US company steps up AI investment in Southeast Asia

The U.S. chip manufacturer Nvidia is planning to build a $200 million artificial intelligence (AI) centre in Indonesia as part of its push into Southeast Asia.

As reported by CNBC, according to Indonesia's Communication and Information Technology Minister, Budi Arie Setiadi, the new facility will be based in the city of Surakarta in the Central Java province and will bolster local telecommunications infrastructure, human resources, and digital talent.

This is the first in joint project between Nvidia and Indonesia’s telco giant Indosat Ooredoo Hutchiso.

In January, Singapore telco provider Singtel announced its partnership with Nvidia to deploy AI capabilities in its data centres across Southeast Asia.

Singtel said in March that the initiative would provide businesses in the region with access to Nvidia’s AI computing power by this year, without the need for clients to invest in and manage their own expensive data center infrastructure.

Southeast Asia has proved to be a major revenue driver for Nvidia. A U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing last year showed that about 15% or $2.7 billion of the company’s revenue for the quarter ended October came from Singapore.