SINGAPORE - Media OutReach Newswire - 10 September 2026 - Aolani, a Singapore-founded neocloud powering AI growth, today announced a partnership to supply GPU cloud infrastructure to FriendliAI, the San Francisco-headquartered inference cloud for frontier AI to support the rapidly growing demand for inference services.
The global market for AI inferencing is expanding quickly as AI applications become part of everyday business workflows and organisations move from experimentation to deployment at scale. At the forefront of production-scale AI, FriendliAI serves this exact demand to help developers and enterprises deploy open-weight and custom AI models.
FriendliAI was founded by researchers who invented continuous batching, which is now a standard across AI inference serving. The company has built its inference stack end to end, from optimised GPU kernels to global distribution, so that production AI workloads run fast and reliably at scale. FriendliAI consistently ranks as one of the fastest inference providers on OpenRouter, with enterprise clients including LG, Kilo Code, and Liner running their production inference on the platform.
Efficient time-to-value and dependable compute are increasingly important to keep services responsive as usage grows. As access to reliable compute infrastructure becomes a strategic differentiator for companies scaling production workloads, more AI natives are turning to Asia for high-performance compute capacity, attracted by the region's expanding digital infrastructure, strategic connectivity, and growing AI ecosystem.
As one of the leading neoclouds offering purpose-built next-generation AI infrastructure, Aolani helps AI natives scale more efficiently. Aolani's infrastructure capabilities across orchestration, automation and lifecycle management actively supports FriendliAI's services. This partnership equips FriendliAI with the compute to serve the rapid customer demand, both across the globe and increasingly in Asia.
Nicholas Chia, Chief Executive Officer at Aolani said: "We're seeing inference needs grow faster than companies can find compute to support and service their customers. To narrow the supply and demand gap, we actively partner with companies like FriendliAI to deliver compute capacity on time, at scale, and to rigorous standards. We look forward to partnering with the FriendliAI team to grow its services to bring fast and reliable inference to developers worldwide."
Byung-Gon Chun, Founder and CEO of FriendliAI said: "We are seeing exponential growth in demand for our frontier AI inference services. Businesses need the freedom to choose the AI models that best suit their applications and the ability to run them efficiently in production. Our job is to deliver high-performance, reliable inference so developers can focus on building their AI applications. Aolani stood out as a trusted infrastructure partner that can help us scale at the pace our customers need. We look forward to working with Aolani to support our mission."
Media Contact
H/Advisors on behalf of Aolani
pr@aolanicloud.com
Hashtag: #Aolani #Neocloud #FriendliAI #AIinference #Inferencecloud
https://www.aolanicloud.com/
https://linkedin.com/company/aolani-cloud
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
About Aolani
Where AI gets built in Asia. Founded in Singapore, Aolani is backed by compliant and purpose-built infrastructure to deliver the performance capabilities for next-generation AI. Aolani's AI factories enable organisations to build with confidence, scale ambitiously, and move at hyper-speed in the world's fastest-growing AI market.
For more information, visit www.aolanicloud.com and follow @AolaniCloud on LinkedIn.
About FriendliAI
FriendliAI is the inference cloud for frontier AI. Headquartered in San Francisco with a team in Seoul, FriendliAI runs open models in production at scale for AI-native startups and enterprises through its Model APIs, Dedicated Endpoints, and Bring Your Own GPU (BYOG) offering. The team built the full inference stack end to end, delivering the speed, reliability and efficiency that agentic AI workloads demand.
For more information, visit friendli.ai.
** This press release is distributed by Media OutReach Newswire through automated distribution system, for which the client assumes full responsibility. **
According to the GII 2025 report themed "Innovation at a Crossroads," the global innovation system is reaching a critical turning point. This comes amidst rapid advancements in emerging technologies—such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), clean energy, biotechnology, and digital systems—while nations simultaneously navigate economic challenges, technological competition, and geopolitical shifts.
Thus, the GII serves as more than just a national ranking; it is a crucial tool that reflects the strengths, weaknesses, and potential of each country's innovation ecosystem. Thailand is ranked 41st globally and continues to perform above expectations relative to its economic development level (Innovation Overperformer) within the upper-middle-income group. The nation shows strong innovation potential, particularly in digital infrastructure, innovative business development, and the linkage of knowledge between academia and industry.
This ranking highlights Thailand's progress toward an innovation-driven economy through the promotion of research and development, support for innovative entrepreneurs and startups, and the strengthening of the national innovation ecosystem. Key organizations like the National Innovation Agency (Public Organization) or NIA play a pivotal role in bridging collaboration among universities, the private sector, and government agencies to ensure research and technology are commercially deployed.
One of the key innovation indicators in the GII is "University–Industry R&D Collaboration," which reflects the depth of joint research and development between academic institutions and industrial sectors—a fundamental driver for creating innovation and sustaining long-term national competitiveness.
