The AI agent market in Singapore: Anthropic's Claude makes an impressive leap, narrowing the gap with ChatGPT
The artificial intelligence market in Singapore is undergoing fundamental changes. Anthropic's Claude model is experiencing explosive growth among local startups, creating serious competition for OpenAI's dominant ChatGPT. According to fresh data from the fintech platform Aspire, over the past 12 months, the number of paying Claude customers in Singapore has increased by 258%, and spending on this platform has grown 17-fold.
Just a year ago, OpenAI's lead was overwhelming: the number of startups paying for ChatGPT was more than four times higher than Anthropic's comparable figure. However, the situation has now changed dramatically. The gap has narrowed to 1.5 times, and Claude's share of total spending by Singaporean startups on AI platforms has reached 37%. This indicates that business users are increasingly favoring alternative solutions that can offer more specialized features or favorable terms.
The overall trend is also impressive: the number of Singaporean startups actively using AI tools has grown by 42%. Meanwhile, the number of companies working with three or more platforms simultaneously has more than doubled. This points to market maturity: startups are no longer relying on a single vendor but are diversifying their AI resources to optimize costs and improve efficiency.
My expert analysis: Claude's growth in Singapore is not just a random spike but a reflection of a global trend. Anthropic has managed to carve out a niche by offering safer and more controllable AI models, which is critically important for fintech and regulatory-sensitive startups in the Asia-Pacific region. If this trend continues, we could see a redistribution of market shares across Southeast Asia within the next 12-18 months.