Huawei launches cloud, AI lab in Singapore
Chinese tech giant Huawei yesterday announced the launch of a cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) innovation lab in Singapore, while pledging to commit "hundreds of millions" worth of investment in the Republic and the Asia-Pacific market in the coming years.
The main aim of the new lab, which will be "available for everyone to use", is to promote cloud and AI technologies to be adopted in Singapore, said Mr Edward Deng, vice-president of the cloud business unit at the firm.
Mr Deng told reporters on the sidelines of the Huawei Cloud Summit 2019 that the open lab mechanism has been shown to be effective in China, Hong Kong and Europe.
It is meant to serve developers, university students and companies, as well as provide a platform to launch projects for public benefit, he said.
Mr Deng cited several ways that Huawei's open lab mechanism would operate.
University students, for example, will be invited to join and develop whatever they wanted, he said.
For companies, the lab could showcase AI applications in specific sectors and gather industry players to work together.
"For example, we may have one week for the medical industry where we can invite hospitals to share their practices in AI," said Mr Deng.
He hopes to use the lab to roll out projects in environmental protection, disaster management and pollution prevention.
Speaking at the summit, Infocomm Media Development chief executive Tan Kiat How said cloud services, higher speed broadbands and next-generation networks are some of the crucial components for digital transformation here.
He said: "It is important for Singapore, which is a small and open economy, to work with all partners. And we are very pleased to invite all cloud service providers and important technology players from around the world to be part of our ecosystem."
Mr Deng said the firm has earmarked Singapore to be one of its largest cloud nodes outside of China.
Huawei's expansion in Singapore and the region comes as it faces accusations in the West of spying and intellectual property theft. When asked if these allegations had affected its business here, Huawei International chief executive Nicholas Ma said there has been no impact and the local business has enjoyed good growth in the first quarter.
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