AI Companies in Singapore, Southeast Asia and India: How to Earn Trust (2026)

The AI companies are here. Can they earn trust?

Key takeaways: Anthropic, OpenAI, Mistral AI, Plaud and others are expanding in Singapore in 2026. Enterprise AI budgets in Southeast Asia and India keep rising, but fewer organisations report strong returns and fewer run formal AI audits. Buyers in the region already know these companies. What they want is evidence that the products work locally and can be trusted. New entrants should lead with local proof, talk about governance early, plan market by market, and explain their ownership and data arrangements before anyone asks. 

Singapore's AI map has changed a lot in a few weeks.

Anthropic will open its Singapore office in October. It is the company's first office in Southeast Asia and its fifth in Asia-Pacific, after Tokyo, Bengaluru, Seoul and Sydney. By Anthropic's own count, Singapore ranks second of 121 countries for Claude usage relative to population. Plaud opened its Asia-Pacific headquarters at Marina Bay Financial Centre this week. The office will cover 12 markets, and Plaud has doubled its Singapore commitment to US$20 million. Mistral AI has signed HTX, Singtel, NCS and ST Engineering as partners and plans to grow its local team from 40 to 100 by year-end. OpenAI is in talks to lease about 100,000 sq ft at Shaw Tower for its first applied AI lab outside the United States. Cognition, Sierra and Manus have also set up here.

Most of these companies began on flex desks, and several are now taking whole floors. A company signs a lease like that once it has decided the region is worth a long-term bet.

Is AI spending in Southeast Asia and India paying off?

The spending figures have become more specific too. In late July, Gartner forecast worldwide IT spending of US$6.37 trillion for 2026, up 14.2%. It expects spending on data centre systems to grow 62.5% to US$822 billion. John-David Lovelock, the Gartner analyst behind the forecast, called the build-out of AI compute “the largest infrastructure project ever attempted by humanity”. He also warned that the growth is concentrated in AI and is not lifting technology spending generally.

In India, ServiceNow's research published this month found enterprise AI investment up 119% year on year, ahead of the global average. AI now accounts for 16.6% of the average Indian IT budget and is expected to pass 20% by 2027. Yet only 22% of Indian enterprises test, audit and risk-assess their AI in any formal way.

In Southeast Asia, the latest SAS and IDC Data and AI Impact Report says about eight in ten organisations will increase their AI budgets over the next year. Two other findings in that report got less coverage. The share of organisations reporting strong returns from AI fell from 36.7% to 28.7%. The share running regular AI audits fell from 47.3% to 21.3%.

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‍Taken together, these reports suggest that companies in the region are still happy to buy AI. What they lack is confidence that the spending is paying off and evidence that the systems can be relied on.

Why is trust now the main challenge for AI companies in the region?

‍For AI companies arriving now, that makes communications harder. Two years ago, a new AI company in Singapore mostly needed to be known. Its buyers today are banks, insurers, hospitals, telcos and government agencies, and they have already heard of the company. They want to see that the product works in their market, with their data and under their regulators. Anthropic's regional head made a similar point this week: once trust is in place, the harder job is building AI into how a business actually runs.

Why are US and Chinese AI companies both choosing Singapore?

‍Geopolitics is a large part of Singapore's appeal. American and Chinese AI companies are both setting up here, and the government's pitch, in Prime Minister Lawrence Wong's words, is that Singapore is “stable, predictable, reliable and trusted”. In July, NCS held a conference that put engineers from Google DeepMind, OpenAI, Nvidia and Mistral on the same programme as Alibaba, MiniMax and Moonshot AI. NCS has also built Alibaba's Qwen models into its own products. Few other cities would bring that group together.

What is "Singapore-washing," and why does it matter?

‍A Singapore address does not end the scrutiny, though. Manus moved its headquarters from China to Singapore in mid-2025 and agreed that December to be acquired by Meta for about US$2 billion. In April, China's National Development and Reform Commission blocked the deal and ordered it unwound. Commentators read the decision as a warning against “Singapore-washing”, where a company moves its registration offshore while its roots stay in China. Washington, for its part, keeps revising its rules on advanced AI chips, and Singapore and Malaysia have both come under pressure to police where those chips end up.

