[GlobeNewswire] Recently, tech giant NVIDIA is planning to invest $200 million to establish a new artificial intelligence center in Indonesia, a move that marks further market expansion in Southeast Asia, according to foreign media sources. The company has reached a partnership with Indonesian telecom giant Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison to jointly promote the project.

    The new facility, which will be located in the city of Surakarta, Central Java, is said to be expected to significantly enhance the local telecom infrastructure, human resources and digital technology. However, while Indonesia's Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Budi Ali Setiadi, has welcomed the announcement, both NVIDIA and Indosat have kept a low profile on the investment program and have not commented on it.

    Previously, Indosat had announced plans to integrate NVIDIA's latest chip technology into its infrastructure, aiming to propel Indonesia into a new era of artificial intelligence and technological advancement. However, the ambitious plan has also raised market concerns about local technology absorption capacity and data security.

   NVIDIA's investment in Indonesia is part of its broader push into Southeast Asia this year. NVIDIA's business in the region has been on the rise as the digital economy continues to grow and demand for data surges. Earlier this year, NVIDIA also entered into a partnership with Singaporean telecom provider Singtel to deploy artificial intelligence capabilities in its Southeast Asian data centers.

    Notably, Southeast Asia has become an important source of revenue for NVIDIA. Singapore contributed about 15 percent of NVIDIA's quarterly revenue to $2.7 billion as of October last year, according to an SEC filing. While the figure shows NVIDIA's strong sales in the region, it also raises concerns about market dependence and the competitive environment.

  According to NVIDIA's latest quarterly earnings report, the data center business has become its main source of revenue, accounting for the lion's share of global revenue. The business generated a whopping $18.4 billion in revenue, driven by the global artificial intelligence boom. However, as NVIDIA continues to make inroads into the Southeast Asian market, whether it can maintain a sustained growth trend remains to be further observed by the market.