JAKARTA: Microsoft’s chief executive officer met the president of Indonesia yesterday, pledging a $1.7 billion investment in artificial intelligence and cloud computing to help develop the archipelago’s AI infrastructure.
Indonesia is Southeast Asia’s biggest economy with a population of around 280 million across its sprawling archipelago and there is a growing demand for data centres and AI tech in the region.
Satya Nadella held talks with President Joko Widodo, more popularly known as Jokowi, at Jakarta’s presidential palace before delivering a keynote speech about AI in the Indonesian capital.
“The thing I am really excited to announce today is the expanded announcement of data centre investment, so $1.7 billion to bring the latest and greatest AI infrastructure to Indonesia,” Nadella told a crowd, adding data centres would be built in Indonesia soon.
“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 organisation in Indonesia to take advantage of this next big AI wave.”
He said the tech giant would provide AI training for hundreds of thousands of Indonesians.
“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.
Earlier, Nadella told Jokowi the tech giant would “invest significantly” in AI infrastructure and new cloud computing over the next four years, Minister of Communication and Informatics Budi Arie Setiadi said in a statement.
The Microsoft chief called it the “single biggest investment value” in the 29-year history of its business in the country, Budi said. – AFP
