Qatari telecommunications company Ooredoo Group has announced a strategic move into AI compute by investing about $800m in Zankore, an AI neocloud platform based in Indonesia.
The development of Zankore involves collaboration with Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison, Nvidia, and Nokia and seeks to reach 1GW of Nvidia DSX AI Factory capacity.
The investment aims to give Ooredoo significant exposure in Southeast Asia, a region identified as among the world's fastest-growing digital infrastructure markets.
According to industry analysis cited by the company, the demand for data centre capacity in Southeast Asia is expected to rise by around 3.5 times by 2030, mainly driven by AI workloads. This scenario may support sustained demand for AI compute infrastructure.
Ooredoo will act as both lead investor and founding shareholder in Zankore, holding a 49% stake.
The group projects that the initial investment could contribute approximately $600m in cumulative EBITDA over the first five years, based on current company estimates.
The platform is intended to increase Ooredoo's share of earnings from digital infrastructure assets and provide a basis for future expansion.
Ooredoo CEO Aziz Aluthman Fakhroo said: "Over recent years, we have systematically built one of the MENA region's leading digital infrastructure portfolios.
"With Zankore, we are taking the next logical step by adding AI compute to that portfolio, extending our approach into the high-growth Southeast Asian market – one of today's most dynamic AI infrastructure opportunities.
"We believe AI will define the next decade of value creation in emerging markets. Our role is to invest alongside the right partners, in scalable platforms that create long-term value for our shareholders while supporting the digital ambitions of the markets we serve."
The Zankore platform will launch in Indonesia and is planned to expand into other Southeast Asian countries in the future.
By the first half of 2027, it is expected to deliver around 200MW of AI capacity, using Nvidia's GB300 NVL72 and integrating Nvidia DSX MaxLPS technology to optimise power use and increase compute capability.
Ooredoo's current digital infrastructure interests include connectivity, subsea cables, and AI-ready data centres.
The addition of Zankore is intended to complement these operations and consolidate Ooredoo's presence in emerging AI and cloud infrastructure markets in Southeast Asia.
FTI Capital Advisors served as financial adviser to Ooredoo on the transaction.
"Ooredoo invests $800m in Indonesian AI neocloud platform Zankore" was originally created and published by Verdict, a GlobalData owned brand.