Artificial intelligence (AI) startup OpenAI, which has yesterday launched ChatGPT Atlas, an AI-powered web browser, plans to raise its Singapore workforce by year-end to further penetrate the island nation’s enterprise market and as a springboard into Asia Pacific, its chief strategy officer Jason Kwon reportedly told The Straits Times in an interview recently. Singapore is one of OpenAI’s top three markets globally for per-capita adoption with reports saying 25 per cent of its residents use ChatGPT.
Kwon cited a welcoming government, tech-embracing companies and a large ChatGPT user base as factors that attracted the setting up of its Asia Pacific base in Singapore. OpenAI’s office in Singapore was set up in November 2024 to capture the region’s fast-growing market which grew four times year on year, Kwon said.
Without giving the current number of its employees, the chief strategy officer said the firm aims to increase its staff strength to between 50 – 70 by end-December. The team would focus on adding more clients to some of its big-name clientele list which currently includes Singapore Airlines (SIA), Grab, Sea and the Singapore Tourism Board.
Although the firm would be directly competing with its partner, Microsoft, with whom it is currently renegotiating a deal as Microsoft had invested US$ 13 billion into OpenAI in November 2022 when ChatGPT was launched, Kwon pointed out that one of its key strengths is customising solutions for use cases specific to generative AI.
“We are a research-driven lab focused on AI. We are not about trying to sell you the most ads. We are not about trying to renew your subscription to a legacy product that you have had for 20 years,” he reported said.
In recent weeks, OpenAI made headlines with deals worth US$1 trillion in 2025 alone, with Oracle, Nvidia and AMD, in an effort to build new capabilities and improve its large language models. The firm reportedly spent US$2.5 billion in cash for 1H 2025 with operating losses amounting to US$ 7.8 billion. That’s because the firm is reinvesting its revenue into building more compute and doing more research and development, Kwon explained, adding: “From a gross margin perspective, we actually are profitable in most markets.”
Over 800 million people use ChatGPT weekly, and more than four million software developers have used OpenAI to build apps, OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman reportedly said recently.
The company aims to offer both consumer and enterprise solutions, hence intensifying competition with Microsoft and Google.