Opening Address by SMS Tan Kiat How at the APAC Finance Forum

I am here to speak to you today because MDDI is looking at digital infrastructure very seriously. In fact, next month I'll be in Parliament for the Second Reading of the Digital Infrastructure Bill that focuses on security and resilience, or what we define as digital infrastructure -- primarily data centres as well as cloud service providers.

We are not looking at just security and resilience, but also sustainability, and the kind of energy efficiency standards that we think that digital infrastructure in Singapore should adhere to in the coming years.

So, I wanted to come by and share some perspectives, and in a way, share a bit of thinking, and of course welcome views and suggestions and feedback along the way.

AI is creating a new infrastructure investment cycle. Across Asia, capital is flowing into data centres, energy, connectivity and compute.

Naturally, much of the attention is on one question: Where will all this new infrastructure be built?

At the same time, I think we should ask a bigger question: How do we build an infrastructure system for the AI economy of the future that is connected, investable, resilient and sustainable?

Because the AI infrastructure race will not be won by megawatts alone. It will be won by how well we connect compute, energy, networks, capital, businesses — and trust.

And that is where I believe Southeast Asia has a major opportunity.

The future of AI infrastructure in Southeast Asia will be regional.

In fact, just before I came to this event, I was at another event hosted by an infrastructure and chips company.  It brought together government leaders in Southeast Asia.

I was sharing views and having discussions with my counterparts, and indeed, we believe that, in Southeast Asia, the future of AI infrastructure is a regional one.

Different markets bring different strengths. Some have more abundant land and energy. Others have large domestic markets, industrial ecosystems or deep pools of talent.