Singtel, a leading communications technology group in Asia, has entered into a strategic partnership with Bridge Alliance, a global mobile alliance comprising 35 member operators. This collaboration aims to bring Singtel’s GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS) to enterprises across the region, with leading Southeast Asian telcos like AIS, Maxis, and Telkomsel among the early adopters. These telcos are gearing up to meet the rising demand for AI computing in Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia.
This partnership follows Singtel’s February announcement about launching its GPUaaS later this year. The service will provide enterprises with access to NVIDIA’s AI computing power, enabling rapid and cost-effective AI deployment to drive growth and innovation at scale.
AI adoption is poised to significantly impact Southeast Asia’s economy, potentially adding nearly US$1 trillion by 2030. Regional governments have acknowledged AI’s transformative potential, launching national AI roadmaps to responsibly maximize its benefits.
As part of this agreement, Bridge Alliance member operators (BMOs) will gain access to Singtel’s GPUaaS. As the demand for GPU resources grows in these countries, additional GPU clusters will be deployed to support business expansion. Bridge Alliance will assist BMOs in expediting their go-to-market strategies and ensuring the successful implementation of GPUaaS for enterprises. Bill Chang, CEO of Singtel’s Digital InfraCo unit, expressed enthusiasm about the collaboration, highlighting the potential to democratize and accelerate AI adoption across industries. He emphasized that this partnership aligns with Singtel’s goal of driving innovation and supporting Southeast Asia’s digital transformation.
Singtel has been at the forefront of AI integration, particularly through its Paragon platform, which was pivotal in bringing AI to the 5G edge during the 5G@Sentosa trials for Singapore government agencies. Paragon facilitated a multi-edge compute and NVIDIA GPU environment, enabling rapid deployment of 5G use cases. Mr. Chang noted that as more telcos roll out 5G services, real-time AI powered by GPUaaS at the 5G edge will become a significant growth driver for enterprise businesses.
Dr. Ong Geok Chwee, CEO of Bridge Alliance, expressed excitement about bringing GPUaaS and AI computing to enterprises through the Alliance’s extensive network. She highlighted the value of the Bridge Alliance ecosystem in driving optimization and innovation, especially for companies with multinational operations.
Phupa Akavipat, acting Chief Enterprise Business Officer of AIS, underscored the rapid adoption of AI across industries and the benefits of the GPUaaS model in Thailand. He emphasized that this collaboration will help create sustainable digital value for businesses.
Goh Seow Eng, CEO of Maxis, highlighted the advantages of bringing GPUaaS to Malaysia, noting that it offers a cost-effective way for businesses to access high-performance computing for AI and other complex workloads. He reiterated Maxis’ commitment to simplifying access to digital solutions for businesses.
Wong Soon Nam, Director of Planning and Transformation at Telkomsel, emphasized the importance of this collaboration in accelerating AI adoption in Indonesia. He noted that the partnership provides a scalable, cost-efficient platform for businesses to leverage AI across various use cases, contributing to Indonesia’s digital transformation.
At launch, Singtel’s GPUaaS will be powered by NVIDIA H100 Tensor Core GPU clusters, with plans to introduce NVIDIA’s next-generation GB200 AI Servers. The service will expand to new, AI-ready data centers by Nxera, Singtel’s regional data center business, starting mid-2025 across Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia.
