[SINGAPORE] As artificial intelligence reshapes the business landscape worldwide, its underlying infrastructure is drawing attention as a crucial enabler of AI-driven growth.

For South-east Asia, the AI wave goes further than enabling businesses to grow revenues through adoption of the technology. Rather, the region can tap growing demand for infrastructure within the AI value chain to generate returns.

“The AI story is not just a technology story,” said Edmund Leong, head of group corporate banking and sector solutions group at UOB . “It is also an economic growth story.”

He made these remarks during a panel showcase last Friday (Jul 31) at the Asean Conference 2026, organised by the Singapore Business Federation.

He said that businesses have increasingly adopted AI models to improve operations and workflows across multiple sectors, from healthcare and financial services to manufacturing.

Deploying those models requires immense computing power, Leong told The Business Times in an interview during the conference.

“That compute comes from AI servers that train and run these models, which in turn drives investment throughout the ecosystem.”

Those components ultimately ...