Claude is rapidly catching up with ChatGPT: Singapore startups are shifting priorities
The market for AI assistants in Singapore is undergoing a tectonic shift. Analytics from the fintech platform Aspire record an explosive growth in interest in Anthropic's Claude among local startups. Over the past 12 months, the number of paying customers of the service has jumped by 258%, and spending on it has increased 17-fold — one of the most impressive growth metrics in the region.
The gap is closing at a record pace
Just a year ago, OpenAI's ChatGPT dominated with a massive lead: its number of paying startup clients in Singapore was more than four times higher than Anthropic's. Today, the situation is radically different — the gap has narrowed to 1.5 times. Moreover, Claude's share of total spending by Singaporean startups on AI platforms has reached 37%, indicating a significant reallocation of budgets.
General trend toward AI integration
Overall, the Singaporean startup ecosystem shows steady growth in AI adoption: the number of companies using AI tools has increased by 42%. Particularly telling is the rise in multi-platform users — the number of startups working simultaneously with three or more AI services has more than doubled. This suggests that businesses are moving away from relying on a single provider and are seeking to diversify their technological risks.
My expert assessment: Claude's sharp surge is not a coincidence but a natural result of intensifying competition in the language model market. Anthropic has managed to offer a niche product with an emphasis on safety and controllability, which is especially valuable for startups working with sensitive data. However, maintaining this pace will be challenging: OpenAI is clearly preparing countermeasures, and in the coming quarters, we will see a new wave of price and feature wars.