China AI Startups Head to Singapore in Bid for Global Growth

(Bloomberg) — When Wu Cunsong and Chen Binghui founded their artificial intelligence startup two years ago in Hangzhou, China, they quickly ran into obstacles, including a dearth of venture capital. This March, they did what scores of other Chinese AI firms have done and moved their company, Tabcut, to Singapore.

The business-friendly country offers Wu and Chen better access to global investors and customers at a time when elevated geopolitical tensions keep many U.S. and international firms away from China. Equally crucial for an AI startup, they can buy Nvidia Corp.’s latest chips and other cutting-edge technologies in the politically neutral island nation, something that would have been impossible in China because of U.S. export controls.