Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Nvidia increase investments in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore – Bloomberg

Amazon this week bought a gigantic conference hall in downtown Singapore to present its $9 billion investment plan to a crowd of thousands cheering and waving glow sticks.

According to the agency, the world’s largest companies are willing to spend up to $60 billion in the coming years on data centers alone. Its capabilities will be especially in demand as the region’s youth actively embrace video streaming, online shopping and generative artificial intelligence.

The accelerated adoption of AI in Southeast Asia could potentially add nearly $1 trillion to the region’s economy by 2030, according to a report by consulting firm Kearney.

According to Cushman & Wakefield, demand for data centers in Southeast and North Asia will grow approximately 25% annually until 2028. By comparison, in the United States this figure is 14% annually. Therefore, by 2028, Southeast Asia will become the second largest source of data center revenue outside the United States.

Companies are already taking the first steps to access this market. In Malaysia, Nvidia last year partnered with a local company in a plan to build a $4.3 billion AI data center park.

At the same time, according to the Singapore government, in 2030 around 65% of Southeast Asia’s population will be middle class with growing purchasing power. This will help double the regional internet services market to $600 billion, according to analysts at Google, Temasek Holdings Pte and Bain & Co.

Due to the difficult geopolitical situation, relations between American corporations and companies in China and India are becoming more complicated, and leading companies are therefore looking for new loyal partners. They seek business-friendly regimes, a rapidly growing talent pool and earning potential.

In late April, Tim Cook visited Vietnam, Indonesia and Singapore, meeting prime ministers and announcing new investments. After the trip, Apple reported that its revenue in Indonesia hit a record level, despite a decline in overall global sales.

“These are markets where our market share is small,” Cook said of his stock. —The population is large and growing. And our products are really making great strides.”

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella also met last week with the leaders of Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. And in the coming weeks, two major events on the topic of artificial intelligence will be held in Singapore, featuring top leaders from OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft and others.