JTC Opens Tender for Kampong AI Hub, Singapore's First Dedicated AI Enterprise Community
Source: The Edge Singapore
JTC has launched a design and build tender for Block 47 Ayer Rajah Crescent, the first of two blocks in Kampong AI at LaunchPad @ One-North. The refurbished block will provide 14,500 sqm of space for up to 70 companies, with completion slated for 2028.
When Prime Minister Lawrence Wong stood up at Budget 2026 to announce Kampong AI, Singapore's first dedicated AI enterprise hub at one-north, it was easy to file away as a long-term project. Less than five months later, the first concrete milestone has arrived: JTC has launched a design and build tender for the first block, turning the vision into an active procurement process.
Block 47 Ayer Rajah Crescent, an existing building within the LaunchPad @ One-North ecosystem, will be refurbished into 14,500 sqm of business park space including event and collaboration areas capable of housing up to 70 companies. Contractors have until August 24 to submit pre-qualification bids via GeBIZ, with shortlisted firms proceeding to a detailed second-stage evaluation. A separate tender for the second block — which will include more than 200 residential units — is expected in the coming months.
Kampong AI is designed as an integrated live-work-play community for AI startups, corporate innovation labs, researchers, and industry partners. The concept draws from LaunchPad's proven track record: since 2015, the 6.5-hectare site has hosted over 2,400 startups, including unicorns Carousell, PatSnap, and Nium, alongside 30 incubators, accelerators, and venture capital firms. Kampong AI extends that model with a specific focus on artificial intelligence — creating density and collision spaces for the AI ecosystem in a way that Singapore hasn't attempted before.
The timing matters. Singapore's AI infrastructure push is moving from policy announcements to physical reality. The Kampong AI tender arrives alongside other concrete signals — the JTC-GovTech Panasonic pilot at Punggol Digital District, the upcoming SG$500 million AI Compute Fund, and the steady expansion of one-north itself. These aren't separate initiatives; they're layers of the same strategy to make Singapore the region's AI hub, and the physical layer — actual buildings where AI companies can co-locate, share talent, and cross-pollinate — was arguably the missing piece.
Why it matters for Singapore: Kampong AI represents a bet that AI companies benefit from physical proximity, not just digital connectivity. By putting startups, corporates, and researchers in the same building with shared event spaces and live-work arrangements, JTC is trying to recreate the organic density that made Silicon Valley's Sand Hill Road or Shenzhen's Huaqiangbei effective — but deliberately designed for AI. If it works, it gives Singapore a physical-ecosystem advantage that competing hubs like Hong Kong, Dubai, or Bangalore can't easily replicate. Completion is set for 2028, which also means the first cohort of companies could be moving in just as Singapore's National AI Strategy 2.0 enters its next phase.