Over the past few years, many countries have invested heavily in artificial intelligence programs led by UK and US. Interestingly, Asia is beginning to emerge as one of the largest regions that possess a potential for artificial intelligence. The AI market in Asia was worth $450 million in the year 2017. However, that figure is expected to grow by 46.9% by the year 2022. Asia is expected to outgrow the US, due to its strong growth rate in innovation centers.
In the Asian AI market, China is the key contributor, followed by India. Consequently, China has grown to be a tough competitor for the US, especially when it comes to AI development. According to Eric Schmidt of Alphabet, China will overtake the United States by the year 2025.
One of the many reasons why China is on the verge of defeating the US in this AI war is the support from the government. The Chinese government plans to have the biggest AI industry in the world by the year 2030, which will be worth almost $150 billion. This is one of the biggest initiatives taken by the Chinese government, and it covers agriculture, manufacturing, law, and public services sectors.
India, on the other hand, is about to launch a national AI program with extra budget for machine learning and 3D printing. The department of science is also about to launch centers for excellence to invest in research, training, and big data analytics.
Singapore’s national research foundation (NRF) pledges $110 million to increase the country’s AI capabilities in the next five years. Private investments from Marvelstone Group also aim at pushing Singapore to be market leader in the AI world.
Various venture capitals and startups are investing in AI in China. Surveys have shown that Chinese AI firms have received investment of $9.5 billion by the end of 2017. This amount is higher than most countries as far as investment in AI is concerned.
China’s search engine Baidu is now leading the charts by attracting huge investments from startups and talent from its American contemporaries. China’s AI capabilities are even starting to counter tech giants like Google, Facebook, and Microsoft.
The investments put in by Asian governments in education and digital economy for AI-driven competitive advantage position Asia to become a world leader in Artificial intelligence in the years to come.