Jakarta – The Indonesian government is developing a comprehensive strategy for the development of artificial intelligence (AI), covering everything from energy, infrastructure, and chips to talent and applications.
Deputy Minister of Communication and Digital Affairs (Wamenkomdigi), Nezar Patria, said the strategy is designed to ensure that Indonesia does not merely become a user of AI technology but also plays a significant role in global AI development.
“Ultimately, we don’t want to be just users; we want to be a significant player in global AI development,” said Deputy Minister Nezar Patria at the UGM Indosat NVIDIA AI Technology Center event in Yogyakarta on Thursday (August 13, 2026).
According to Nezar, these five layers constitute an approach to viewing the AI ecosystem comprehensively, or the “full stack of AI.” Each layer plays a strategic role in strengthening Indonesia’s position amid global AI technology advancements. “The first layer is energy, followed by infrastructure, then chips, then talent, and finally applications,” he explained.
At the current stage of development, Indonesia is focusing on utilizing applications based on existing foundation models. These models are then refined through a post-training process to address needs across various sectors.
This approach was chosen because developing AI models from scratch requires significant investment and a long timeframe. The government, Nezar said, views the use of existing technology as a first step toward generating solutions tailored to national needs.
“We’re trying to use existing foundation models, then conducting post-training to address various challenges—such as in healthcare, agriculture, and education,” said Deputy Minister Nezar.
However, the government does not want national AI development to stop at the application layer. This situation is seen as posing a risk of relegating Indonesia to the role of merely a technology user.
Therefore, the National AI Development Roadmap currently being drafted is aimed at fostering collaboration, innovation, and investment across all layers of the AI ecosystem. “We’re trying to take a more strategic view of the full AI stack,” emphasized Nezar Patria.
To strengthen the infrastructure and chip layers, Indonesia will leverage its national resource advantages while opening opportunities for strategic collaboration with various parties.
Deputy Minister Nezar noted that Indonesia’s abundance of critical minerals serves as a key asset for strengthening its position within the AI ecosystem chain, particularly through downstream processing and the development of value-added industries. “We possess a significant and strategically important supply of critical minerals,” he concluded. (InfoPublik)