ASEAN
ASEAN AI Infrastructure Is Moving Closer to Local Software Builders
Chinese technology company Runjian is expanding its Token-as-a-Service model across Southeast Asia, supported by operating branches in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. The company presented its regional AI infrastructure and applications at AIMX Singapore 2026. For smaller ASEAN software companies, the development adds another potential infrastructure route for deploying AI products without building or owning expensive computing capacity themselves.
Halal Compliance Could Become the Next Vertical AI Export Market
Singapore-founded Smobler is exploring whether an AI platform originally built for small food entrepreneurs in Hawaiʻi can be adapted for Halal compliance across Southeast Asia and the Middle East. The move provides an unusually concrete example of a vertical AI product travelling internationally because the underlying compliance problem repeats across markets, even when the regulations and certification processes change.