AI gains a place in financial decisions, but banks retain consumers’ trust
UOB’s five-market survey finds widespread reported use of AI advice, alongside a continuing preference for trusted financial institutions and human expertise.
Southeast Asia Connect
News
Named and dated developments across Southeast Asia.
Sungrow and ERS advance battery projects in Malaysia and the Philippines
Two four-hour storage projects total 997 MWh, pairing Malaysian grid flexibility with a Philippine scheme designed for wholesale power trading.
Philippine Seven turns to RELEX to replace spreadsheet stock planning
The 7-Eleven operator’s programme covers 27 distribution centres, with genieX supporting implementation and local integration.
BCDA advances utilities for New Clark City manufacturing hub
The Philippines is preparing infrastructure for a planned 1,600-hectare Pax Silica zone, while tenants, financing and the timetable for industrial operations remain open.
MIDA shifts Malaysia’s data-centre focus towards local value
Malaysia has drawn RM385.7 billion of data-centre-related investment since 2021; the next policy test is whether that scale produces local suppliers, skills and resource-efficient operations.
ASEAN employers shift from broad hiring to targeted capability bets
A six-market survey puts selective recruitment, operational efficiency and AI investment at the centre of business planning, while showing why regional averages need country-level interpretation.
Malaysia ties AI capacity to an RM20bn growth ambition
A government target puts economic value, jobs and sustainability ahead of raw computing capacity, sharpening the delivery questions for Malaysia’s expanding digital-infrastructure market.
Zankore’s US$3.1bn loan moves Indonesia’s AI build-out into financing
The syndicated facility gives the new Indosat-linked platform capital for an initial 100MW of Nvidia-powered capacity, shifting attention from ambition to utilisation, power and delivery.
VinFast and GSM leadership changes put execution accountability in focus
The change matters because the two companies sit on different parts of an electric-mobility operating chain: vehicle manufacturing and fleet-led service deployment.
Ant International puts a wallet-to-merchant permission layer into view
The practical question for Southeast Asia is whether a common permission model can make cross-border agent-led payments more understandable before it becomes widely deployed.
ZTE brings its AI-network pitch to Kuala Lumpur as ASEAN operators face a delivery test
At a summit co-located with GSMA M360 ASEAN, ZTE presented a connectivity-plus-computing strategy against a regional backdrop of heavy network investment, uneven access and rising demands for trust.
Thailand’s third FastPass batch links a US$3.66 billion industrial pipeline to IPO incentives
BOI’s latest batch concentrates on electronics while new capital-market measures offer eligible promoted companies longer tax benefits and adjusted listing routes.