Red Hat opens Singapore AI centre to scale deployment
Fri, 23rd Oct 2026 (Today)
Red Hat has opened an Asia Pacific AI Centre of Excellence in Singapore, with support from the Singapore Economic Development Board.
The new hub is intended to help organisations across the region move from AI trials to production deployment using open source tools and engineering support. It will also build technical skills in Singapore and support customers across Asia Pacific.
Red Hat said it established the centre in response to rising regional demand for AI systems that can be deployed in business environments. Its engineering teams will focus on two areas: creating software architectures for recurring industry problems, and contributing code to upstream open source projects related to deployment, runtime optimisation and platform management.
Red Hat is also working with the Singapore Defence Science and Technology Agency, which plans to use the centre to explore and co-develop AI and cloud-native systems for defence-related applications. The work is expected to cover AI, cloud computing, application modernisation and edge computing across multi-cloud environments.
Regional hub
By locating the centre in Singapore, Red Hat expects to shorten the feedback loop between customers, partners and its core product teams. It said this should help keep product roadmaps aligned with customer requirements and improve collaboration with organisations across the region.
The centre includes engineers, forward-deployed engineers, architects and project managers focused on supporting AI and machine learning deployments in customer environments.
Skills development is another part of the initiative. Red Hat said the centre will support training and knowledge-building in software engineering, automation, cloud-native development and DevSecOps for customers and partners in Singapore and the wider region.
The collaboration with DSTA adds a public sector and defence dimension to the centre's work. The joint effort will include the development of architectures and operating practices for DevSecOps and day-two operations for AI and cloud systems at scale, across both on-premise and off-premise environments, Red Hat said.
Singapore has positioned itself as a regional base for AI development and deployment, and the new centre fits that broader policy direction. Red Hat said the facility aligns with Singapore's National AI Strategy and is intended to contribute talent, technology and operational use cases to the local ecosystem.
Daniel Aw, Vice President and General Manager, Red Hat Asia Pacific, said the centre reflects a shift in how companies in the region are approaching AI projects.
"AI adoption is moving rapidly from experimentation towards execution, and organisations need open platforms and hands-on engineering expertise to make that transition responsibly. Through Red Hat's APAC AI Centre of Excellence, we are expanding that capability in Singapore. EDB's support enables us to grow the Centre here, while our co-engineering with DSTA demonstrates how it can be applied to complex, real-world use cases," said Aw.
Yueh Chinn Seah, Vice President, Digital Industry Singapore, linked the project to Singapore's broader AI ambitions.
"Red Hat's APAC AI Centre of Excellence deepens Singapore's capabilities in open source enterprise AI. The Centre bolsters Singapore's position as a key AI hub creating opportunities for local talent to deepen their engineering capabilities. We are excited to work with Red Hat to scale AI solutions across Southeast Asia and beyond," said Seah.
DSTA said its work with Red Hat is part of its effort to test and apply newer technologies to defence systems and operations.
"DSTA continually explores new approaches to strengthen the capabilities we deliver for Singapore's defence. Through our collaboration with Red Hat under the AI Centre of Excellence, we look forward to co-engineering and scaling AI and cloud-native solutions relevant to our technology needs for cloud and on-premise environments. As threats become more complex, it is important that we continue to push the boundaries of technology and innovation to stay ahead of the curve," said Chan.