Indonesia and Nvidia Launches First University AI Center to Build Local Talent

Indonesia is stepping boldly into the AI era.

This week, the Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs (Komdigi), Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison (IOH), NVIDIA, and Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) inaugurated the UGM Indosat NVIDIA AI Technology Center (NVAITC) in Yogyakarta — the nation’s first university-based AI hub. Built under the Indonesia AI Center of Excellence initiative, the center unites government, industry, and academia to develop AI solutions for the country’s most urgent challenges.

“The Indonesia AI Center of Excellence reflects our vision to position Indonesia not only as an adopter of AI but also as a global contributor of AI innovation,” said Meutya Hafid, Minister of Communication and Digital Affairs. “We are laying the foundations of AI sovereignty to drive growth, competitiveness, and solutions to pressing national issues.”

UGM’s Rector, Prof. dr. Ova Emilia, Ph.D., emphasized the university’s role: “UGM is committed to advancing Indonesia’s AI ambitions through education, research, and innovation that deliver real societal impact. This initiative accelerates adoption while preparing future-ready talent.”

Compute for the Nation

Powered by NVIDIA’s full-stack AI platform and GPU Merdeka — Indosat’s sovereign GPU-as-a-service — the center provides UGM researchers and students with enterprise-grade accelerated computing, pretrained models, frameworks, and mentorship. It also connects Indonesian talent to a global ecosystem of expertise.

“No Indonesian should be left behind in the AI era,” said Vikram Sinha, CEO of Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison. “Through this center, we bring world-class AI technologies to Indonesia, empowering researchers, students, startups, and innovators to not only use AI but to create it.”

Marc Hamilton, VP of Solutions Architecture at NVIDIA, added: “Indonesia has extraordinary talent. From healthcare and agriculture to disaster preparedness, AI can drive real change. With Nemotron open models and expertise, we aim to turn potential into innovation with both local and global impact.”

Tackling Indonesia’s Challenges with AI

The center’s first projects target healthcare, agriculture, and disaster response:

• AI Tuberculosis Screening: With over 1 million new TB cases annually, UGM’s Faculty of Medicine is developing eNose-TB, an AI-powered breath analysis tool for fast, affordable detection in rural clinics — no specialist or lab required.
• SmartAgri: Combining satellite imagery, sensor data, and local knowledge, SmartAgri delivers precision farming recommendations tailored to Indonesian crops and terrain, helping farmers optimize irrigation and yields.
• Tech4Disaster: Leveraging geospatial AI and accelerated computing, this platform processes satellite and sensor data to provide early warnings, situational awareness, and faster coordination during natural disasters.

“Technology developed in Indonesia can solve Indonesian challenges,” said Dr. Dian Kesumapramudya Nurputra, lead researcher on eNose-TB. “Access to world-class AI infrastructure brings us closer to affordable healthcare innovations that improve lives nationwide.”

Conclusion

Indonesia, the world’s fourth-most populous country, has immense talent and urgent problems to solve. With the launch of UGM Indosat NVIDIA AI Technology Center, it now has the compute power, infrastructure, and partnerships to turn insight into impact — and to shape the global AI future.