Singtel’s subsidiary NCS announced on Thursday that it will invest S$130 million (about $102 million) over the next three years to help lead change in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region, as artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more important for driving progress.
NCS said in a statement that it has outlined a vision where technology transcends borders, best practices are shared across diverse markets, and AI serves to advance communities rather than replace human capability.
The company launched Sunshine.AI, a set of AI tools designed to help organizations create smart solutions more easily.
It also formed important partnerships with top global tech companies and is working more closely with research institutions. This helps build a strong network of AI experts and boosts NCS’s AI skills and leadership in the region.
“With AI reshaping industries as it becomes more accessible than before, we’re partnering government agencies and enterprises to help them harness the best of AI, not just for efficiency gains but to advance communities,” said NCS Chief Executive Officer Ng Kuo Pin.
“Expanding our APAC footprint and doubling down on collaborations with technology leaders are still important in a bifurcated world,
“The investment we are making over the next three years and our blueprint are anchored by three pillars – Intelligentization,
Internationalization and Inspiration – will better enable our people and clients to create new business outcomes and build a resilient, innovative future with AI,” he added.
Intelligentization is a complete and organized way of adding smart technology (AI) into everyday business tasks, government systems, and people’s experiences.
This means building AI not as separate tools, but as a key part of how decisions are made, services are delivered, and operations run.
At the heart of this are special tools, methods, and accelerators developed by NCS.
NCS’ accelerators include unique frameworks, ready-to-use code, and toolkits that help AI think and act like humans — seeing, understanding, deciding, and doing.
This approach also understands that AI can only work well if the system is strong and secure. That includes good cybersecurity, strong data systems, reliable apps, solid infrastructure, and responsive operations.
All these parts are needed to help organizations use AI successfully over the long term.
NCS has signed a five-year agreement with Singapore’s HTX to help build its core data systems, add smart features like Agentic AI, use secure technologies that are ready for the future, and expand the use of robots.
This partnership will bring together data from different Home Team agencies and add advanced AI to improve how they work.
Also, Singtel Group is working with NCS to make AI a key part of its business and use it to drive growth.
As Singtel’s AI expert, NCS will create solutions using its complete set of tools, including the Sunshine.AI suite, Generative AI, and Agentic AI technologies.
Singtel and NCS will collaborate to explore and develop innovative AI solutions that enhance operations, customer experience, and data, AI, and cloud infrastructure.
This includes personalizing services to better serve customers, making processes more efficient, and building intelligent, self-managing networks—all supported by a strong system that allows AI to grow and scale.
“Intelligentization means treating AI as part of the enterprise’s core nervous system, engineered with the same rigor, trust, and responsiveness demanded of mission-critical infrastructure,” explained Kuo Pin.
As AI continues to grow and become more complex around the world, with different technologies and rules in different places, working together across borders and having strong tech partners is more important than ever to deliver real value to customers.
In March, NCS formed a joint venture with Globe Telecom in the Philippines by taking a majority stake in its tech company, Yondu.
This move will add 1,200 tech experts to NCS, helping it grow its skills in areas like Agentic AI, data systems, and data management.
These new team members will join NCS’s current workforce of 13,000 people across Singapore, Australia, Greater China, India, and Southeast Asia, making it easier for NCS to support its clients.
NCS and Globe Telecom are also working together to create solutions focused on the telecom industry, solving the unique challenges it faces in the region.
On top of that, NCS has formed six major partnerships with AWS, Databricks, Dell Technologies, Google Cloud, NVIDIA, and Sunline. These partnerships show how working together can drive innovation, even in a complex and divided global AI environment.
NCS is also helping shape Singapore’s overall AI development by working on projects that focus on local culture and the ethical use of AI.
As a key partner in AISG’s SEA-LION project, NCS helps improve language models to better understand and serve Southeast Asian languages and uses them in real business settings.
NCS is also a founding member of the MERaLiON Consortium, where it works on conversational AI tools that reflect regional languages and real-world business needs, such as smarter customer service centers and virtual productivity assistants.
In addition, NCS supports the AI Verify Foundation led by Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority. This shows its dedication to creating global standards that ensure AI is safe, fair, reliable, and trustworthy. NCS is helping define how AI systems should be tested and trusted on a large scale.
“Intelligentization is how we harness AI, Internationalization is who we work with, and Inspiration is why we do this — to advance communities,” said Kuo Pin.
“This is central to NCS’ purpose. We partner with governments and enterprises to harness the best of AI not just for efficiency gains, but to uplift people and advance communities,” he added.
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