singapore pulls ahead in Southeast Asia’s AI capital race — Singapore has emerged as Southeast Asia’s dominant AI fundraising hub, accounting for nearly all regional Native AI capital in Tracxn’s latest data.

US-based artificial intelligence startup Rogo Technologies, whose platform automates much of the routine work performed by junior investment bankers, is making Singapore the centre of its Asia-Pacific expansion, according to a Bloomberg report.

The company is opening an office in the city-state and hiring in Tokyo and Sydney as well as Singapore. It plans to have 150-200 employees in the region by the end of 2027.

Rogo already has more than 350 clients globally, with over 50,000 bankers and investors using its platform. In Asia, Nomura Holdings and Daiwa Securities use Rogo, while Barclays has rolled it out across its Asian offices, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC is also a client, the report added.

According to Boston Consulting Group’s 2025 AI at Work survey, 78% of employees across Asia-Pacific use AI at work at least weekly, compared with 72% globally.

The gap is wider among frontline employees. About 70% of APAC frontline workers regularly use AI, compared with 51% globally, according to BCG.

India leads the region, with 92% of employees surveyed saying they use AI at work.

Nearly half of APAC employees surveyed by BCG also said generative AI saves them more than an hour a day, with workers using that time to get more work done, finish earlier or focus on strategic tasks.

That adoption is helping turn markets such as Singapore and India into increasingly important bases for companies building and deploying AI.

Singapore is positioning itself as an AI launchpad

Singapore combines a major financial sector with digital infrastructure, government support, international connectivity and access to specialised talent.

In July, HSBC said it would establish a Global AI Centre of Excellence in Singapore and hire more than 100 AI specialists. The team will work across areas including natural language processing, data science and AI governance.

The centre will initially focus on agentic treasury solutions and AI-enabled digital payments while working with teams across wealth management and global payments, according to the bank. HSBC has said the capabilities developed in Singapore could eventually be scaled across its global network.

The expansion comes as banks invest heavily in AI while also examining how the technology could change traditional roles. At the same time, many of the jobs being created around AI increasingly need specialised technical skills.

Also Read: Singapore pulls ahead in Southeast Asia’s AI capital race

HSBC is not alone. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) also launched an AI-powered Research & Innovation Centre in Singapore in 2025, bringing together customers, startups, academic institutions and technology partners to develop and scale AI solutions. The centre also aims to address talent gaps and train graduates in digital skills.

Oracle launched an AI Centre of Excellence in Singapore in March 2025 to help companies across Southeast Asia experiment with and deploy AI. The technology company also committed to helping train 10,000 students and professionals in Singapore by 2027.

India is moving up the AI value chain

A similar shift is taking place in India, although at a much larger workforce scale.

Companies are increasingly using their Global Capability Centres in the country for higher-value work in AI, engineering and product development rather than restricting them to traditional back-office functions.

The change is gradually positioning India as a market where companies develop technology and make decisions around it, rather than simply providing the workforce to execute tasks designed elsewhere.

India’s large technology talent base, combined with high workplace AI adoption, gives the country a different advantage from Singapore. While Singapore offers proximity to regional financial institutions, infrastructure and connectivity, India offers scale.

Workers are moving faster than organisations

There is, however, a gap between how quickly employees are adopting AI and how quickly companies are redesigning work around it.

BCG found that while 78% of APAC employees use AI at least weekly, only 57% said their organisations were transforming workflows to accommodate the technology.

Microsoft’s 2026 Work Trend Index found a similar gap in Singapore. About 66% of AI users surveyed said they were producing work they could not have created a year earlier, compared with 58% globally. Yet only 24% said their leadership was clearly and consistently aligned on AI.

That disconnect is also creating an opportunity for companies selling AI tools and services. As employees use AI more frequently, organisations have to rethink workflows, governance, security and the technology infrastructure around them.

A self-reinforcing AI cycle

Asia’s early lead in workplace AI could eventually become self-reinforcing.

Employee adoption gives companies a reason to invest more heavily in AI. Those investments increase demand for specialised talent and infrastructure. As markets accumulate both, they become more attractive to the next company looking to establish an AI operation in the region.

Singapore and India are emerging as two distinct beneficiaries of that cycle.

The scale of the potential disruption is already significant. The International Labour Organization estimates that nearly 80 million workers across ASEAN are employed in occupations with more than minimal exposure to generative AI, with Singapore recording the region’s highest share at 42.2%.

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