Singapore commits S$48 million to digital content and AI capability programme
IMDA says the four-year programme will support digital content development, new formats and AI-assisted workflows for Singapore media professionals and companies.
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News & Signals
ADB and HDBank tie $100 million loan to women-owned MSME finance in Viet Nam
At least 40% of ADB’s financing is earmarked for women-owned micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, according to the bank’s official release.
ADB approves $2 million flood-recovery grant for southern Thailand
The Asian Development Bank says its emergency grant will support public-health services and affected communities following severe flooding in southern Thailand.
Singapore launches AI fluency path for 60,000 accountancy and finance professionals
IMDA and ISCA have launched AIxAccountancy, a free two-phase programme tied to a three-year ambition to upskill 60,000 accountancy and corporate-finance professionals.
M1’s $0.99 roaming launch puts China and multi-market travel back on Singapore telecom watchlists
M1 says its new Worldwide Daily Passport gives customers 3GB of roaming data for $0.99 per 24 hours across 78 destinations, including China and other key Singapore travel corridors.
Maybank Indonesia Syariah and Muslim Pro turn embedded Islamic banking into a live Indonesia product signal
Audax says Amanah Pro is now live with Maybank Indonesia Syariah and Muslim Pro, embedding a Shariah-compliant Hajj savings journey directly inside the Muslim Pro app.
OpenAI’s ChatGPT Work launch sharpens the enterprise agentic-workflow signal for Asia teams
OpenAI says ChatGPT Work can gather context across tools, files and desktop apps to create finished outputs, putting agentic workflows closer to everyday business operations.
Bitdeer’s Nevada plant adds a Singapore-linked AI hardware manufacturing signal to the infrastructure watchlist
Bitdeer says it has broken ground on a US$36 million advanced electronics manufacturing facility in Nevada, extending a Singapore-headquartered AI and bitcoin-infrastructure player further into hardware production.
The IMF puts Malaysia and Thailand inside Asia’s top AI hardware export group
The IMF’s July 2026 World Economic Outlook update says the top four AI hardware exporters are Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan Province of China and Thailand, with Malaysia and Thailand also seeing stronger growth from the technology cycle.
Temasek’s 15% AI target puts Singapore capital deeper into the infrastructure and software stack
Temasek says AI-related exposure currently represents 6% of portfolio value and that it aims to increase this to up to 15% by 2031 across the value chain.
Sprouts.ai’s $9 million round puts revenue agents back on the enterprise sales watchlist
A company-issued release says Sprouts.ai has raised a US$9 million Pre-Series A round led by True Global Ventures and Accel to scale revenue agents built on a proprietary go-to-market data layer.
Thailand’s $1.99 billion BOI approvals put AI infrastructure and electronics back on the regional watchlist
Thailand’s Board of Investment says nine approved projects worth USD 1.99 billion span AI infrastructure, advanced electronics, aviation, clean energy and food.