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Indonesia is putting billions of dollars behind its ambition to become a major AI computing hub in Southeast Asia.
Zankore, an AI infrastructure platform launched by Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison in collaboration with Ooredoo Group, Nvidia, and Nokia, has secured a senior term loan facility of up to $3.1 billion as it builds an initial 100 megawatts of Nvidia AI infrastructure in Indonesia. The project is part of a much larger plan to scale Zankore toward 1 gigawatt of Nvidia DSX AI Factory capacity.
Southeast Asian markets are increasingly competing to host the GPUs, data centers, power systems, and networks needed to build and run AI.
$3.1 billion will help turn Indonesia’s AI ambitions into infrastructure
According to Zankore’s financing announcement, Zankore says it is building an initial 100 MW of Nvidia AI infrastructure in Indonesia.
The financing will support the acquisition and deployment of advanced Nvidia GPU infrastructure for an AI cloud platform serving AI companies, enterprises, startups, developers, and institutions in Indonesia and elsewhere in Southeast Asia. Citi served as exclusive debt adviser on the $3.1 billion senior term loan facility.
Zankore’s ambitions go considerably further.
When the platform was launched in August, Indosat, Ooredoo Group, Nokia, and Nvidia announced a target of up to 1 GW of Nvidia DSX AI Factory capacity. Approximately 200 MW of AI capacity is targeted for the first half of 2027, with Nvidia GB300 NVL72 systems expected to power that phase.
Indonesia’s Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs said construction in Batang, Central Java, is targeted to begin in the first half of 2027, with the broader first phase expected to reach approximately 200 MW. Zankore’s newer financing announcement separately describes an initial 100 MW of Nvidia AI infrastructure.
The current financing will support the acquisition and deployment of Nvidia GPUs as Zankore builds its initial 100 MW, while 1 GW remains the platform’s longer-term target.
Nvidia technology sits at the center of the buildout
The project is being designed around Nvidia DSX, the company’s architecture and operational framework for building large AI factories.
Rather than treating GPUs as isolated hardware, DSX brings together accelerated computing, networking, power, cooling, and operations. Zankore also plans to incorporate Nvidia DSX MaxLPS, which Nvidia says can enable up to 40% more compute within the same power budget by dynamically optimizing power across GPU fleets.
That power efficiency could become increasingly important as Southeast Asia absorbs more AI infrastructure. eWeek recently examined how OpenAI has secured dedicated capacity at two planned AI data centers in Malaysia that are expected to use Nvidia Vera Rubin systems.
Singapore, meanwhile, is making at least 200 MW of additional data center capacity available through its second Data Centre Call for Application as it balances growing AI demand with energy-efficiency and sustainability requirements.
And the infrastructure boom is reaching beyond data centers themselves. Philippine electronics exports could reach up to $54 billion in 2026, with industry leaders citing AI and data-center demand as key growth drivers.
What eWeek found: Indonesia is trying to move up the AI stack
The significance of Zankore goes beyond the size of its financing.
Three things stand out:
- Indonesia wants domestic AI computing capacity. The project gives companies, developers, and institutions another potential source of large-scale accelerated computing based in the region rather than relying entirely on infrastructure elsewhere.
- Southeast Asia’s AI competition is becoming physical. Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and other markets are increasingly competing through data-center capacity, GPUs, electricity, connectivity, and investment rather than simply AI applications.
- Power may become as important as processors. Zankore’s planned expansion from its initial deployment toward a much larger regional platform illustrates just how energy-intensive the next phase of AI development could become.
Indonesia’s government has explicitly connected the project with its ambition to become a regional AI hub. The country’s Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs described Zankore in August as a major step toward that goal and said the platform was projected to reach up to 1 GW within three years.
Southeast Asia’s AI race is increasingly measured in megawatts
Indonesia is entering an increasingly crowded regional contest.
eWeek’s recent look at OpenAI’s expansion in Malaysia showed how quickly major AI companies are securing compute capacity in Southeast Asia. Malaysia has attracted large-scale data-center investment, while Singapore is selectively expanding its own infrastructure under tighter power and sustainability requirements.
Zankore gives Indonesia another route into that competition: build enough advanced computing capacity locally to support enterprises and developers while eventually serving customers across the wider region.
The project still has a long way to go before reaching its 1 GW ambition. Zankore has not publicly identified anchor customers or disclosed how quickly capacity beyond its initial phases will be deployed.
But the $3.1 billion financing moves the project beyond a long-term infrastructure target and toward funded deployment. As AI demand grows, Southeast Asia’s role in the industry may increasingly depend not just on who adopts AI fastest, but on which countries can provide the GPUs, electricity, cooling, connectivity, and capital needed to run it.
Also read: For more on the infrastructure demands behind the AI boom, read how Google, Meta, Microsoft, and other tech companies pledged to cover the full energy costs of their data centers.