OpenAl eyes S'pore as springboard to Asia-Pacific in its global strategy

Tech interest among firms, large ChatGPT user base here part of draw, says exec

- Krist Boo Senior Business Correspondent

Artificial intelligence (AI) firm OpenAI, whose deals have been hogging the headlines recently, has marked Singapore as a key pillar in its global strategy to be a dominant player in the technology.

It has been setting up its Asia-Pacific base here since November 2024, and plans to ramp up its employee headcount to between 50 and 70 by end-December.

The firm would not say how many employees it now has.

The team, with a strong sales focus, has been making inroads into the local market, adding names such as Singapore Airlines (SIA), Grab, Sea Group and the Singapore Tourism Board to its client wins.

A welcoming government, tech-embracing companies and a large ChatGPT user base drew the San Francisco-based company to the Republic, said its chief strategy officer Jason Kwon in an interview with The Straits Times.

“Asia-Pacific is one of our fastest-growing regions in general — it’s about four times in growth year over year,” he said.

Singapore is one of its top three markets globally for per-capita adoption, said OpenAI. Reports have cited one in four residents here as a user of ChatGPT.

The AI-native company is calling up organisations here, competing directly with its partner Microsoft, with pitches promising multi-modal features, customisation, access to its latest models and researchers, as well as enterprise software that it recently rolled out, or plans to.