AISEAN / OVERVIEW
ASEAN AI Intelligence Hub
Open-source database tracking the AI ecosystem across Southeast Asia — companies, funding, policy, models, infrastructure, jobs.
AISEAN's AI Readiness Rankings are compiled from the Oxford Insights Government AI Readiness Index 2025 (195 countries, published Jan 2026) — the latest edition at time of writing (Jul 2026). Global rank numbers cite that index unless otherwise noted. Sovereign LLM entries reflect the most advanced publicly announced or launched model per country as of Jul 2026; several smaller ASEAN states have not yet released a domestically trained LLM, and the best available regional or open-source model adopted by government is listed. Key stats draw from IMF AIPI, Google–Temasek e-Conomy SEA 2025, and national strategy documents. ASEAN's digital economy is on track from $300B today toward $1T by 2030 — yet a consistent gap between AI usage and genuine readiness persists across the bloc. AISEAN exists to close that gap through rigorous, data-grounded analysis.
ASEAN Member States — AI Readiness Rankings (Global)
| Country | AI Highlights | Rank | Key Stat | Sovereign LLM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇸🇬 Singapore | Ranks #7 globally on Oxford Insights Gov AI Readiness Index 2025 (up from #2 on Salesforce Global AI Readiness and #1 on Coursera AI Maturity Index). Leads ASEAN on every major composite. Budget 2026 launched the Champions of AI programme for enterprise transformation. SEA-LION v4 now multimodal with SEA-Guard safety layer (released Feb 2026). 64% of financial institutions actively deploying AI at scale. National AI Strategy 2.0 and S$70M NMLP programme underpin sovereign model ecosystem. | #7 | AI Readiness Score 84.25 (Oxford Insights; #2 globally on that sub-index) | SEA-LION v4 (AI Singapore / IMDA) |
| 🇲🇾 Malaysia | Ranked #37 globally (Oxford Insights 2025). Johor–Batam corridor competing to be ASEAN's GPU backbone. Signed AI infrastructure agreement with China in 2025. ILMU LLM (YTL–AI Malaysia) launched Aug 2025, trained on sovereign Malaysian data. GDP grew strongly in Q4 2025; government positioning Malaysia as a major AI hub. Security Gap Index flagged above regional average, signalling governance work ahead. | #37 | ILMU LLM launched Aug 2025; Johor data-centre corridor hosts >1 GW committed capacity | ILMU (YTL / AI Malaysia) |
| 🇹🇭 Thailand | Ranked #32 globally (Oxford Insights 2025). National AI Strategy & Action Plan 2022–2027 active. Investing in Thai-language LLMs to prevent algorithmic bias toward Western values. Strong automotive-sector AI adoption. Government AI sandbox expanding. Lags Singapore and Malaysia on tech-sector maturity but leads on policy vision scores. | #32 | National AI Strategy 2022–2027; Thai-language LLM programme funded under NSTDA | WangchanBERTa / OpenThaiGPT (NSTDA-backed; no single sovereign frontier model yet) |
| 🇮🇩 Indonesia | Ranked #42 globally (Oxford Insights 2025). 18 million businesses using AI — largest enterprise AI base in ASEAN. First in ASEAN with NVIDIA DGX A100 infrastructure (Telkom). Batam island positioned as GPU-cluster hub. Temporary ban on Grok in early 2026 demonstrated assertive AI governance. National AI Strategy 2020–2045 references Pancasila ethical framework for AI. | #42 | 18 million businesses using AI; Indosat-Ooredoo AI partnership with IBM and Reka.AI | Merak (Telkom / IndoAI) — early-stage; SeaLLM adopted as interim |
| 🇵🇭 Philippines | Ranked #49 globally (Oxford Insights 2025), rising 7 places — fastest mover in ASEAN this cycle. Assumed ASEAN Chair 2026, positioned as defining voice for an 'ASEAN way' on AI governance. AI projected to contribute up to USD 50.7B to GDP by 2030. NAISR 2.0 and Center for AI Research (CAIR) launched Jul 2024. R&D underinvestment (0.32% of GDP) and ICT skills gap remain key risks. | #49 | AI GDP potential USD 50.7B by 2030; +7 places in Oxford Insights 2025 | No sovereign LLM yet; government piloting SEA-LION fine-tuned on Filipino (Tagalog) corpora |
| 🇻🇳 Vietnam | Ranked #57 globally (Oxford Insights 2025). First Southeast Asian country to pass a dedicated AI Law (effective March 2026), emphasising data sovereignty and model oversight. GMAM governance score above regional average (per 2026 ACM study). Strong NLP research community. SeaLLM-13B-Chat optimised for Vietnamese. AI market growing rapidly on the back of tech-manufacturing FDI boom. | #57 | First SEA nation with a standalone AI Law (March 2026); AI Readiness Score 54.48 | PhoGPT / ViGPT (VinAI Research) — government-endorsed Vietnamese LLM |
| 🇧🇳 Brunei Darussalam | Ranked #94 globally (Oxford Insights 2025). Small but wealthy petro-state integrating AI into public services under Digital Economy Masterplan 2025. Limited published AI strategy per 2026 ACM governance study. Relies on GovTech imports and regional partnerships. AI adoption in oil & gas (predictive maintenance) is the primary use-case. No indigenous LLM programme announced. | #94 | Digital Economy Masterplan 2025 active; GovTech AI budget undisclosed | No sovereign LLM; deploying SEA-LION via ASEAN regional partnership |
| 🇰🇭 Cambodia | Ranked #118 globally (Oxford Insights 2025). No dedicated national AI strategy published as of mid-2026 per ACM 2026 assessment. Digital economy growing from a low base; garment and tourism sectors beginning AI pilots. Khmer language support available in SeaLLM. Heavily dependent on Chinese and Singaporean tech investment for infrastructure. Significant digital-literacy gap remains. | #118 | No standalone national AI strategy published (ACM 2026); digital economy nascent | No sovereign LLM; Khmer included in SeaLLM-13B-Chat (DAMO Academy / NUS) |
| 🇱🇦 Laos | Ranked #130 globally (Oxford Insights 2025). No specific national AI strategy published per ACM 2026 review. Landlocked economy leveraging hydropower revenues to fund early digital infrastructure. Lao language supported in SeaLLM. ASEAN Digital Integration Framework offers a pathway, but institutional AI capacity remains very limited. Governance and resilience pillars are the weakest in the bloc. | #130 | No national AI strategy; Lao included in SeaLLM multimodal coverage | No sovereign LLM; Lao language in SeaLLM-13B-Chat |
| 🇲🇲 Myanmar | Ranked #173 globally (Oxford Insights 2025) — lowest in ASEAN. Ongoing civil conflict has severely disrupted digital governance and infrastructure investment. No functioning national AI strategy. Internet penetration fragmented. Burmese language supported in SeaLLM-13B-Chat. International AI investment suspended. Meaningful AI readiness progress contingent on political stabilisation. | #173 | Lowest ASEAN score; conflict-driven infrastructure disruption ongoing (2026) | No sovereign LLM; Burmese in SeaLLM-13B-Chat |