- Singaporean service provider Singtel aims to offer affordable access to AI technologies
- Singtel signed five MoUs and announced other initiatives to boost Singapore’s position as AI hub in the region
- It also announced initiatives to boost talent and an accelerator program to attract AI companies
Singapore’s largest service provider, Singtel, has launched RE:AI, an artificial intelligence (AI) cloud service offering that it hopes will democratize access to AI for enterprises and public sector organizations.
The new AI platform will bring together different elements like GPUs, storage, AI workspaces, tools and networks, delivered through Singtel’s orchestration platform, Paragon. Singtel believes its AI offering will help organizations do away with the need to deploy and manage complex AI infrastructure and pitched the product as a way to give enterprises “affordable access” to AI technologies.
Pareekh Jain, CEO of Pareekh Consulting, said Singtel's move “highlights the role telcos can play in democratizing AI. The high cost of AI infrastructure and the lack of availability of GPUs, especially for startups and SMBs [small and medium businesses], can hinder their AI journey."
“This is similar to the early days of cloud computing, where telcos, along with hyperscalers, democratized access to IT infrastructure and turned fixed costs into variable ones," Jain continued.
"AI cloud could follow a similar path. If this initiative in Singapore is successful, telcos in many other countries may accelerate their efforts to offer AI cloud services."
Singtel is following a five-pronged strategy to make AI more accessible: creating a cloud platform for research and development of AI; facilitating AI adoption for the manufacturing sector; contributing to ecosystem development to accelerate the deployment of AI solutions; curating tech incubation and acceleration program for promising tech companies; and pursuing AI skills training to empower its workforce.
“With the launch of RE:AI, we’re significantly reducing entry barriers, making AI easily accessible to enterprises, government agencies, research communities and academia,” said Bill Chang, CEO of Singtel Digital InfraCo in a press release.
Singtel has made several efforts to grow its AI profile. Earlier this year, it announced a partnership with Bridge Alliance, an industry group, that allows it to offer GPUaaS to enterprises through Alliance members. It has also partnered with GMI Cloud, an AI-native cloud platform, to expand into new markets. Singtel also collaborated with Nscale, an AI cloud platform, to help meet the growing demand for generative AI and high-performance computing.
"Singtel’s offering has the potential for a strong uptake in its domestic market where it already plays a key role in cloud services and telecommunications," said Deepak Kumar, founding analyst and chief research officer at market advisory firm B&M Nxt.
"Its collaboration with Nvidia and Singtel’s robust 5G infrastructure gives it a clear advantage in delivering scalable, high-performance AI solutions that are cost-effective. This is especially relevant for industries like advanced manufacturing, financial services, and the public sector, all of which are key verticals in Singapore's push towards digital transformation," Kumar continued.
Growing AI partner ecosystem
As part of its RE:AI push, Singtel has signed five Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) with partners from diverse backgrounds to boost its AI ecosystem. The initiatives are designed to help Singtel boost Singapore’s position as an AI hub in the region.
Singtel has partnered with the National Supercomputing Center Singapore to make computing technology available for the research community. Its second MoU is with the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore Manufacturing Federation (SMF) and Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) to “support and enable AI-related research and innovation.”
In addition, RE:AI will also partner with several AI applications, models and platform providers – including AlphaSense, H2O.AI, Hippocratic.AI, and Hive AI – to launch AI software, applications, tools, and models.
The company will also come up with an AI Accelerator Program to help AI tech companies establish and scale their operations. The initiative also aims to attract companies with AI capabilities to set up their regional headquarters in Singapore. It is aiming to lure in 15 companies in the first year.
One of the key challenges organizations face in adopting AI is the lack of talent. Singtel is tackling this as well via a collaboration with AI Singapore, Nanyang Technological University and the National University of Singapore to co-develop training programs to advance employees’ AI skills.