Issue #16 of Data+AI in Asia

Welcome to this week’s Data+AI in Asia! We start it off with the release of the annual AI Index Report from Stanford University’s Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence and then look at several interesting country- and firm-level developments during the week. Happy reading!

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This week in Data+AI in Asia:

• HAI Releases the 2024 AI Index Report
• Apple in Talks About Investing in Manufacturing and AI in Indonesia
• Baidu’s LLM Ernie Bot Has More Than 200 Million Users
• World’s Largest Chip Maker TSMC Reports Better-than-expected Results Driven by AI Demand
• Oracle Will Offer up to 10,000 AI Training Slots in Singapore
• Malaysia’s ‘Silicon Valley’ Penang Pushed Towards Higher End of Chip Value Chain
• South Korean Computer Vision AI Startup Upstage Raises $72M, Enters US Market
• Asia’s Rising AI Startups

HAI Releases the 2024 AI Index Report

Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI) AI Index Report 2024 was released this week. As usual, there is a lot to take in from the report. Here are the highlights:

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• AI vs humans: AI beats humans on certain but far from all tasks.
• Industry vs Academia:? Industry is still in the lead when it comes to frontier AI research. Last year, the industry contributed with 51 notable ML models, while academia produced 15. Interestingly, as many as 21 notable models came out of industry-academia collaborations.
• Cost: Frontier models have become much more expensive, and the training costs of state-of-the-art AI models have reached unprecedented levels.
• Origination: The US is still in front of China, the EU, and the U.K. as the leading source of top AI models.
• Evaluation lags: we still lack robust and well-standardized evaluation processes for LLM responsibility
• Investments: Generative AI investment skyrockets (no surprise here…)
• Productivity: the report argues that AI results in higher productivity and quality work.
• Science: AI enables further acceleration of scientific progress.
• Regulations: The number of US AI regulations increases sharply.
• Awareness: People around the world are more aware of the potential impact of AI, and are more nervous about the technology as well.

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One thing I found really interesting that the direct responses from South Korea. The report suggested that South Korea had not developed any foundational AI models. This has been refuted by the South Korean government and others. It is quite clear that the report has not included many models being developed in markets such as China and South Korea. I see this as a clear sign of how rapid the development in AI is right now, not the least in the generative AI space. In addition, it brings attention to the need to take reports such as this with a grain of salt.

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You can download the report here

You find information on the report and South Korea’s response here and here

Apple in Talks About Investing in Manufacturing and AI in Indonesia

Exciting times in Indonesia… Apple’s CEO Tim Cook visited Indonesia this week and had a lot of positive things to say. Apple is considering building a manufacturing facility in Indonesia after meeting President Joko Widodo (Jokowi), who aims to increase local content through partnerships with domestic firms. Apple currently has no manufacturing facilities in Indonesia but has been setting up app developer academies since 2018. Indonesia's industry minister, Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita, said that if Apple decides to build a facility, it would have the capacity to produce for export. Later, Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Luhut Binsar Padjaitan, also revealed that Apple is interested in investing in the development of AI in the new capital city of Nusantara. Luhut also mentioned the AI Center development in Bali and Solo, Central Java. Luhut also mentioned the government's readiness to provide incentives, similar to those in India and Thailand, to attract Apple investment. He suggested Indonesia should follow Thailand and India's example by adjusting domestic regulations. While these are early discussions and things are still far from such a thing as a done deal, it is interesting to see the rapid increase in interest in Indonesia both in terms of the domestic market and manufacturing.

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Read more about Tim Cook’s visit here

And about the information from Luhut here

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Baidu’s LLM Ernie Bot Has More Than 200 million Users

I think this makes it the leading LLM in the Chinese market... Baidu's AI chatbot, Ernie Bot, has attracted over 200 million users, according to co-founder Robin Li Yanhong. The chatbot has already attracted enterprise client numbers exceeding 85,000. Baidu introduced three tools based on Ernie, the large language model (LLM) behind Baidu's ChatGPT-like service, for developers to build applications, AI agents, and models without the need to know how to code. Baidu is playing a leading role in generating revenues and profits from AI chatbots in China's relatively closed market, with over 200 LLMs jostling for space. Ernie was released in March 2023 as China's first answer to OpenAI's ChatGPT, which is not available in mainland China. Baidu unveiled an updated version of Ernie Bot in October and launched a paid version of Ernie 4.0 in November for 59.9 yuan per month.

