Nezar Patria: Connectivity And Computation Become The Two Main Pillars Of Indonesia's AI Sovereignty

JAKARTA - Deputy Minister of Communication and Digital Affairs Nezar Patria revealed that connectivity and computing are the two main pillars that will bring Indonesia to achieve the sovereignty of artificial intelligence (AI).

In terms of connectivity, internet penetration in Indonesia has succeeded in reaching more than 80 percent of the country's population throughout 2025, with 90 percent dominance of the 4G internet connection.

However, Nezar believes that the government and relevant stakeholders such as telecommunications companies still have important homework in increasing internet speed.

"The internet speed still has to not increase, indeed it has not reached 100 Mbps, still at around 36.7 Mbps. However, the internet connection is already 80%," said Nezar at the Launching Event Empowering Indonesia Report 2025 on Monday, October 27.

He hopes that in the next 5 years Indonesia can be side by side with neighboring countries that already have internet speeds that reach 100 Mbps and also a wider 5G network.

Meanwhile, in terms of computing, Nezar explained that the strengthening of computing includes not only the construction of AI-ready data center infrastructure, but also an increase in the capacity of digital human resources.

"First, how do we have a strong enough compute power, both in terms of data processing, and we suggest that our data centers must be AI ready in the future," said Nezar.

As for human resources, he gave an example of how countries such as China are able to balance the limitations of computing power through mathematical innovation and algorithmics from local talents.

According to him, China's ability to create DeepSeek as a ChatGPT designer using a smaller GPU is China's advantage in creating qualified AI talents.

"This talent is very important, no less important than infrastructure. Infrastructure constraints can sometimes be conquered by the power of good talent," he said.

According to Nezar, Indonesia needs around 9 million digital talents by 2030 to take advantage of the digital economy's potential, which is projected to reach 1 trillion US dollars in Southeast Asia, of which 40% of its contribution comes from Indonesia.