The inaugural GITEX ASIA x Ai Everything Singapore concluded last week, marking a significant milestone in the region’s digital transformation. The three-day event, held at Marina Bay Sands from April 23-25, 2025, successfully convened a global tech ecosystem to capitalize on Southeast Asia’s (SEA) burgeoning digital economy.
With Southeast Asia’s digital economy experiencing rapid year-on-year growth, fueled by accelerated digital adoption and government investments, the event served as a crucial platform to amplify this potential.
GITEX ASIA x Ai Everything Singapore 2025 debuts by convening the global ecosystem of tech enterprises, startups, SMEs, investors, and government officials
The World Economic Forum’s projection of a US$1 trillion gross merchandise value (GMV) by 2030 for the region’s digital economy appears increasingly attainable, and GITEX ASIA x Ai Everything Singapore positioned itself at the forefront of this bold new era of regional digital progression.
Organized by Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) and KAOUN International, in affiliation with GITEX GLOBAL, the world’s largest tech show, the Asian edition attracted a diverse and influential audience.
GITEX ASIA: Asia’s largest inaugural tech, startup, and digital investments event
GITEX ASIA x Ai Everything Singapore2025 will be the epicentre of over 350 global startups and more than 250 investors connecting at North Star Asia
GITEX ASIA x Ai Everything Singapore emerged as Asia’s largest inaugural tech, startup, and digital investments event. It successfully rallied the international tech community, hosting over 700 global tech enterprises and startups, with more than 70% exhibiting in Singapore for the first time.
The event also drew over 250 global investors from more than 70 countries. Under the theme ‘Advancing Bold Partnerships in Asia’, stakeholders engaged in collaborative dialogues, explored new market opportunities, and secured new capital, forging alliances aimed at co-creating excellence and unlocking the vast possibilities of the SEA digital economy.
Trixie LohMirmand, Executive Vice President of DWTC, CEO of KAOUN International and organizer of GITEX globally, emphasized the event’s significance: “GITEX ASIA x Ai Everything Singapore was more than just a tech event; it served as a vital barometer of the evolving global digital and AI economies, fostering valuable international relationships and impactful new partnerships. By harnessing the region’s culture of innovation and spirit of digital adventure, we catalyzed collaboration, establishing new marketplaces and diverse opportunities alongside global tech leaders.”
Digital economy summit highlights tech’s new frontiers
A key component of the event was the GITEX ASIA Digital Economy Summit, which explored tech’s new frontiers across eight key themes, delivered through over 180 hours of content. The summit featured a speaker lineup of over 330 international experts who delved into the emerging complexities and use-cases of AI, cybersecurity, cloud computing, connectivity, and quantum computing, as well as their applications in healthcare, biotech, green tech, and smart cities.
Discussions encompassed a wide range of critical topics, from AI-powered drug discovery and GenAI-era defense to 5G/6G telecom challenges, next-gen data centers, cyber resilience, fraud detection, and intelligent healthcare.
GITEX ASIA x Ai Everything Singapore also saw strong participation from global digital nations, showcasing their latest technological advancements, services, and solutions. Participating countries included the Netherlands, France, South Korea, Hong Kong, China, India, Pakistan, and the UAE, while Vietnam and Serbia made their debut in Singapore, supported by the Vietnam National Innovation Center (NIC) and Serbian Chamber of Commerce, respectively.
The event also featured leading international tech giants driving innovation across Asia, including Ericsson, Kaspersky, Nebius, Fortinet, ManageEngine, Oracle, Alibaba Cloud, China Telecom, China Mobile, China Unicom, Nvidia, and Lenovo.
Vu Quoc Huy, Director General, Vietnam NIC, highlighted the event’s importance for the region: “NIC was eager to engage at GITEX ASIA, which proved to be a catalyst for innovation, bringing together ecosystem stakeholders, visionary enterprises, disruptive startups, and forward-thinking investors. We look forward to the partnerships forged and the next wave of technological breakthroughs in Asia and beyond that will stem from this event.”
Pioneering partnerships
GITEX ASIA x Ai Everything Singapore was held in strategic partnership with international government entities, regulators and prominent digital agencies from SEA and wider Asia.
Key partners included the Singapore Tourism Board, SGTech, and Action Community for Entrepreneurship (ACE), alongside Singapore’s JTC Corporation, UAE Cybersecurity Council, Dubai Department of Economy & Tourism (Dubai DET), Dubai Chamber of Digital Economy, India’s Mobile & Electronics Devices Export Promotion Council (MEDEPC), CyberSecurity Malaysia, Philippines’ Department of Information & Communications Technology (DICT) and Thailand’s National Cyber Security Agency (NCSA).
Zhihan Yeo, Senior Director, Chapters & Strategic Programmes, SGTech, emphasized the event’s potential to connect diverse stakeholders: “GITEX presented immense potential to connect diverse stakeholders from across the world to Singapore’s vibrant tech ecosystem. It’s an expansion that we believe will unlock new tech development opportunities and catalyse transformative digital growth regionally and beyond.”
Startups take center stage
GITEX ASIA x Ai Everything Singapore also provided a crucial platform for startups to showcase their AI and tech breakthroughs. North Star Asia, the region’s largest and most global startup, accelerator, and investor event, featured over 400 Series A+ tech startups and early-stage companies from more than 20 industry sectors, including AI, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), cybersecurity, green tech, and telecom.
With Access Partnerships projecting AI to deliver US$ 835 billion in economic benefits to SEA businesses by 2030, the event highlighted world-first AI innovations through the AI 100 programme powered by Nebius, featuring 100 award-winning AI startups from over 30 countries.
The Singapore 100 program showcased the top 100 most promising Singaporean ventures, while the Supernova Challenge pitch competition saw the world’s fastest-rising startups compete for recognition.
The event also drew global investors with US$200bn in assets under management (AUM), including Cisco Investments (US), SGinnovate (Singapore), Lightrock (UK) and Rallycap (Tunisia).
GITEX Cyber Valley Asia convenes cybersecurity leaders
H.E. Dr. Mohamed Al Kuwaiti, Head of Cybersecurity, UAE Government
For the first time in the region, GITEX ASIA x Ai Everything Singapore also presented GITEX Cyber Valley Asia, a showcase and conference gathering the world’s most influential cybersecurity companies, national security agencies, and over 200 global CISOs.
With SEA’s cybersecurity market projected to exceed US$ 7 billion by 2029 (Statista), this program addressed regional readiness in an increasingly complex threat landscape. A key highlight was the Counter Ransomware Initiative (CRI) – Crystal Ball, which brought together public and private sector decision-makers to discuss strategies for mitigating the impact of growing ransomware threats.
GITEX ASIA x Ai Everything Singapore concluded with a strong sense of optimism and collaboration, solidifying its position as a key driver of Southeast Asia’s digital future.