SINGAPORE – Singapore-based cryptocurrency miner Bitdeer Technologies Group is looking to provide artificial intelligence (AI) computing power in Asia, starting with Singapore businesses.

The Nasdaq-listed firm, which focuses on blockchain and high-performance computing, on Friday said it plans to launch its platform, Bitdeer AI Cloud, in the first quarter of 2024.

The platform is said to be among the first cloud services in the region powered by Nvidia’s hardware and software systems for enterprises.

Bitdeer chief executive Matt Kong Linghui on Friday said the launch will be carried out in phases.

Currently, the group is building its first AI cloud data centre in Singapore, which is expected to start operating in November. The software is being developed concurrently, said Mr Kong.

“There are so many advanced AI ideas in this region, but the infrastructure and the resources to fulfil these kinds of ideas are very expensive and hard to attain,” he noted.

Mr Kong added at a briefing that the group is looking to roll out its AI services to local companies here, before expanding to Indonesia and Malaysia.

Besides large enterprises and start-ups that want to accelerate AI and data science initiatives, people from governments and universities working on cutting-edge research will also be able to gain access to AI through the new platform, he said.

“There are more and more companies that will operate with these cloud service providers to integrate AI into their services and products. So I believe as the technology evolves, AI will (play) a transformative role in the future in all industries,” Mr Kong said. 

Over the longer term, he said the group has a presence in the United States, Europe and Asia. This will provide the firm with a base from which to expand.

On Friday, Bitdeer announced its partnership with American AI chip giant Nvidia, whose graphics processing units dominate the market for AI.

Under the tie-up, Bitdeer is a preferred cloud service provider in the Nvidia partner network.

Mr Dennis Ang, Nvidia’s senior director for enterprise business for Asean, Australia and New Zealand, said the key barriers to organisations accessing AI are the high cost and lack of skills sets.

“Rather than having to, on their own, try to build their skills sets to understand how to operate in a computing environment, how to use the application environment, we have partners like Nvidia that can, over time, shorten their learning curve,” he said.