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Collin Furtado · · 6 min read

The chip companies that make SEA a genAI hub

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Hi there,

A few weeks earlier, I received a message from my internet service provider about a temporary disconnection issue due to a cable line getting severed. It made me realize that in a world that has become wireless and cloud-based, everything still depends on physical hardware.

You have Wi-Fi only because there are networks of deep-sea fiber cables connecting everyone.

There are parallels here to AI. While everyone marvels at the capabilities of foundational models by OpenAI, Google, and Meta, I find it fascinating how humans are able to create hardware that cram so much processing power into a small chip. These AI chips are the reason why foundational models are able to generate anything you need quickly.

In our first Big Story, my colleague Lokesh maps out the AI chip and hardware makers in Southeast Asia providing the graphic processing units to power the generative AI race. With the region already being a semiconductor hub, it has all the necessary ingredients for the manufacturing of AI hardware to grow.

Top chipmaker Nvidia is looking to set up in Vietnam, and its founder and CEO Jensen Huang recently said that Malaysia can become an AI hub in the region. Currently, many of Southeast Asia’s AI chips and components manufacturers are based in Singapore.

Speaking of the city-state, in our second Big Story, my colleague Scott spotlights a cryptoless blockchain company called Stability Protocol that is working with Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority to digitalize the document system in its ports.

It has gone back to blockchain’s roots to develop a network that doesn’t use cryptocurrencies. This is giving it inroads even into China – a market that has banned crypto.

Coming back to genAI, in this week’s AI Odyssey, I explore how the technology has been weaponized by militaries across the world to seek and destroy.

But first, the Big Stories!

Collin


THE BIG STORY

1️⃣Mapping the key genAI chip and components makers in SEA

Photo credit: karneg / 123RF


AI ODYSSEY


NEWS YOU SHOULD KNOW


FYI


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TIA Writer

Collin Furtado

Emerging tech editor at TIA who covers startup sectors as AI, EVs, climatetech, agritech, healthtech, and others. His work comprises of investigative stories, profiles, and visual/data pieces.