There is no doubt the growth of generative AI was the technology news event of 2023.
With the launch of ChatGPT in late 2022 and other generative AI models like Anthropic’s Claude, Stability AI’s Stable Diffusion and Meta’s Llama, businesses around the world moved from trying to understand the technology to experimenting with its vast potential.
Asian markets, too, have embraced AI and machine learning. AI is being used for everything from conducting chest X-rays with Lunit INSIGHT CXR at The Medical City Hospital in the Philippines to monitoring social media sentiment via Senti AI or rice quality using Thailand agri-tech Easy Rice.
This growth is expected to create opportunities for small to medium enterprises and startups. With access to AI computing power, SMEs will be able to launch and scale new products and services faster or augment operations to drive value for customers in multiple industries.
The growth potential of AI is becoming clear in the Asian region
AI spending is growing fast in the Asia-Pacific region. The International Data Corporation projects spending on AI will reach $78.4 billion USD by 2027 and that 80% of CIOs in the region will leverage organisational changes to harness AI, automation and analytics by 2028.
Asia may actually grow even faster than other global regions. Allied Market Research, for example, foresees a 41% compound annual growth rate in AI spending in the Asia-Pacific region to the year 2030 — higher than the 38% CAGR expected globally.
SMEs could be key beneficiaries. One survey conducted by Xero of 500 smaller businesses in Singapore found many are already:
- Experimenting with AI (37%).
- Dedicating more resources to AI use (32%).
- Investing in AI tools (31%).
- Working with AI vendors and experts (31%).
The gaming industry in Asia is an example of AI’s capacity to bring significant disruption and opportunity. Both startups and incumbents in countries like Japan are seeing the market shift due to the ability to slash production costs and maximise creativity using AI models.
Asia is positioned well for growth. Singapore, for example, launched a National AI Strategy in 2019 and is investing approximately $750 million in AI compute, talent and industry development over the next five years. It is consistently number one on Salesforce’s AI Readiness Index for Asia.
Rapid growth will increase the demand for AI computing power
As businesses look to capitalise on AI, they will need the computing power required to train AI models, inference those models or deploy them at speed within applications. This means businesses will need access to cloud partners with AI-ready infrastructure and platforms.
This is because in many use cases — particularly training AI models — businesses need access to graphics processing units developed for the purpose. Chips like NVIDIA’s H100 GPUs, for example, can vastly reduce the energy consumption, time and cost required to train AI models.
Global hyperscalers like Google, Microsoft and Amazon have been expanding in the Asia-Pacific region and are seeking to meet AI computing demand with their cloud service offerings. They have a particular focus on larger enterprise players who have operations across the region.
Businesses are also seeing the growth of innovative AI computing offerings from experienced data centre providers with a focus in Asia. Some established providers with high-performance data centre credentials are gaining access to coveted state-of-the-art AI computing GPUs.
The demand for GPUs is reflected in NVIDIA’s financial growth. A key supplier of AI chips to Asia, NVIDIA announced record third quarter global data centre revenue of $14.51 billion USD in November 2023 — up 41% from the previous quarter and 279% from a year earlier.
Bitdeer combining AI infrastructure with vision for SMEs in Asia
Bitdeer Technologies Group, a preferred NVIDIA cloud service provider in 2023, is supporting the Asian market’s potential with world-leading AI computing power. It is the first company to bring NVIDIA’s DGX SuperPOD H100 cloud service to the Asian region.
Infrastructure built to power a new AI age
NVIDIA’s DGX SuperPOD is a turnkey AI infrastructure equipped with state-of-the-art DGX H100 systems. Bitdeer’s NVIDIA partnership will see the high-performance cloud computing firm deploy DGX SuperPOD H100 so it can handle even the most challenging AI workloads.
For SMEs and startups, the high-performance cluster will be an optimal choice for the heavy compute demands of AI training as well as inferencing. The infrastructure-as-a-service offering will increase the speed and performance of AI computing to support business growth.
Global and regional data centre experience
Nasdaq-listed Bitdeer has managed the construction, deployment and maintenance of data centres since 2013. It has experience deploying cutting-edge cooling technologies, including water and liquid cooling, as well as using new and green energy sources like hydropower.
Bitdeer’s AI-ready offering for Asia is part of a strategic global network of data centres and resources. Headquartered in Singapore, Bitdeer has operations in the U.S., Norway and Bhutan and a 500-strong team, 25% of whom are dedicated to research and development.
GPU power will launch Asia’s AI journey
Asia is only at the beginning of its AI journey. With the expansion of AI computing power on the ground, the speed and opportunities created by the technology will only increase in the years to come, opening up significant opportunities for future-focused SMEs and startups.
Bitdeer’s AI Cloud represents a significant contribution to this future in Asia. While its NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD provides a catalyst for AI-led growth, Bitdeer’s roadmap also includes platform-as-a-service, software-as-a-service and application-as-a-service offerings for businesses.
This makes Bitdeer a prime partner for SMEs and startups seeking both GPU power and business potential.