Salesforce (CRM.US) to invest $1bn in AI products in Singapore

Salesforce.com (CRM.US) plans to invest $1 billion in Singapore over the next five years, joining other US tech companies in betting on Southeast Asia's growth, the company said in a statement on Wednesday. The spending is aimed at expanding products such as its new artificial intelligence platform, which it has a research center for in the city-state, where it has invested for nearly two decades. The world's largest customer management software maker has been focused on launching Agentforce, which can complete tasks such as customer service without human intervention. The company launched the product in October and said customers such as Singapore Airlines were using it. However, Salesforce is facing fierce competition from rivals such as Microsoft (MSFT.US) and ServiceNow (NOW.US), which are also pursuing similar visions. Salesforce Chief Executive Marc Benioff said at an event in Singapore on Wednesday morning: "In the world of artificial intelligence and robotics, there's going to be a lot of rebalancing of the workforce and society. Agent technology is the next wave — I know Singapore is going to lead the way."