Gulf investors turn to Asia for AI opportunities
Conflict in the Middle East and Europe and supply-chain uncertainty are raising the appeal of markets seen as relatively stable.
Gulf investors are shifting their focus to Asia for AI investment opportunities amidst conflicts in the Middle East and Europe and supply-chain uncertainties. Qatari telecom firm Ooredoo has taken the lead in investing $800 million in Indonesia's new AI compute platform, Zankore. The platform aims to provide 200 megawatts of capacity by the following year, with Nvidia and Nokia as its suppliers.
Ooredoo, which has been present in Indonesia for nearly two decades, anticipates a significant surge in data center demand in Southeast Asia by 2030, with projections indicating a more than threefold increase.
Additionally, Abu Dhabi’s investment giant Mubadala is exploring the possibility of leading an investment of $6.3 billion for a 500-megawatt data center in Japan’s Akita prefecture. This move highlights the Gulf region's interest in securing a stake in the infrastructure supporting AI technology on a global scale, beyond just their domestic AI initiatives. These ambitious ventures underscore the Gulf's commitment to playing a significant role in the AI infrastructure landscape.
Written by urgent.news from Semafor's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — it may contain errors, so check the original before relying on it.
