Google is doubling down on Singapore as an AI launchpad with new security hub, cloud centre and talent push.
The slate of moves is part of the company’s commitment to turn the city state into both a development hub and a testbed for frontier AI safety and applications.
“As we enter a new era of AI, Singapore is helping to lead the way with its world-class talent and a bold national vision for the future. We share that ambition,” wrote Ben King, Managing Director of Google Singapore, in a blogpost.
Google is expanding its local R&D footprint, scaling specialised teams in software engineering, research science and UX to build “from Singapore, to the world” across its products and platforms.
The new Google Cloud Singapore Engineering Center will embed engineers and frontline support closer to regional enterprises to help them tackle “high-stakes global challenges” in areas such as robotics and clean energy while anchoring more AI product work in Singapore rather than in the US or Europe.
Since setting up its Asia-Pacific HQ in Singapore in 2007, Google’s local workforce has grown to nearly 3,000, underpinned by more than US$5 billion invested in technical infrastructure including four data centres, making the country one of its most important regional nerve centres for AI workloads .
AI safety stack
Google is launching an AI Center of Excellence for security, which will hire research scientists, data scientists and security engineers to tackle emerging threats from agentic AI systems and content verification at scale.
The centre will work on safeguards such as ring‑fencing AI agents so they cannot take unauthorised actions or access unrelated personal data on devices, and enforcing real‑time user consent when agents seek to broaden what they can do.
By anchoring these efforts in Singapore, Google is making the country a regional command centre for AI trust, aligning closely with Singapore’s push to be a standard‑setter on AI governance and online safety.
Feeding Singapore’s AI ambition
Several of the initiatives plug directly into Singapore’s National AI and digital skills roadmaps, particularly in health, skills and enterprise adoption.
In healthcare, Google will give AI Singapore access to MedGemma, a foundational health AI model tuned to local population needs, to support the planned National AI Infrastructure for health and speed up diagnosis and treatment development.
It is also working with local healthcare startup Amili on a precision nutrition programme that uses Gemini with gut microbiome datasets specific to Asian populations, with a beta app targeted by May 2026 to deliver personalised nutrition advice.
Under a new “Majulah AI” banner, it is extending earlier digital training that has reached nearly 350,000 Singaporeans since 2020. A Skills Ignition SG AI Challenge with IMDA will train 500 graduates and professionals in hands‑on AI workflow skills, while a separate three‑month accelerator will teach non‑technical workers, including in HR, legal and accountancy, how to use AI in day‑to‑day work.
To seed talent earlier, Google and the Ministry of Education are rolling out physical Google AI Living Labs at ITE College East and Nanyang Polytechnic, with a goal of equipping 50,000 students and educators with AI skills by 2027 to transform campuses into live sandboxes for applied AI projects.
Talent magnet
Google is looking to fill more than 150 roles in Singapore, more than half of which are technical, including customer solutions engineers, data centre technicians and product managers, many tied to the new security centre and cloud engineering hub.
These hires will deepen Singapore’s pool of practitioners who are not just consuming AI tools, but designing guardrails, infrastructure and regionally relevant applications, which are core to the government’s AI strategy.
Photos: Google
Entelechy Asia 