Satya Nadella, MS CEO, Completes Southeast Asia Tour of 3 Countries
Emphasizes AI Infrastructure Expansion While Visiting Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia
Intends to Preemptively Capture the Growing Potential of the Southeast Asian Market
Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft (MS), has concluded his tour of three Southeast Asian countries to expand investments in artificial intelligence (AI). Starting with Indonesia on the 30th of last month (local time), Nadella sequentially visited Thailand and Malaysia, announcing bold investment plans related to AI. The major Southeast Asian countries receiving MS investments can now rapidly expand their AI infrastructure, which in turn allows MS to strengthen its market dominance in cloud services in the Southeast Asian market, leading to evaluations of this as a "win-win strategy."
MS CEO Concludes Tour of Three Southeast Asian Countries
On the 2nd (local time), according to major foreign media such as Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Nadella met with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and announced an investment of $2.2 billion over four years to build infrastructure related to cloud computing and AI services. He also added that MS plans to provide AI education to 200,000 Malaysians and work with the local government to strengthen national cybersecurity capabilities. Nadella emphasized, “We are committed to supporting Malaysia’s AI transformation and ensuring that it benefits all Malaysians.”
Bloomberg reported, “This is the largest investment since MS entered Malaysia 32 years ago.” Malaysia is one of the fastest-growing countries in the AI industry in Southeast Asia. In particular, the southern Johor Bahru region, connected to Singapore and linked by the Causeway, is emerging as a key hub for AI data centers in Southeast Asia. Nvidia partnered with local utility company YTL Power to build a $4.3 billion AI data center park there at the end of last year.
The First Stop Was Indonesia
Earlier, on the 30th of last month, Nadella met Indonesian President Joko Widodo during the first leg of his trip in Indonesia and announced plans to invest $1.7 billion over four years to build cloud services and AI infrastructure. He also revealed plans to provide AI education to 840,000 Indonesians.
On the 1st of this month, during his visit to Bangkok, Thailand, Nadella emphasized plans to build an MS Azure data center. Although the exact investment amount for Thailand was not announced, according to local media Bangkok Post, MS plans to invest about $1 billion to build the data center. MS also plans to provide AI utilization education to 100,000 young entrepreneurs related to Thailand’s tourism industry. After meeting Nadella, Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said, “(MS’s AI-related investment in Thailand) will be an important turning point in the development of Thailand’s digital economy and will enhance Thailand’s competitiveness,” adding, “The Thai government will fully support the growth of the AI industry in our country.”
Why MS Made Bold Investments in Southeast Asia’s AI Market
MS’s consecutive announcements of AI investment plans during its tour of major Southeast Asian countries are due to the region’s potential for significant growth in the AI market. As Southeast Asia rapidly digitalizes, it is expected to emerge as a future hub for the AI industry. The intention is to win over local industries, political circles, and public opinion in advance. According to global consulting firm Kearney, AI adoption in Southeast Asia is still in its early stages, but it has the potential to add about $1 trillion to the local economy by 2030.
With the intensification of the US-China technology hegemony war making it increasingly difficult for US big tech companies to operate in China, the Southeast Asian market is becoming an alternative, which is also a factor driving increased AI-related investments here.
Bloomberg analyzed that with MS’s AI investment plans in Southeast Asia, competition among big tech companies to dominate the AI market, including cloud services in this region, is expected to become even fiercer. For example, big tech companies such as Alphabet (Google’s parent company), Amazon, and Alibaba are also expanding their businesses in Southeast Asia.
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