Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong name-dropped two of the country’s largest companies during his budget address on Thursday, citing them as role models as the Southeast Asian country embraces artificial intelligence as a way to future-proof its economy.
The country is setting up a new AI council, helmed by Wong himself, to oversee the development and execution of “national AI missions” in four key areas: advanced manufacturing, connectivity, finance and healthcare.
“Harnessed well, AI will be a strategic advantage for Singapore,” Wong said during his Feb. 12 budget address. “It can help us overcome our structural constraints—our limited natural resources, rapidly ageing population and tight labor market.”
Singapore’s prime minister also called on companies to adopt AI “comprehensively”, and pointed to two leading Southeast Asia 500 firms as examples. “A few leading companies like DBS and Grab are already moving decisively on AI transformation,” he said. Both DBS and Grab, No. 7 and No. 128 on the Fortune Southeast Asia 500 respectively, are early adopters of AI.
Grab, Southeast Asia’s leading ride-hailing platform, has integrated AI across its different services, including deliveries and finance. For example, Grab uses AI to automate menu translations in its food delivery app, allowing customers to easily access restaurant menus, even when traveling abroad.
During an earnings briefing with analysts on Feb. 12, Grab chief operating officer Alex Hungate added that the company’s in-house AI model now dispatches vehicles for 90% of ride-hailing requests.
“We invest deeply in our staff—upskilling our people to use AI confidently and reskilling them for new roles in the AI era,” Tan tells Fortune. While DBS equips all employees with basic AI skills, it’s identified more than 11,000 individuals in jobs that could use AI to be more effective for role-specific training sessions.
As part of its 2026 budget, Singapore’s government also plans to launch a new “Champions of AI” program to provide enterprise transformation and training support to firms aspiring to incorporate AI in their business. Workers in non-tech sectors can also access the “TechSkills Accelerator” program, which has been expanded to allow mid-career workers to transition into tech roles, including those in the emerging AI sector.
