Government Fosters the National AI Industry Thru Semiconductor Cooperation

RRI.CO.ID, Jakarta - Indonesia is starting to take a position in the global artificial intelligence (AI) industry competition thru strengthening semiconductor cooperation with several countries and global technology companies.

Vice Minister of Communication and Digital, Nezar Patria, stated that the government is currently preparing the foundation for the national AI industry while also strengthening Indonesia's digital talent to be competitive in the AI era.

"We do not want to just be a market, but we want Indonesian digital talents to master the fundamentals of AI technology and develop AI models created by our own people," Nezar said in the Keynote Speech of the President Club Series in Central Jakarta, Tuesday, May 19, 2026.

According to him, this step is part of the government's strategy to catch up with Indonesia's lag in the rapidly evolving global AI development competition.

He revealed that the government has established cooperation with several semiconductor industries in Europe, Japan, and the technology company Arm Holdings in the UK.

"The government has already collaborated with several semiconductor industries in Europe, Japan, including Arm in the UK. During the President's visits to various countries, the issue of semiconductors has also been a strategic discussion," he stated.

Nezar believes that Indonesia has not yet entered the main supply chain of the global AI industry. Therefore, the government is striving to build a more integrated national AI industry ecosystem.

According to him, AI development cannot be separated from the semiconductor industry as the main foundation of modern computing technology, including the development of GPUs and AI data centers.

"If we talk about the AI industry, we talk about how to build its industrial ecosystem and how to prepare its digital talent. These two things cannot be separated," The Vice Minister said.

He also highlighted Indonesia's great potential to enter the global AI industry due to its strategic natural resources such as nickel, cobalt, tin, silica sand, and zinc, which are needed in the chip and semiconductor industry.

However, Nezar reminded that most of these commodities are still exported in raw form, making industrial downstreaming an important step.

"We have quite a lot of natural resources that are important for the semiconductor industry. But unfortunately, most of them are still sold as raw materials. Therefore, downstream processing becomes very important so that Indonesia does not just become a technology market," Nezar explained.