Zankore lands $3.1B loan for Nvidia AI cloud in SE Asia

Zankore, the AI compute and neocloud platform backed by Qatar's Ooredoo Group, said Wednesday it has signed a senior term loan facility of up to $3.1 billion to fund the deployment of Nvidia ↘ 2.01%-powered GPU and cloud-computing infrastructure across Indonesia and Southeast Asia.marketscreener+1

The debt financing, among the largest for a dedicated AI infrastructure venture in the region, will support the acquisition and rollout of advanced Nvidia GPU systems as the platform races to meet surging demand for AI computing capacity. Citi Citigroup Inc. ↘ 0.71% acted as exclusive debt adviser on the loan facility.marketscreener

A Multi-Billion-Dollar AI Bet on Southeast Asia

Zankore launched on August 6 as a collaboration between Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison, Ooredoo Group, Nokia ↗ 1.88%, and Nvidia, with the goal of building one of Southeast Asia's largest AI infrastructure platforms. Ooredoo is the founding shareholder and lead investor, holding a 49% stake after committing roughly $800 million in equity.saasrise+2

The platform is targeting 1 gigawatt of Nvidia DSX AI Factory capacity and aims to deliver approximately 200 megawatts of initial capacity in the first half of 2027, powered by Nvidia GB300 NVL72 systems. At launch, Ooredoo Group CEO Aziz Aluthman Fakhroo said the venture reflects a conviction that "the greatest opportunities will be created by investing early, at scale and with the right partners".zankore+1

Building Indonesia's AI Hub

The loan proceeds will allow Zankore to begin with 100 megawatts of Nvidia AI infrastructure, providing cloud services to AI-native enterprises across the region. The platform incorporates Nvidia DSX MaxLPS technology, which dynamically optimizes power across GPU fleets and is designed to enable up to 40 percent more compute within the same power budget.zankore+1

Indonesia's Minister of Communication and Digital Affairs, Meutya Hafid, said at Zankore's launch that the country "has the potential to serve not only its own needs, but also the broader region," adding that the government supports initiatives strengthening Indonesia's digital competitiveness.zankore

Regional AI Arms Race

The financing arrives as telecom operators and sovereign-backed entities across Asia and the Middle East pour capital into GPU infrastructure to secure access to AI computing. Zankore's model pairs telecom incumbents with chipmakers and networking firms to offer GPU-as-a-service, a structure that has attracted increasing attention from lenders and investors looking to finance AI hardware at scale. Citi also served as exclusive financial adviser to Indosat on the original equity fundraise that established the platform.tecknexus+2