Ooredoo scales up AI compute ambitions with $800mn investment in Zankore

Ooredoo Group announced on Thursday its strategic investment of approximately $800 million in Zankore, a pioneering AI computing and neocloud platform based in Indonesia. As the founding shareholder and lead investor with a 49% stake, Ooredoo will play a pivotal role in the platform's launch and initial development.

The investment is projected to contribute around $600 million in cumulative EBITDA to Ooredoo Group over the first five years, bolstering the group's earnings from digital infrastructure assets. This move expands Ooredoo's exposure to resilient, hard-currency infrastructure earnings.

CEO Aziz Aluthman Fakhroo emphasized the company's commitment to building a leading digital infrastructure portfolio in the MENA region, with Zankore representing the next logical step in extending that portfolio into the high-growth Southeast Asian market. Fakhroo believes AI will define the next decade of value creation in emerging markets and sees Ooredoo's investment as a way to support the digital ambitions of the markets they serve.

Developed in partnership with Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison, Nokia, and NVIDIA, Zankore aims to achieve 1 GW of NVIDIA DSX AI Factory capacity. This strategic alliance positions Ooredoo as an early entrant in the rapidly expanding AI infrastructure market in Southeast Asia.