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Read more here (paywall)

World’s Largest Chip Maker TSMC Reports Better-than-expected Results Driven by AI Demand

The AI frenzy continues to drive rapid growth in the chip sector… Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) reported better-than-expected revenue and profit for the first quarter. The results were driven by strong demand for advanced AI chips. The company, a major supplier to Nvidia and Apple, increased its net revenue by 16.5% to NT$592.64 billion ($18.87 billion), surpassing the LSEG consensus estimate of NT$582.94 billion. Net income increased 8.9% to NT$225.49 billion, beating the expected NT$213.59 billion. TSMC expects a potential 30% rise in second-quarter sales, highlighting the "insatiable" demand for AI-related semiconductors. The company's net profit margin remains one of the highest in the company's history, at 40%, compared to an industry average of 14%. The company's commitment to maintaining its technological edge and meeting the growing global demand for advanced chips is evident in its ongoing expansion plans in the United States, Japan, and Germany.

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Read more here

And here

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Oracle Will Offer up to 10,000 AI Training Slots in Singapore

Educational efforts in the AI space and Singapore - definitely not the first time we have seen those two together in this newsletter… Oracle is set to provide free AI training to up to 10,000 students and professionals in Singapore over the next three years, as part of its 36-year investment in the country. This initiative is expected to contribute significantly to Singapore's vision to triple the nation's AI practitioners to 15,000 over the next five years. In April 2023, Oracle offered up to 300 internships and apprenticeships to students and graduates across five polytechnics in Singapore. The latest education initiative is to provide up to 10,000 places at Oracle University, offering free foundational training in AI, cloud computing, cyber security, and data management. Professional-level training and certifications, including the Gen AI Professional Certification, will be payable. Oracle is also opening a second data center in Singapore in July to meet the large computing appetites of AI training and digitalization in the region. The company's updated AI strategy focuses on nurturing talent, promoting a thriving AI industry, and sustaining it with the needed infrastructure and research.

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Read more here

Malaysia’s ‘Silicon Valley’ Penang Pushed Towards Higher End of Chip Value Chain

There was a great piece on the push to move a favorite place of mine, the island of Penang, to the higher end of the chip value chain in Nikkei Asia this week! Oppstar, a chip design company, was listed on the Malaysian stock exchange last year. The listing marked a significant moment for the Southeast Asian country's semiconductor industry revitalization. The company's stock price surged 286% on its first trading day, attracting executives from leading American, Japanese, and European chip firms. However, Malaysia still needs more front-end companies to excel and have a significant international presence to lift its profile in front-end markets. Malaysia is re-emerging as a major destination for chip investment as companies like Intel and Infineon Technologies diversify their production footprints. The country is the world's sixth-largest semiconductor exporter and the largest contributor to U.S. semiconductor imports. So far, Malaysia has been eclipsed by South Korea and Taiwan in technologically advanced areas of chip manufacturing. Almost 90% of the world's total semiconductor equipment spending is for wafer fabrication processes. Malaysia's chip industry faces challenges in attracting and retaining talent, as the country relies heavily on foreign multinationals and has a skilled workforce. Developing a more advanced chip industry with a skilled workforce is critical for Malaysia, as other Asian countries, like Vietnam, Thailand, and Singapore, also compete.

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I highly recommend you read the article here (paywall)

South Korean Computer Vision AI Startup Upstage Raises $72M, Enters US Market

It's Interesting to see South Korean AI startups expanding abroad… South Korea's AI startup Upstage, has raised around 100 billion won ($72 million) in its latest funding round. In total, it has now raised nearly 140 billion won from investors. The Korean startup plans to use the proceeds to accelerate its global push, focusing on the US market, where it has recently opened new operations. Upstage won about 10 billion won worth of new orders for its intelligence document processing AI solution Document AI and Solar large language model (LLM) API in the first quarter of this year. The company is currently in negotiations with various customers at home and abroad to deliver its AI programs in new deals worth about 30 billion won. Upstage set up its US entity at the end of February to offer its AI programs to more global enterprises.

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Read more here

And here

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Asia’s Rising AI Startups

This week, Tech in Asia published an updated list of AI startups in Asia that have raised money recently. The list includes companies that have raised money up to the series E stage, so it is quite a wide spread in terms of firm maturity and size. While I will leave a closer inspection of the list to you readers, a few things are worth noting. China is certainly a dominant force in the AI startup space from a regional perspective. 22 out of the 50 companies are based in China. Moreover, most of the companies that have attracted larger-scale funding are Chinese. South Korea, Singapore, and India have quite a large number of companies on the list as well. It should also be noted that the list shows the challenge when it comes to collecting this type of data. For example, it says US$0 under Moonshot AI, a Chinese AI startup that we have been following in this newsletter and that we know successfully raised US$1 billion earlier this year. I still recommend those interested in Asia’s AI startup ecosystem take a closer look at the list. It serves as a good starting point when exploring developments in this space.

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You can find the list here