Southeast Asia’s technology story has long been centred on a familiar group of cities. For years, Singapore has served as the region’s financial and corporate gateway, while cities such as Jakarta, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City and Manila have developed sizable consumer, services and startup ecosystems. Rising operating costs, growing demand for computing capacity and improvements in digital infrastructure are creating new opportunities across the region. Rather than replacing established hubs, these developments are creating a more connected technology landscape in which different cities play different roles.
For businesses deciding on the location for their technology teams or facilities, this is a more nuanced decision than just picking the largest available market. Factors such as operating costs, energy supply, talent availability and proximity to consumer markets have become increasingly important, depending on the nature of the technology business. This is particularly relevant as AI infrastructure and digital services become more distributed across ASEAN. Asia Pacific’s data centre growth is increasingly shifting towards power-advantaged markets as AI demand puts greater pressure on electricity supply and construction capacity.
Our research team explores why Southeast Asia’s emerging startup hubs are developing outside capital cities.
Singapore: The established hub facing a new equation
Singapore remains one of Southeast Asia’s most important technology and investment centres, with strengths across venture capital, fintech, enterprise technology, regional headquarters and business services. Its appeal comes from the concentration of investors, multinational companies, infrastructure and talent within a compact market.
However, the economics of growth are changing. Land, energy, and operating costs are becoming more relevant for technology companies, especially because AI applications demand more computational power. According to CBRE, power constraints are limiting data centre expansion in Asia-Pacific, with growth shifting towards markets that can supply electricity for increasingly large facilities. Moreover, the rising costs of construction add to the pressures of development. Therefore, Singapore is becoming increasingly connected to a wider regional infrastructure network instead of operating as an isolated technology hub.
Johor Bahru: Singapore’s cross-border digital extension
Johor Bahru is emerging as an important part of that network. Its proximity to Singapore, available land and expanding infrastructure have helped position Johor as a destination for data centres and other digital infrastructure that may be harder or more expensive to accommodate in Singapore. The scale of this shift is becoming clearer. Reports show that Johor’s live data centre capacity increased by 53% year on year in 2025, the strongest growth among the markets covered in its Asia Pacific report. Malaysia’s Investment Development Authority has also highlighted Johor’s concentration of large-scale data centre projects, with 78.6% of Malaysia’s operational IT capacity based in Johor as of the end of 2024.
The Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone has brought another layer to this relationship. This is because its masterplan and investment framework seek to promote cross-border economic development through infrastructure and talent, while data centres and semiconductor technology have emerged as sectors attracting investors’ attention. The opportunities extend beyond data centres to logistics, manufacturing, digital services and supporting technology businesses. This means that Johor does not just compete with Singapore. Rather, the two locations can increasingly function as complementary parts of a wider technology cluster.
Bangkok: Building digital infrastructure at scale
Bangkok is strengthening its position through cloud infrastructure, data centres and a large domestic market. In January 2026, Google Cloud launched a new cloud region in Bangkok as part of its US$1 billion investment in Thailand’s digital infrastructure. Google projects that the Bangkok region could contribute THB1.4 trillion (US$41 billion) in economic value over five years and support an average of 130,000 jobs annually.
Major data center and data hosting projects have also been approved in Thailand. In January 2026, the Thailand Board of Investment approved seven projects valued at US$3.1 billion. This further boosts Thailand’s digital infrastructure and ambitions to be a regional digital innovation hub. Together, these investments could strengthen Bangkok’s role in regional cloud services, enterprise technology and AI-enabled applications.
Ho Chi Minh City: A growing engineering and startup centre
Ho Chi Minh City combines a large commercial economy with a growing pool of technical talent and an increasingly organised startup ecosystem. Its technology scene extends across software, fintech, digital services and innovation infrastructure. The city’s ecosystem has also gained international visibility. StartupBlink’s 2026 data lists 551 startups in Ho Chi Minh City, with the city ranked 98th globally and first in Vietnam.
This position is supported by Vietnam’s broader efforts to strengthen its technological and innovation capabilities. For international companies, Ho Chi Minh City’s engineering talent and competitive operating environment make it increasingly relevant for product development and regional technology operations.
Hanoi: Government, research and digital transformation
Hanoi offers a different technology proposition. As Vietnam’s capital, it is home to government agencies and is closely connected to academic institutions, research centres and public-sector digital transformation initiatives. The city reported over 1,000 startups and 11,000 companies operating in the digital technology sector by the end of the first quarter of 2026. Additionally, there were 221 science and technology companies, the highest in Vietnam, according to the Hanoi government.
Hanoi is also developing mechanisms to connect research with practical applications, including programmes built around major urban and public-sector challenges. That combination could make the city particularly relevant where technology intersects with government, regulated industries, research and strategic technologies.
Jakarta: Scale remains a powerful technology advantage
Jakarta’s strongest asset is difficult to replicate: scale. Indonesia’s capital city lies at the heart of a massive domestic market that gives tech companies access to millions of consumers and businesses, as well as a large community of entrepreneurs, investors and corporate partners. The scale of Jakarta’s startup ecosystem cannot be overlooked. According to StartupBlink’s 2026 data, Jakarta has 1,092 listed startups, with its ecosystem ranked 33rd globally and first in Indonesia. Seven unicorns also operate out of Jakarta, according to StartupBlink.
The ecosystem is particularly visible in fintech, e-commerce, logistics and consumer technology, sectors that benefit from Indonesia’s population and economic scale. Jakarta’s opportunity therefore lies less in becoming cheaper than Singapore and more in turning domestic scale into globally competitive companies.
Manila: Digital services evolving into AI-enabled operations
Manila brings a distinct strength to Southeast Asia’s technology landscape: the Philippines’ established IT-BPM and digital services ecosystem. The country’s digital economy generated PHP2.74 trillion in gross value added in 2025 and employed 10.39 million people, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority. The country has also developed a substantial IT-BPM workforce supporting customer operations, finance, software and other technology-enabled services.
Manila is positioned to participate in that transition because its existing services ecosystem already connects Philippine talent with international companies. The opportunity is therefore not simply about maintaining traditional outsourcing models. It is about how an established digital services workforce can move into higher-value technology, analytics, automation and AI-enabled operations.
What makes a tech hub last?
Attracting a few major technology investments does not automatically create a lasting tech hub. Cities need a combination of specialised talent, reliable infrastructure, access to capital, supportive regulation and sufficient market opportunities. The balance varies by city. Singapore provides capital as well as connectivity. Johor provides land and infrastructure, and proximity to Singapore. Bangkok is strengthening its cloud and data center capacity. Vietnam offers research and engineering capabilities, while Jakarta benefits from domestic scale and Manila draws on its established digital services expertise.
The emerging Southeast Asian technology map is therefore unlikely to have a single successor to Singapore. Instead, the region is moving towards a network of cities with complementary strengths. As AI, cloud computing and digitalisation increase demand for infrastructure and talent, cities that can connect those resources to commercial opportunities will have stronger foundations for becoming lasting technology hubs.