Summary
- Temasek Holdings plans to prioritize artificial intelligence investments over cryptocurrencies, citing regulatory uncertainty and a $275 million loss from the collapse of FTX in 2022.
- The Singapore state investment fund aims to lift AI-related holdings from 6% of its portfolio to 15% by 2031, while warning that some AI valuations have outpaced business fundamentals.
- Temasek says it has no direct crypto investments today but will continue exploring blockchain technology.
Singapore’s state-owned investment firm, Temasek Holdings, stated it will prioritize AI investments over crypto due to regulatory uncertainty and the lingering impact of a $275 million write-off from the collapse of crypto exchange FTX in 2022.
The firm, with an investment portfolio valued around 518 billion Singapore dollars ($400 billion), plans to rise its AI exposure from 6% of its portfolio in the first quarter of 2026 to 15% by 2031, Nagi Hamiyeh, president of Temasek Global Investments, told CNBC on Wednesday The AI investment cycle has just begun and will continue for decades, he stated, while cautioning that valuations in some parts of the industry have run ahead of fundamentals.
Temasek, the state’s largest investment vehicle after GIC Private Ltd., is still dealing with the hit it took following the collapse of FTX. That implosion and other failures exposed weak consumer protections in Singapore, prompting the central bank, the Monetary Authority (MAS), to swing toward stricter supervision, a move that resulted in higher compliance costs and slower licensing, among other challenges.
