The AI agent market in Singapore: Anthropic's Claude narrows the gap with ChatGPT
A significant shift is occurring in the ecosystem of Singaporean startups. Demand for Anthropic's AI agent Claude is experiencing explosive growth: over the past year, the number of paying customers for this service has increased by 258%, and spending on it has grown 17-fold. These figures, obtained from an analysis by the fintech platform Aspire, point to fundamental changes in the preferences of tech teams.
Just a year ago, OpenAI led by a huge margin — its ChatGPT service had more than four times as many paying startup clients in Singapore as Claude. However, the dynamics of recent months have radically altered the balance of power. Now the gap has narrowed to 1.5 times, and Claude's share of total spending on AI platforms among local startups has reached 37%.
The overall trend is also impressive: the number of Singaporean startups actively using AI tools has grown by 42%. At the same time, companies are increasingly adopting multi-platform strategies — the number of firms working simultaneously with three or more AI platforms has more than doubled. This indicates that entrepreneurs are seeking to diversify risks and choose the best solutions for specific tasks, rather than relying on a single provider.
My analysis: Claude's growth in Singapore is no coincidence. Anthropic has bet on model safety and transparency, which is especially valued in regulated jurisdictions like Singapore. If this trend continues, we could see parity between Claude and ChatGPT in this segment within the next six months. Startups should closely monitor the development of both platforms, as competition drives quality improvements and price reductions.