Elon Musk Follows Microsoft Boss and Apple CEO in Coming to RI, What’s Up?
Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Elon Musk is scheduled to come to Indonesia at the 2024 World Water Forum (WWF) in Bali. The entrepreneur will inaugurate one of his services, Starlink, which operates in Indonesia.
“Elon Musk will also speak at the opening of the 10th World Water Forum in Bali,” said Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment (Menko Marves) Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan.
For your information, WWF will be held on May 18-24. It is said that the inauguration of Starlink will also be attended by President Joko Widodo (Jokowi).
Musk’s arrival this time follows two technology giant bosses who had previously come to Indonesia. Tim Cook from Apple and Satya Nadella from Microsoft visited Indonesia last month and met President Joko Widodo (Jokowi).
Previously, it was rumored that Musk would come to Indonesia. Including at the B20 Summit which is part of the G20 series in Bali which will be held in 2022.
He failed to physically attend the event. However, you can still attend virtually via video call.
Meanwhile, Starlink is known to have obtained two operational permits in Indonesia. Namely for VSAT and internet service providers (ISP) for retail consumers.
Starlink has also carried out trials and gone through the Operational Worthiness Test (ULO) stage. It is planned that the satellite-based internet service will be tested in the National Capital City (IKN) of the archipelago in mid-May 2024.
Several users have reportedly used this service. Meanwhile, information regarding the Starlink entity in Indonesia, PT Starlink Indonesia, is still very limited until now.
Apple CEO Tim Cook first visited Indonesia to discuss investment in the country on April 17 2024.
Apple is committed to investing with a total value of IDR 1.6 trillion to build the ‘Apple Developer Academy’ educational facility.
So far there have been 3 Apple Developer Academies spread across several cities, namely Batam, South Tangerang and Surabaya with a value of IDR 1.4 trillion.
Furthermore, Apple will also open a new facility in Bali which will bring its investment value to IDR 1.6 trillion.
President Jokowi also expressed several hopes for other investments from Apple in Indonesia. These include innovation centers, helping build smart cities at IKN, and collaborating in the form of business matching with local vendors for the iPhone manufacturing process.
Nvidia is rumored to be investing in Indonesia by building an artificial intelligence (AI) center in Solo, Central Java, worth US$ 200 million (Rp. 3 trillion).
This American chipset giant will collaborate with Indonesian telecommunications company PT Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison.
Minister of Communication and Information Budi Arie Setiadi said the AI center could consist of telecommunications infrastructure or a human resources center and would be located in Solo.
Meanwhile, Microsoft is known to have disbursed US$1.7 billion or Rp. 27.6 trillion. He revealed that the funds were for Cloud and AI technology, but investment details will be explained at a later date.
“Regarding the details for what, later. There are many opportunities in Indonesia,” said Budi.
What is clear is that apart from building AI cloud infrastructure, Microsoft also wants to produce 840,000 AI digital talents in Indonesia in the next 4 years.
Microsoft’s investment plans were also heard in 2020. Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said the amount reached US$ 1 billion to create a data center in Indonesia.
“This morning with Microsoft. They are very interested in building a data center in Indonesia,” he said, in January 2020.
Source : CNBC INDONESIA
