During his budget speech, Lawrence Wong, Singapore's deputy prime minister and minister for finance, revealed a substantial investment program of over SGD 1 billion (approximately USD 743 million) over the next five years to boost its AI ambitions.

The main benefits expected are:

• AI Centers of Excellence: Establishing AI centres of excellence to spur innovation, knowledge sharing, and strategic partnerships across the industry.
• Competitiveness: Strengthening Singapore's position as a business and innovation hub in Southeast Asia, ensuring it remains competitive in the global AI landscape.
• Talent development:Tripling the AI workforce to 15,000, attracting top-tier researchers and engineers, and fostering industry collaboration across borders.
• AI adoption: Incentivising companies to adopt AI solutions and prioritise AI skills to keep their workforce competitive.
• Secure AI implementation: Ensuring secure access to advanced chips is crucial for AI development and promoting responsible AI governance through frameworks like AI Verify.
• Innovation: Leveraging AI solutions to foster innovation in diverse sectors, including finance, healthcare, education, and cybersecurity.
• Productivity and efficiency: Streamlining work, boosting productivity, and improving decision-making through AI-powered tools.
• Data insights: Extracting valuable insights from data to make smarter decisions and drive sustained growth.

Why does it matter?

The initiative aims to ensure that Singapore remains competitive in the global AI landscape and reinforce its position as a business and innovation hub in Southeast Asia. Specifically, the investment will strengthen the implementation of Singapore's National AI Strategy 2.0, published in December 2023, with the goal of positioning the country as an AI leader and ensuring that it serves the public good.