Microsoft Corp CEO Satya Nadella pledged a US$1.7 billion investment in artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing to help develop Indonesia’s AI infrastructure after a meeting with the country’s president yesterday.
Indonesia is Southeast Asia’s biggest economy and has a population of about 280 million across its sprawling archipelago, with a growing demand for data centers and AI tech in the region.
Nadella held talks with Indonesian President Joko Widodo at Jakarta’s presidential palace before delivering a keynote speech about AI in the Indonesian capital.
Photo: Bloomberg
“The thing I am really excited to announce today is the expanded announcement of data center investment, so US$1.7 billion to bring the latest and greatest AI infrastructure to Indonesia,” Nadella told the crowd, adding that data centers would soon be built in Indonesia.
“We are going to lead this wave in terms of the next generation of AI infrastructure that’s needed,” he said. “Our mission ultimately is to empower every person and every organization in Indonesia to take advantage of this next big AI wave.”
The tech giant would provide AI training for hundreds of thousands of Indonesians, Nadella said.
“I’m very pleased to announce that we at Microsoft are going to train 2.5 million people by 2025 across the ASEAN region. In fact, 840,000 right here in Indonesia alone,” he said.
The investment would be over four years, Microsoft said in a statement.
Microsoft Indonesia president director Dharma Simorangkir said that the investment “sets a new milestone for Indonesia’s digital landscape.”
Nadella earlier told Widodo that the tech giant’s pledge was the “single biggest investment value” in the 29-year history of its business in Indonesia, Indonesian Minister of Communication and Informatics Budi Arie Setiadi said in a statement.
Research by global consulting firm A.T. Kearney showed that AI is poised to contribute US$1 trillion to Southeast Asia’s GDP by 2030, with Indonesia predicted to see more than one-third of that, the statement said.
Jakarta is lobbying Microsoft to open a research and development center in Indonesia, including in the planned new capital Nusantara that is due to open from August, Budi told reporters.
“We offered several places: Bali, IKN [Nusantara],” he said.
Nadella’s visit comes just weeks after Apple Inc CEO Tim Cook met Widodo and Indonesian president-elect Prabowo Subianto as the tech giant explores ways to diversify supply chains away from China.
Cook said that Apple is looking at potentially investing in manufacturing in Indonesia.
Nadella is traveling to Thailand and then Malaysia this week to promote Microsoft’s AI tech.
ASML Holding NV’s new advanced chip machines have a daunting price tag, said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), one of the Dutch company’s biggest clients. “The cost is very high,” TSMC senior vice president Kevin Zhang (張曉強) said at a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, referring to ASML’s latest system known as high-NA extreme ultraviolet (EUV). “I like the high-NA EUV’s capability, but I don’t like the sticker price,” Zhang said. ASML’s new chip machine can imprint semiconductors with lines that are just 8 nanometers thick — 1.7 times smaller than the previous generation. The machines cost 350 million euros (US$378 million)
EXPLOSION: A driver who was transporting waste material from the site was hit by a blunt object after an uncontrolled pressure release and thrown 6m from the truck Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) said yesterday there was no damage to its facilities after an incident at its Arizona factory construction site where a waste disposal truck driver was transported to hospital. Firefighters responded to an explosion on Wednesday afternoon at the TSMC plant in Phoenix, the Arizona Republic reported, citing the local fire department. Cesar Anguiano-Guitron, 41, was transporting waste material from the project site and stopped to inspect the tank when he was made aware of a potential problem, a police report seen by Bloomberg News showed. Following an “uncontrolled pressure release,” he was hit by a blunt
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), which makes servers and laptop computers on a contract basis, yesterday said it expects artificial intelligence (AI) devices to bring explosive growth to Taiwan’s electronics industry, as AI applications are starting to run on edge devices such as AI PCs. Taiwanese electronics manufacturers such as chipmakers, component suppliers and hardware assemblers are likely to benefit from a rapid uptake of AI applications, Mike Yang (楊麒令), president of Quanta Cloud Technology Inc (雲達科技), a server manufacturing arm of Quanta, told reporters on the sidelines of a technology forum in Taipei yesterday. “I believe the growth potential is promising once
RETALIATION: Beijing is investigating Taiwan, the EU, the US and Japan for dumping, following probes of its market, as well as tariff hikes on its imports The Chinese Ministry of Commerce yesterday said it had launched a dumping investigation into imports of an important engineering chemical from Taiwan, the EU, the US and Japan. It would probe imports of polyoxymethylene copolymer, a thermoplastic used in many precision parts used in phones, auto parts and medical equipment, the Chinese commerce ministry said. The ministry is reviewing materials provided by six Chinese companies that applied for assistance on behalf of the industry on April 22, it said. The probe will target polyformaldehyde copolymer imported from suppliers in the EU, the US, Taiwan and Japan last year, and will assess any damage