Dr. Krithpaka Boonfueng, Executive Director of the National Innovation Agency (NIA), explained that the NIA acts as a crucial "Innovation Intermediary" among academia, private enterprises, government sectors, and financial institutions. Its mission is to facilitate the translation of knowledge, research, and technology into tangible commercial and social benefits. Currently, Thailand's main challenge is not a shortage of research, but rather the "gap" between academic research and its industrial application. Many university research projects possess high potential but lack the supporting mechanisms for business prototyping, market testing, or connecting with entrepreneurs and investors. Therefore, the NIA's role is essential in building platforms and support programs that enable efficient collaboration between universities and the business sector.
The NIA supports University–Industry R&D Collaboration across multiple dimensions, including providing innovation grants, incubating and accelerating deep-tech startups, creating collaborative networks between universities and private entities, and promoting Innovation Ecosystems in strategic sectors such as FoodTech, AgTech, HealthTech, ClimateTech, and Deep Tech. These areas heavily rely on combining academic expertise with market capabilities and industrial investment.
Furthermore, the NIA actively promotes "Open Innovation" and "Co-Creation"—core concepts aligned with the direction of GII 2025, which indicates that the global innovation system is entering an era of multi-stakeholder collaboration and co-creation. The NIA creates platforms to match industry demands with university research capabilities, while also supporting activities such as Hackathons, Accelerator Programs, Innovation Bootcamps, and Regulatory Sandboxes to test innovations in real-world environments.
Another key responsibility is developing "Innovation-Based Enterprises" and "Startups" originated from university research (University Spin-offs). Spin-offs serve as a major driver in leading innovative nations like the United States, South Korea, and China to turn university knowledge into global tech enterprises. The NIA offers early-stage support ranging from business model development and capital access to investor networking and market connection locally and internationally.
Trends in GII 2025 demonstrate that countries with strong university-industry collaboration consistently generate continuous innovation and maintain high competitiveness. Hence, the NIA operates not merely as an innovation support agency, but as a "systemic mechanism" that bridges the gap between research and business, connects knowledge with market demand, and drives Thailand toward a long-term, knowledge-based economy.
Ultimately, elevating Thailand's performance in the University–Industry R&D Collaboration indicator requires concerted efforts among universities, the private sector, government entities, and innovation-enabling organizations like the NIA. Together, they build a comprehensive ecosystem covering knowledge creation, research, testing, investment, and market expansion—forming a solid foundation to boost the country's future competitiveness.
Lessons Learned: Startup Success Through University–Industry R&D Collaboration
Mr. Krerkchai Panyabaramee, Managing Director of Tleum Co., Ltd., shared that the commercial application of advanced material technology—derived from R&D by Dr. Supan Yodyingyong from the Institute for Innovative Learning, Mahidol University, who holds a patent for "Synthesis of Silica Aerogel from Sodium Silicate Solution at Atmospheric Pressure"—stands as a clear case study of University–Industry R&D Collaboration. The business originated from translating pilot-scale research on Silica Aerogel within the university into industrial-scale manufacturing in partnership with the private sector.
Currently, Tleum Co., Ltd. has successfully commercialized Silica Aerogel into a diverse range of products, including heat-reflective paints for buildings and industrial applications, heat-resistant cement and materials, oil absorbents for spill remediation, and cosmetic ingredients. This demonstrates the immense potential of Thai Deep Tech in value creation through advanced materials and collaborative research.
This success was not achieved by any single entity, but through the synergy of academia, business, and supporting bodies like the NIA. The NIA stepped in to bridge knowledge gaps, provide resources, and mitigate technology development risks, allowing entrepreneurs to overcome cost, testing, and scaling limitations rapidly. This highlights the NIA's role as an "Innovation Bridge" turning academic research into commercial reality.
Dr. Krithpaka concluded: "The 'University–Industry R&D Collaboration' indicator under Pillar 5: Business Sophistication measures the level of R&D collaboration between universities and industry in each country. It relies on data from the Executive Opinion Survey conducted by the World Economic Forum (WEF), which assesses business leaders' perceptions regarding the quality and effectiveness of joint R&D efforts—specifically how well they meet industry needs, achieve practical application, and generate economic value."
Therefore, this indicator does not merely evaluate the volume of research papers or joint projects; it reflects a country's capacity to transform knowledge into economic impact through cross-sector collaboration—a core hallmark of a mature innovation ecosystem.
The case of Tleum Co., Ltd. serves as a clear illustration of this concept. By licensing pilot-scale research and patents for Silica Aerogel, the private sector scaled the technology into full industrial production, yielding various commercial products globally—ranging from heat-reflective coatings and heat-resistant materials to oil absorbents and cosmetics.
This outcome underscores the importance of the NIA as an Innovation Intermediary that reduces technical and financial risks for businesses. Beyond this case, the NIA continues to drive numerous initiatives—funding, networking, tech startup incubation, and University Spin-offs—ensuring academic innovations translate into market-ready products, services, and new ventures that deliver true economic impact and strengthen Thailand's long-term competitive position.
Hashtag: #NIA #NationalInnovationAgency
https://www.nia.or.th/
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
** This press release is distributed by Media OutReach Newswire through automated distribution system, for which the client assumes full responsibility. **
NIA and Its Role in Bridging Research to Business
