Microsoft CEO Boosts Indonesia’s AI Economy with $1.7bn Investment

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has announced a significant investment of $1.7bn in artificial intelligence and cloud services in Indonesia. This investment is aimed at helping Southeast Asia’s biggest economy thrive in a ‘new era’. Nadella unveiled plans for Microsoft to train 840,000 people in Indonesia on AI and provide support for the country’s growing tech developer community.

This announcement marks the largest investment by Microsoft in Indonesia in its nearly three-decade history in the country. Nadella held talks with President Joko Widodo, also known as Jokowi, at Jakarta’s presidential palace before delivering a keynote speech on AI in the Indonesian capital. He emphasized the importance of AI in reshaping how people live and work, including in Indonesia.

Nadella highlighted that Microsoft’s investment will bring the latest AI infrastructure to Indonesia and support the country’s development in this new era. Indonesia, with a population of about 280 million people, holds the title of Southeast Asia’s biggest economy and has the third-largest developer community in the region after India and China.

A 2020 study by global consulting firm Kearney projected that AI could contribute nearly $1 trillion to Southeast Asia’s GDP by 2030, with Indonesia estimated to capture $366bn of this gain. This investment by Microsoft reflects a broader global strategy to boost support for the development of AI infrastructure, as seen in similar recent investments in Japan and a UAE-based AI firm.

Overall, Microsoft’s investment in Indonesia’s AI and cloud services sector aims to support the country in leveraging emerging technologies to drive economic growth and innovation