Temasek chief: AI capital flood is phenomenal, and should spread further

Temasek's chief executive Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegaran thinks the flood of money rushing into artificial intelligence has grown to a size he calls phenomenal, and he would rather see it spread across a wider field of ventures. He made that argument on a panel at the Forbes Global CEO Conference, sharing the stage with DBS' Tan Su Shan.

The event pulled together heavyweight corporate and investing names from across the world. One of them, American billionaire investor Ray Dalio, took the opportunity to raise the spectre of what he termed a classic bubble.

Temasek is Singapore's state investment firm and DBS is the country's largest bank, so remarks from their leadership carry unusual weight. Tan's appearance beside Pillay also showed how the AI funding debate now draws in both long-horizon state capital and the region's biggest lenders, two camps with different mandates but a common exposure to how the trade unfolds.

What the industry should take from this is that even the loudest supporters are starting to talk about breadth and restraint instead of raw momentum. That kind of language tends to surface once valuations outrun earnings and capital starts to look like it is chasing itself.

Whether such caution cools the enthusiasm or merely redirects where the next cheque goes remains unresolved. Either way, the appetite for AI assets is unlikely to shrink quietly.

Why it matters for Singapore: Temasek and DBS sit near the centre of how money moves through the city-state, so their reading of AI funding has consequences far beyond one conference stage. A broader spread of capital could open doors for more local firms, funds and startups, while harder bubble warnings would push Singapore's investors and banks to justify what they are paying for.