Indosat & Nvidia build AI Grid to power Sahabat-AI

Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison has struck a collaboration with Nvidia focused on using Nvidia's Nemotron open models as the Indonesian telecoms group develops what it describes as the next generation of AI services for the country.

The initiative links model development with national infrastructure and consumer-facing software. Indosat is positioning the work as part of a wider push to expand access to AI tools across Indonesia's islands.

At the centre of the plan is a distributed "AI Grid" that Indosat is building across its data centre and network footprint. The grid is designed to place AI computing resources in multiple locations around the country, rather than concentrating them in a single site.

Indosat says this approach should improve access to compute outside major urban centres and accelerate local AI development by enabling more organisations to use nearby infrastructure.

Distributed infrastructure

The grid aims to turn Indosat's existing nationwide assets into a foundation for AI workloads by combining data centres with network infrastructure and distributing AI computing across multiple sites.

It is paired with a "centralised AI factory" model for orchestration. Together, the architecture creates what Indosat calls a nationwide AI environment, designed to improve response times and reliability for real-time experiences.

Lintasarta, part of the broader Indosat group, provides an AI cloud environment within the setup. Indosat says this enables enterprises, developers and institutions to build and deploy AI applications locally, using computing infrastructure located in Indonesia.

Development and training of a new Indonesian AI model will also run on GPU infrastructure based in the country. Indosat links this to its goal of keeping technology and data within Indonesia as part of a "sovereign AI ecosystem".

Sahabat-AI platform

On the user side, Indosat has introduced Sahabat-AI, an app-based platform available on Android and iOS. It describes Sahabat-AI as both an application and an open platform for individuals and organisations.

Sahabat-AI includes tools for writing assistance, research, coding, image generation and analysis. Indosat says it is designed around local languages and cultural context to reflect how Indonesians communicate.

Indosat also plans to let organisations integrate services into the Sahabat-AI ecosystem through an agent-based architecture, allowing the public to access a range of digital services through a single AI interface.

Sahabat-AI was first presented at Indonesia AI Day 2024, according to Indosat, and has been in development since then. The collaboration with Nvidia sits within that broader product roadmap.

Nemotron models

Nemotron is a family of open models from Nvidia. Indosat says it will use the models to develop the next generation of Sahabat-AI models and to build a new Indonesian large language model.

Indosat expects the new Indonesian model to be more efficient, adaptable and practical for real-world applications, but it has not provided technical specifications or a deployment timeline.

The collaboration reflects a broader trend among telecoms and digital infrastructure providers in Southeast Asia, as operators invest in data centre capacity and cloud partnerships to meet rising demand for AI workloads and local-language applications.

Indosat operates consumer mobile services and enterprise ICT offerings, and runs data centres and fibre services. Its push into AI platforms builds on those assets, adding a software layer aimed at both everyday users and organisations.

Vikram Sinha, President Director and Chief Executive Officer of Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison, said:

"Indonesia's AI future must be inclusive. No one should be left behind. By combining world-class technology such as NVIDIA's Nemotron models with our national AI infrastructure and platforms like Sahabat-AI, we are ensuring that AI is not limited to a few cities or industries but becomes a tool that empowers communities across the entire archipelago."

Indosat says it is preparing the next generation of Sahabat-AI models using Nvidia's Nemotron open models, with development and training planned on GPU infrastructure located in Indonesia.