AI giants are flocking to Indonesia-here’s how our digital infrastructure solutions can help you get there

Zenlayer
6 min readSep 10, 2024

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“The world today is in a ‘war’ to gain AI capabilities…whichever controls AI can potentially control the world.” Indonesian President Joko Widodo

Indonesia is quickly becoming a key player in the global AI race, drawing companies far and wide eager to capitalize on its rapid economic growth and strategic location at major maritime trade routes. By 2024, the country is projected to be the fourth-largest economy by PPP and eighth by GDP, positioning it as a high-income country. Coupled with high internet penetration and the world’s fourth largest population of 270+ million with an average age of just 29, Indonesia offers a vast consumer market and dynamic, youthful workforce.

In recent years, the government’s commitment to digital transformation and substantial investments into its National AI Strategy, Stranas KA, has catapulted this archipelagic nation into the global spotlight for AI development and innovation. Notably, major players like Microsoft, which is funding initiatives to train 800,000+ local workers as part of its $1.7 billion investment, and NVIDIA, which is pouring $200 million to build an AI Talent Development Center, are betting big on the Southeast Asian country’s potential.

Challenges of deploying AI in Indonesia

Despite its promising potential, AI companies face several key challenges when considering deployment in Indonesia:

  • Logistical and compliance complexities — the region’s rigid regulations and complex networking and data center vendor landscapes can be a nightmare to manage without a trusted partner who can help navigate and streamline
  • Poor latency and performance — low latency, stability, and bandwidth are significant concerns for AI applications that need seamless, large-volume data flow and real-time processing
  • Regional market fragmentation — Indonesia’s incredibly diverse geography and Southeast Asia’s dispersed populations make it difficult to reach users in remote locations

Keep reading to see how Zenlayer’s end-to-end AI solutions can help position your company for success in Indonesia and beyond.

Conquer regional complexities with turnkey data center solutions

Zenlayer’s comprehensive, turnkey data center services are designed to unburden you from the stress of navigating Indonesia’s complex regulatory and logistical landscapes so you can easily and rapidly establish or expand your company’s presence in the region. Below, we’ll dive into Indonesia’s data center landscape, AI data center best practices, and the advantages of working with Zenlayer in your AI journey.

Indonesia’s strategic data center expansions

As of 2023, the country boasts 80+ data centers with a total power consumption of 650MW+, primarily located in Jakarta, Surabaya, Bandung, and Medan. With Jakarta situated as a major hub, data centers are strategically distributed across the city center as well as southern and eastern areas to ensure comprehensive coverage.

To further garner investments, the Indonesian government has designated special economic zones on the island city of Batam, offering juicy financial incentives like tax breaks. This initiative has fueled the rapid expansion of data centers across the nation as growing market demand in high-tech, including AI, continues to soar.

A handy shopping list for AI data centers

To effectively develop and support AI applications, our experts strongly advise that your chosen data centers meet the following criteria:

  • High reliability and availability — AI data centers should adhere to T3/T3+ operating standards, like those we offer in Indonesia, to ensure ample power for high-quality service continuity.
  • High power density — some applications, especially those involving deep learning and training, demand more processing power that can reach 10KW per cabinet. Zenlayer offers data centers conveniently located in the heart of Jakarta that meet this requirement.
  • Efficient cooling — AI hardware generate a ton of heat, so advanced water- or air-cooling systems are a must to ensure performance and uptime. Our data centers feature N+1 configuration, which provides an additional backup for every set of cooling systems and 2N, which guarantees a complete duplicate of the entire cooling infrastructure for optimal redundancy.
  • Scalability — as with most other business applications, the ability to quickly scale resources in response to changing demands is essential. Zenlayer data centers offer plenty of space, and our experts can provide recommendations as you strategize for growth.
  • Superior connectivity — high-speed, low-latency networking underpins real-time data processing, with optimal cluster distances being under 50 meters.

The Zenlayer advantage

We offer 18 strategic data center locations across the country, including 14 data centers covering key areas throughout Jakarta as well as 2 in Surabaya, 1 in Medan, and 1 in Pekanbaru.

Here’s a snapshot of a few data centers we offer in the region:

In addition, Zenlayer supports all aspects of data center management across 300+ global locations, availing:

  • Hardware purchase, transport, and delivery
  • Site selection guidance
  • Customs clearance assistance
  • Deployment and configuration support
  • Equipment and network monitoring
  • Dedicated on-site technical support

Leveraging our large data center footprint in Indonesia, it’s quick and easy to connect to clouds, on-prem stacks, and other data centers where your data is hosted to optimize resource allocation, improve user experience, and comply with local data sovereignty.

Backed by decades of experience helping businesses succeed in Asia, Zenlayer guarantees compliance so you can focus your attention on hitting milestones without being bogged down by red tape.

Maximize performance with edge AI and a fabric designed for AI

Zenlayer offers a robust suite of solutions designed to address performance challenges in AI deployment, including edge GPUs and fabric for AI.

Our hyperconnected, global private network fabric connects from Jakarta to Johor, Kuala Lumpur, Cyberjaya, Singapore, Manila, Bangkok, Hong Kong, and other key hubs throughout Southeast Asia in ultra-low latency to ensure efficient and secure data flow for AI model development and application, with a large selection of services that can all be provisioned through a single port. Zenlayer’s high-capacity network makes handing multi-Tbps traffic a breeze, enabling frequent, large-volume data transfers that are integral to many AI processes. Our advanced fabric dynamically routes traffic to ensure the most efficient path of delivery, ensuring data integrity and high-speed flow for faster training and inferencing.

In addition, our edge AI solutions let you bring powerful GPU compute closer to users and data sources to reduce latency and accelerate real-time processing. With popular cards like the 4090 and the high powered H100 and A100, it’s easy to unlock the processing power you need for complex AI workloads. Our flexible, competitive quarterly billing and upcoming on-demand deployments via zenConsole give your business unmatched agility and scalability to respond rapidly to fluctuating demands.

Reach users anywhere in Asia with a massive, global partner ecosystem

Leveraging our economy of scale and trusted partners, you can effortlessly and cost-effectively employ leading regional networks and service providers to extend your service locale, reaching even the most remote users with our high-quality local IP transit. You’ll also gain access to a massive network of data centers partners worldwide like Equinix and Digital Realty, along with more than 10,000 ISP, telecom carrier, and internet exchange peers like Telkom Indonesia, Viettel, PLDT, Indosat, Airtel, Tata, Singtel, Korea Telecom, SK Broadband, KDDI, Softbank, China Mobile, China Unicom, China Telecom, and many more.

Our global coverage and partner ecosystem combine to give you the confidence you need to expand your operations not just in Asia, but worldwide. No matter where your AI journey takes you, Zenlayer’s network and expertise are here to support your growth and strategic initiatives in any region.

Build your AI applications faster and easier with Zenlayer

Zenlayer’s integrated service ecosystem and end-to-end solutions are designed to meet the evolving needs of your AI business, ensuring seamless operations, ultra-low latency connectivity, and high-performance GPU compute to power your AI builds.

Contact a Zenlayer AI expert for today to kickstart your project with a free consultation.

Originally published at https://www.zenlayer.com on September 10, 2024.

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Zenlayer

Hyperconnected Cloud for Interactive Applications. We help organizations reduce latency and instantly improve real-time digital experiences at scale.