SINGAPORE — DBS is positioning artificial intelligence at the centre of its regional growth strategy, bringing senior technology, business and investment executives together in Singapore as the rapid expansion of AI begins to reshape industries, capital flows and corporate decision-making across Asia.
The Singapore-based bank will hold its inaugural DBS Asia Future Forward Conference on Oct. 12, with about 700 business leaders, entrepreneurs and investors expected to attend. The event will focus on what DBS calls “Intentional AI”, examining how companies can translate AI technology into economic value rather than treating it simply as a technology upgrade.
The speaker list reflects the breadth of the AI investment cycle. Shou Chew, chief executive of TikTok, will discuss AI and human potential, while Lip-Bu Tan, chief executive of Intel, and Hock Tan, president and chief executive of Broadcom, will examine where the next trillion dollars of AI value could emerge.
The conference also brings together investors who control or allocate large pools of capital. Jenny Johnson, chief executive of Franklin Templeton, Jenny Lee, senior managing partner of Granite Asia, Pandu Patria Sjahrir, chief investment officer of Indonesia’s Danantara, and Timothy Adams, president and chief executive of the Institute of International Finance, are scheduled to discuss changing capital flows in the AI era.
For DBS, the event extends beyond conventional technology discussions. The agenda covers the entire AI value chain, including semiconductors, physical infrastructure, enterprise adoption, investment and the movement of capital between industries and markets. That gives the bank a direct connection to several of the largest financing opportunities emerging from the AI investment cycle.
DBS chief executive Tan Su Shan has described the bank’s intended role as a trusted intermediary capable of connecting capital, innovation and governance as AI applications expand across Asia. The bank’s strategy reflects an effort to participate in the financing and adoption of AI rather than simply operate AI systems internally.
DBS says it has invested in artificial intelligence for more than a decade, beginning with data and machine-learning capabilities. Those systems now support the bank’s expanding use of generative and agentic AI, giving the lender an operational base from which to engage corporate customers that are also moving toward broader AI deployment.
The economic implications are becoming increasingly significant. AI investment is driving demand for semiconductors, data centres, cloud infrastructure, electricity and specialised computing systems, while companies across financial services, manufacturing, retail and logistics are beginning to redesign business processes around AI. For a bank such as DBS, that creates opportunities across corporate lending, investment banking, wealth management and payments.
The conference also underscores Singapore’s position in the regional AI ecosystem. By bringing semiconductor executives, technology companies, institutional investors and policymakers into the same forum, DBS is using its home market as a meeting point for the capital and technology industries driving the next phase of Asian growth.
The timing is significant for Asian capital markets. Companies across the region have raised US$327.1 billion through share sales and convertible bonds in 2026 so far, according to LSEG data cited by Reuters, up 53% from the same period a year earlier, with AI-related infrastructure among the key drivers of the fundraising pipeline.
For DBS, the AI push therefore sits at the intersection of technology and finance. The bank is seeking to understand where AI-generated economic value will be created, which companies will require capital to scale and how investors will finance the infrastructure behind the technology. As those flows increasingly connect Singapore with the wider Asian economy, DBS is using its position as a regional financial institution to place itself closer to the centre of that transition.
