Amazon said Tuesday it would invest US$9 billion in Singapore over the next four years to expand its cloud computing capabilities in the city.
The announcement comes after fellow tech titan Microsoft unveiled billions of dollars of investment in the same sectors in Southeast Asia last week as firms look to take advantage of growing demand in the region.
Amazon said the figure doubles its investment in the city-state and will help it meet growing demand for cloud services and adopt artificial intelligence.
“AWS (Amazon Web Services) is doubling down on its cloud infrastructure investments in Singapore from 2024 to 2028 to support customer demand, and help reinforce Singapore’s status as an attractive regional innovation launchpad…,” Priscilla Chong, Country Manager of Singapore for AWS, said.
Amazon said its investment will support some 12,000 jobs in Singaporean businesses each year.
It is also partnering with the Singapore government to help local businesses accelerate the adoption of AI.
The e-commerce titan last week said profit in the first three months of 2024 tripled as its cloud, ads, and retail businesses thrived.
The company founded by Jeff Bezos is also testing an AI chatbot named Rufus that provides shopping tips to US mobile app customers.
Meanwhile, generative AI features for sellers help them create product listings.
The company also plans to invest billions of dollars in AWS datacenters in Mexico, Saudi Arabia and the United States in coming years, according to the earnings release last week.
Tech giants such as Amazon and Microsoft have been investing more in Southeast Asia recently.
Microsoft pledged US$2.2 billion in artificial intelligence and cloud computing investment in Malaysia on Thursday.
That announcement came after tech chief Satya Nadella unveiled a US$1.7 bn investment in Indonesia, as well as Thailand’s first data centre region.
The tiny but wealthy and infrastructure-rich Singapore has become a business and technology centre in Southeast Asia, further solidifying its status after the pandemic.
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(Bloomberg) — TPG Inc. will soon close its eighth Asia buyout fund at around $5 billion, with the new portfolio set to slash its China allocation by more than half from prior regional funds, according to a person familiar with the matter.
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The investment firm plans to put about 10% of its Asia VIII pool in China, down from around 25% of invested capital in previous funds, according to the person, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public. TPG will allocate more than 80% in Australia, India and Southeast Asia — up from 70% in the predecessor fund, the person said. The rest will go to South Korea.
About $2 billion of the pool has already been invested, with zero investment in China so far. That has helped give the fund a strong start with a net internal rate of return of 129%, according to its earnings presentation last month. Around 70% of the initial spend has gone in India and Australia.
TPG’s exposure to China through the new fund will likely be among the lowest for global asset managers as Wall Street rivals from Carlyle Group to Warburg Pincus diversify away from China amid economic growth concern and escalating political tensions with the US. Japan and India are among the countries benefiting as capital flows to where returns are expected to be higher.
TPG early next month plans to announce the final close of the Asia VIII fund. A spokesperson declined to comment on the details.
Greater China, the region’s private equity powerhouse, suffered the biggest contraction in deal activity in 2022, contributing to a 53% drop in volume from a year earlier. That shrank Greater China’s share of Asia-Pacific deals to a nine-year low of 31%, according to a Bain & Co. report.
TPG’s $4.6 billion Asia VII fund has a net return of 14%, dragged by China investments, according to the person and public filings.
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Australia is establishing a A$2 billion ($1.3 billion) investment financing facility to boost investment in Southeast Asia (SEA) as part of several economic initiatives announced at this week’s Asean-Australia Special Summit to commemorate 50 years of dialogue in Melbourne.
The initiatives include recommendations from Invested: Australia’s Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040, launched last year by Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese to deepen Australia’s economic engagement with SEA, according to a media release from the Australian government.
Addressing 100 Australian and SEA CEOs at a summit on March 5, Albanese unveiled the initiatives, which included a A$2 billion fund called the Southeast Asia Investment Financing Facility (SEAIFF) to be managed by Export Finance Australia. The SEAIFF will provide loans, guarantees, equity and insurance for projects that are designed to boost Australian trade and investment in SEA, particularly in support of the region’s clean energy transition and infrastructure development, the statement said.
A$140 million has been allocated over four years to extend the Partnerships for Infrastructure Program. The Program is designed to support efforts to improve regional infrastructure development and attract more diverse and quality infrastructure finance. The program has been running since 2021 and has assisted partners to accelerate transport connectivity, the clean energy transition and telecommunications reforms.
Australia has also appointed 10 ‘business champions’ to facilitate greater commercial links between Australia and the economies of Asean. The champions are senior Australian business leaders. According to The Australian, Macquarie’s group CEO Shemera Wikramanayake is one of the champions and has been tasked with opening up opportunities with the Philippines, while ANZ’s chief executive Shayne Elliott has been given responsibility for Singapore.
Landing Pads
Another initiative is the launch of regional technology ‘Landing Pads’ in Jakarta (Indonesia) and in Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam). The new Landing Pads will provide on-the-ground support for Australian businesses to boost technology services exports to SEA markets, following the establishment of the initial ‘Landing Pad’ in Singapore in 2017.
Business visitor visas to those from SEA will be extended from three to five years. The 10-year Frequent Traveller stream will be extended to eligible Asean member states and Timor-Leste.
Albanese said: “Australia’s economic future lies in our region. I’m proud to lead a government that is strengthening our trade and investment ties with SEA, directly contributing to our shared economic prosperity. These initiatives represent further investments in our future and ensure we are working with SEA as it continues to grow in economic size and reach.”
He added: “When our region prospers, Australia prospers. Our work internationally is delivering for Australians – for jobs, for our economy and for our people.”
Australia’s two-way investment with Asean was worth A$307 billion in 2022. Two-way trade with Asean accounted for A$178 billion in 2022, accounting for 15% of Australia’s trade, which is greater than its trade with Japan or the US.
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