Over the past few months, Southeast Asia has seen billions of dollars' worth of AI-related digital infrastructure investment commitments, with recent visits by CEOs of major tech companies signaling growing strategic and economic interests in the region’s digital economy. By making significant investments in the region’s AI development and digital ecosystems more broadly, U.S. companies are boosting their regional presence and underscoring a growing commitment to the long-term outlook of the region’s digital economy.
In May, Google announced it will make a US$2 billion investment in Malaysia to build one of its largest scale Google data centers in the world as well as a Google Cloud region hub. Google will also launch two digital skilling initiatives for Malaysian students and educators, which will be important for the success of the Government of Malaysia’s Cloud First Policy.
In April, several ASEAN-based companies announced partnerships with NVIDIA to leverage its technology to bolster infrastructure development. Indosat and Nvidia committed to invest RM9475 million (US$200 million) to establish an AI Center in Surakarta, Indonesia. FPT later announced plans to invest US$200 million in Vietnam, leveraging its strategic partnership with Nvidia, to establish an AI factory that will be able to serve as a sovereign cloud.
During his Southeast Asia visit from April 30 to May 2, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced the company’s largest investments in Indonesia and Malaysia, committing to investing US$1.7 billionand US$2.2 billion respectively, which will be spread across supporting cloud and AI architecture, AI skilling, and developer support over the next four years. Microsoft also announced commitments to support Thailand’s cloud and AI infrastructure development, including plans to open its first data center region in the country. Across the region, Microsoft has committed to providing AI skilling opportunities for 2.5 million people by 2025, particularly in the Philippines and Vietnam in addition to Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand.
During the following week, Amazon Web Services (AWS) committed to invest S$12 billion (US$8.88 billion) over the next five years, doubling its total planned investment and contributing an estimated S$23.7 billion (US$17.54 billion) to Singapore’s GDP. The new commitment will support Singapore’s Smart Nation and National AI Strategy 2.0 via AWS AI Spring Singapore, a new flagship AI program in collaboration with the Singapore Government, and support data center construction, operation, and maintenance.
Southeast Asia is well-positioned to become one of the biggest beneficiaries of AI adoption. In 2023, Southeast Asia’s digital economy reached US$100 billion, with AI potentially adding US$1 trillion to the region’s GDP by 2030. From a regional policy perspective, AI is also included as an emerging area of technology in the ASEAN’s negotiations of their regional Digital Economic Framework Agreement (DEFA).
