Gulf-based investors are increasingly turning their attention to the Asian market for artificial intelligence investments, drawn by the region's relative stability amid ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Europe, as well as lingering supply chain uncertainties.

The Qatari telecom operator Ooredoo is leading an investment in Zankore, a new AI computing platform in Indonesia, committing $800 million to the project. The platform aims to establish 200 megawatts of computing capacity by next year, with equipment suppliers including Nvidia and Nokia. Ooredoo, which has had a presence in the Indonesian market for nearly two decades, predicts that data center demand in Southeast Asia will more than triple by 2030.

According to Bloomberg, the Abu Dhabi-based Mubadala Investment Group is considering leading an investment in a data center planned for Akita Prefecture in Japan, with a projected investment of $6.3 billion and a capacity of 500 megawatts.

While Gulf states' efforts to build their own domestic AI infrastructure are widely recognized, this series of large-scale cross-border transactions indicates that the region is also actively deploying the underlying infrastructure that supports the AI industry, aiming to secure a position in the global race for market share.