Indonesia Unveils 1 GW AI Factory Plan Backed by Indosat, Ooredoo, Nokia and NVIDIA

Indonesia has announced plans to build an AI factory with capacity of up to 1 gigawatt, a project the government says would be the largest of its kind in Southeast Asia. The project, unveiled through the launch of Zankore by Indosat, is a collaboration between Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison, Ooredoo Group, Nokia and NVIDIA, with construction of the first phase scheduled to begin in the first half of 2027 in Batang, Central Java.

What was announced

Indonesia’s Minister of Communication and Digital Affairs, Meutya Hafid, said the investment shows growing trust from global technology companies in Indonesia’s digital economy. “The government welcomes the commitment of four global technology companies to build an AI Factory in Indonesia. This investment shows the world’s increasing confidence in the future of Indonesia’s digital economy, while strengthening Indonesia’s position as a destination for high-value technology investment,” she said in a written statement.

Unlike conventional data centers, an AI factory is computing infrastructure designed specifically to develop and run artificial intelligence services at scale. The facility integrates data centers ready for AI computing, high-performance GPUs, networking, storage, GPU-as-a-Service and AI workload management systems in a single ecosystem.

Scale and timeline

The AI factory is targeted to reach up to 1,000 MW, or 1 GW, of capacity within three years. The first phase, scheduled to begin construction in the first half of 2027, starts at around 200 MW before scaling up gradually. International studies cited in the announcement estimate that end-to-end AI infrastructure investment can reach about US$50 million per MW of computing capacity, which would make the project one of the largest AI infrastructure investments announced in Southeast Asia.

A national AI ecosystem

Beyond raw computing capacity, the project is designed to anchor a national AI ecosystem. The facility will host Sahabat-AI, an open-source Indonesian large language model with 70 billion parameters that supports regional languages including Bahasa Indonesia, Javanese, Sundanese, Balinese and Batak. It will also offer Token-as-a-Service, intended to make access to AI computing more affordable for businesses, application developers, government agencies and small and medium enterprises.

The government also said the first GPU manufacturing facility in Indonesia, located in Cikarang, remains under construction and is targeted to begin operations in December. The combination of digital infrastructure, energy availability, a large domestic market and policy support is expected to position Indonesia as a regional AI hub serving both national and regional demand.

Source: Detik INET