Temasek-Backed Temus Invests in Thinking Machines, OpenAI's First APAC Services Partner

Singapore's AI services landscape just got a significant boost. Temus, the AI and digital transformation company established by Temasek in 2021, has made a strategic investment in Thinking Machines Data Science — a Manila-founded AI consultancy that holds the distinction of being OpenAI's first official services partner in Asia Pacific. Financial terms weren't disclosed, but the strategic logic is clear: combine Thinking Machines' deep expertise in OpenAI-enabled AI implementation with Temus' enterprise transformation muscle across cloud, application engineering, and consulting.

Thinking Machines, founded in 2015 by Stephanie Sy, has built an impressive track record: over 110 clients served, more than 10,000 professionals trained in AI, and hundreds of AI systems deployed into production across financial services, retail, and the civic sector. The company operates offices in Manila, Singapore, and Bangkok. Under the deal, Sy will serve as Managing Director of Applied AI and Data at Temus while continuing as CEO of Thinking Machines — a dual role that signals deep integration between the two firms rather than a hands-off investment.

The partnership targets a specific gap in Southeast Asia's AI market: the chasm between experimentation and production. Sng Ren Yeong, CEO of Temus, framed it around the need for "engineering, governance, and integration" to run AI systems under real operating conditions — constrained data, regulatory requirements, and complex workflows. This is precisely where most enterprise AI projects stall. Having OpenAI's first APAC services partner in the fold gives Temus a direct line to the frontier model ecosystem while maintaining the enterprise rigour that government and financial services clients demand.

Temus already works across healthcare, financial services, education, and government in Singapore, directly supporting the Smart Nation and National AI Strategy priorities. Adding Thinking Machines' OpenAI-native capabilities and regional presence in the Philippines and Thailand transforms Temus from a Singapore-centric digital transformation firm into a pan-Southeast Asian AI services platform. The timing is opportune — Southeast Asian enterprises are moving from AI pilot programs to production deployments, and few regional firms have the full stack from strategy through engineering to managed AI operations.

Why it matters for Singapore: This is Temasek doubling down on AI services as a growth vector, using its portfolio company Temus as the vehicle. Rather than building OpenAI integration capabilities from scratch, Temus bought into the firm that already has the deepest OpenAI partnership in the region. The deal strengthens Singapore's position as the headquarters for AI services companies targeting the Southeast Asian market, and it creates a regional player that can compete with global consultancies for enterprise AI transformation contracts. With Thinking Machines' 110+ enterprise clients and Temus' government relationships, the combined entity is positioned to shape how AI gets deployed across the region's largest organisations.