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.
To many, Tatu City on the outskirts of Nairobi looks like a success. The first city entirely built by a private company to be operational in east Africa, with about 25,000 people living and working there, it accounts for about two-thirds of all foreign investment in Kenya. Its low-tax status has attracted more than 100 businesses including Heineken, coffee brand Dormans, and the biggest call-center and cold-chain transport firms in the region. However, to some local politicians, Tatu City has looked more like a target for extortion. A parade of governors have demanded land worth millions of dollars in exchange
Hong Kong authorities ramped up sales of the local dollar as the greenback’s slide threatened the foreign-exchange peg. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) sold a record HK$60.5 billion (US$7.8 billion) of the city’s currency, according to an alert sent on its Bloomberg page yesterday in Asia, after it tested the upper end of its trading band. That added to the HK$56.1 billion of sales versus the greenback since Friday. The rapid intervention signals efforts from the city’s authorities to limit the local currency’s moves within its HK$7.75 to HK$7.85 per US dollar trading band. Heavy sales of the local dollar by
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) revenue jumped 48 percent last month, underscoring how electronics firms scrambled to acquire essential components before global tariffs took effect. The main chipmaker for Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp reported monthly sales of NT$349.6 billion (US$11.6 billion). That compares with the average analysts’ estimate for a 38 percent rise in second-quarter revenue. US President Donald Trump’s trade war is prompting economists to retool GDP forecasts worldwide, casting doubt over the outlook for everything from iPhone demand to computing and datacenter construction. However, TSMC — a barometer for global tech spending given its central role in the
An Indonesian animated movie is smashing regional box office records and could be set for wider success as it prepares to open beyond the Southeast Asian archipelago’s silver screens. Jumbo — a film based on the adventures of main character, Don, a large orphaned Indonesian boy facing bullying at school — last month became the highest-grossing Southeast Asian animated film, raking in more than US$8 million. Released at the end of March to coincide with the Eid holidays after the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, the movie has hit 8 million ticket sales, the third-highest in Indonesian cinema history, Film
RSS