Nvidia announces ‘deep learning’ R&D centre in Singapore

• Will invest more than US$14.2mil in the centre over a three-year period
• Also partnering with government agencies such as the EDB and IDA

NVIDIA Corp has announced plans to establish the Nvidia Technology Centre Asia Pacific, which it said would be the first of its kind in the region to focus on deep learning research and development (R&D).
 
Located at Nanyang Technological University, the centre will make use of Nvidia’s graphics processing unit (GPU) platforms to develop solutions for both the private and public sectors, the company said in a statement.
 
Santa Clara, California-based Nvidia said it will invest more than S$20 million (US$14.2 million) in the centre over a three-year period.
 
This will include the deployment of a broad range of its technologies – from the Nvidia Drive PX platform for automated driver assistance systems and self-piloted vehicles (pic above), to the Nvidia Tesla platform, which it claimed powers deep learning on the world’s top five public clouds as well as some of the world’s fastest supercomputers.
 
The establishment of this centre is supported by the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), the company said in its statement.
 
“I am pleased that Nvidia’s centre will facilitate innovation and talent development through partnerships with Singapore-based companies, institutes of higher learning and government agencies,” said Kiren Kumar, director of infocomm and media at the EDB.
 
“This model of partnership-driven innovation will support our ongoing efforts to position Singapore as the ‘Digital Capital of Asia’,” he added.
 
Over the next few years, the centre will be used to develop solutions such as deep learning for Singapore’s Smart Nation initiative, intelligent video analytics, and large-scale data analytics, Nvidia said.
 
The company is also partnering with other government agencies, such as the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) of Singapore.
 
In June 2014, the two signed a Memorandum of Intent to accelerate the growth and competitiveness of Singapore’s technology industry, Nvidia said.
 
The IDA has been working with Nvidia to strengthen partnerships with local technology companies, such as Xjera Labs and Trakomatic, to develop innovative and exportable products and technologies.
 
“Singapore is an ideal location for our new Technology Centre because of its great ecosystem of technology partners, government investment in infrastructure, and focus on data science and data analytics,” said Marc Hamilton, vice president of Solution Architecture and Engineering at Nvidia.
 
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