The AI agent market in Singapore: Anthropic's Claude is rapidly catching up to ChatGPT
An impressive shift is underway in Singapore's startup sector: Claude by Anthropic is experiencing explosive growth in popularity. Over the past 12 months, the number of paying corporate clients 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, indicate a fundamental change in the competitive dynamics of the AI agent market.
Closing the Gap with OpenAI
Just a year ago, OpenAI led Anthropic by more than four times in the number of paying startups in Singapore. Today, that gap has narrowed to 1.5 times. Claude's share of total AI platform spending by Singaporean startups has already reached 37% — a serious signal for all market participants. This growth comes amid a 42% overall increase in the number of startups using AI tools.
The Trend Toward Multi-Platform Use
Particularly noteworthy is the strategy of the startups themselves: the number of companies simultaneously working with three or more AI platforms has more than doubled. This indicates that the market is not moving toward a monopoly but is instead choosing to diversify its tools. Startups are testing different models, optimizing costs and functionality for specific business tasks.
My analysis: The AI agent market is entering a phase of mature competition. While ChatGPT maintains its lead in reach, Claude is winning through specialization and response quality in the B2B segment. If Anthropic continues to accelerate its pace, we could see parity in client numbers as early as next year. Betting on multi-platform use is the right strategy for startups, as it reduces dependence on a single provider and allows for better results by combining the strengths of different models.