What questions will Chinese and American AI companies face?

For Chinese AI companies, this means the account they give of themselves matters as much as the product. Customers, partners and regulators in Southeast Asia and India want to know who owns the company, where data is stored, where models are trained and which laws apply. India needs particular care. Since 2020 it has banned a number of Chinese apps and screened investment from neighbouring countries, so a Chinese AI brand entering India should expect those questions early.

American companies are asked their own questions, about export rules, data access and how dependent customers become on a single foreign supplier. Many buyers in the region would rather not have to choose between the two, and a company that can explain how it fits alongside both will find them easier to win.

How should AI companies build trust in Southeast Asia and India?

We would give any AI brand coming into the region six pieces of advice.

1. Make the evidence local
The first is to make the evidence local. A global announcement with Singapore added in the last paragraph gets little attention from editors or buyers here. A named local customer, use case or research partner gets far more. Cognition announced OCBC as a customer when it opened here, and Mistral led with HTX and Singtel. Those names helped both announcements land.

2. Talk about governance early
The second is to talk about governance early. Through IMDA and the AI Verify Foundation, Singapore has built one of the most advanced AI assurance systems anywhere. India's governance gap has now been measured and published. A company that can explain in plain terms how its systems are tested, monitored and held to account will be taken more seriously than one that only talks about what its models can do.

3. Have spokespeople ready well before you need coverage
The third is to have spokespeople ready well before you need coverage. Regional editors want people they can call. A country head who can speak on talent, policy and adoption, alongside a technical lead who can explain the product without jargon, will get more coverage over a year than a steady stream of press releases.

4. Plan for Southeast Asia and India separately
The fourth is to plan for Southeast Asia and India separately. Their media, regulators and buying cycles are different. Within Southeast Asia, Singapore, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Manila each need their own approach. India is one of the largest AI markets in the world, and Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi each influence the conversation in different ways. A single regional press release will not cover all of that.

5. Let customers tell the ROI story
The fifth is to let customers tell the ROI story. With fewer companies reporting strong returns, a measured result from a customer, told by that customer, is worth more than anything about model size or funding.

6. Explain your structure before someone else does
The sixth is to explain your structure before someone else does. Say plainly where the company is owned and governed, where data is held and which regulators you answer to. Chinese companies in particular will be read against the Manus case, and a clear account given early does far more good than one put together in reply to a reporter's questions. American companies should be just as ready to talk about export rules and data access. Neither can assume that a Singapore address answers those questions.

Ellerton & Co. is based in Singapore and works across Southeast Asia and India. We help technology companies entering these markets build a reputation. We shape the market-entry narrative and build relationships with the business, technology and trade press that regional decision-makers read. We also develop executives into credible voices on policy and industry, and plan launches market by market rather than as one regional announcement. We advise companies from the US, Europe, China and across Asia, and we help each prepare for the questions on ownership, data and geopolitics that buyers and reporters here will ask.

The companies setting up here have committed to the region, and they now need customers and regulators to trust them. If you are planning an entry into Singapore, Southeast Asia or India in the next year, we would be happy to talk it through.

Frequently asked questions

Why are AI companies opening offices in Singapore?
Singapore offers political stability, strong AI adoption, an advanced AI governance system, and a neutral base where both US and Chinese AI companies can operate and reach Southeast Asia and India.

Is enterprise AI investment in Southeast Asia still growing?
Yes. About eight in ten organisations plan to increase AI budgets over the next year, according to SAS and IDC. But the share reporting strong returns fell from 36.7% to 28.7%.

What is Singapore-washing?
It describes a company moving its registration to Singapore while its ownership and operations remain rooted in China. China's April 2026 decision to block Meta's acquisition of Manus was widely read as a warning against it.

What does AI governance look like in Singapore?
Singapore's AI assurance system is led by IMDA and the AI Verify Foundation, which provide frameworks and tools for testing and assessing AI systems.

How should an AI company approach India differently from Southeast Asia?
Treat India as its own market, with separate media, regulatory and buyer strategies. Chinese companies in particular should prepare early for questions on ownership and investment, given India's app bans and investment screening since 2020.

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