Microsoft is investing $1.7 billion in cloud and AI infrastructure in Indonesia, the company announced. The investment includes new digital infrastructure, AI training for 840,000 people, and support for the country's growing developer community. Microsoft also plans to equip 2.5 million people in the ASEAN region with AI skills by 2025. The investment follows other multi-billion dollar investments by Microsoft in Germany, Spain, and Japan. Microsoft's main goal here is likely to strategically buy cloud growth in the short and medium term, to attract as many countries and companies as possible to Azure and profit from it in the long term. A good portion of the money invested will likely go directly back into the Azure cloud. Microsoft is taking a similar approach with its investments in AI startups such as OpenAI.
