Artificial intelligence is often experienced through software. We interact with chatbots, recommendation systems, copilots, image generators, and intelligent applications. Because of this, it is easy to think of AI primarily as a digital product.

Behind every AI application, however, is a much larger infrastructure ecosystem.

AI models require powerful computing systems. Those systems operate inside data centers. Data centers depend on electricity, cooling, telecommunications networks, water systems, security, and highly skilled people. As AI adoption grows, the businesses supporting this infrastructure also become increasingly important.

The development of AI infrastructure in Batang, Central Java, provides an interesting example of how this ecosystem is beginning to emerge in Indonesia.

From AI Applications to Physical Infrastructure

An AI application may appear simple from the user’s perspective. A person enters a question, and an answer appears within seconds.

Behind that interaction is a much longer technology chain.

AI applications rely on models. Models require high performance computing, particularly GPUs and other accelerated computing systems. These systems are deployed inside large scale data centers that require reliable electricity, cooling, connectivity, and supporting infrastructure.

In other words, digital services depend on physical infrastructure.

This relationship is becoming increasingly important as companies move from experimenting with AI toward deploying AI at scale. When millions of users and organizations begin using AI services continuously, the infrastructure requirements increase considerably.

For Digital Business, this creates an important lesson: the growth of one technology can create opportunities across many different industries.

The Batang AI Factory

One of the most significant developments in Indonesia’s emerging AI infrastructure landscape is Zankore by Indosat.

The initiative brings together Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison, Ooredoo Group, NVIDIA, and Nokia to develop AI infrastructure in Indonesia. Zankore describes its ambition as building AI infrastructure in Southeast Asia, supported by investors such as Ooredoo Group and technology from NVIDIA and Nokia. The platform is planned to scale toward one gigawatt of AI capacity.

The project demonstrates that an AI factory is not simply a building filled with servers.

It is the result of an ecosystem.

Ooredoo Group contributes investment and regional scale. Indosat brings its telecommunications capabilities and understanding of the Indonesian market. NVIDIA provides the accelerated computing technology required for modern AI workloads, while Nokia contributes networking and connectivity capabilities.

Each organization contributes something different, but their capabilities become more valuable when combined.

One Project, Many Businesses

A large AI infrastructure project can generate demand far beyond the technology companies directly involved.

Cloud and AI service companies can build services using the available computing infrastructure. Telecommunications companies provide connectivity and move large volumes of data between users, businesses, and data centers.

Energy companies become essential because AI infrastructure requires significant and reliable power. Renewable energy developers, battery providers, and energy management companies can become part of the ecosystem as operators search for reliable and increasingly sustainable electricity.

Cooling and facility specialists are also important. High density computing equipment produces substantial heat, requiring sophisticated thermal management. Zankore itself describes its infrastructure as being designed around high density compute and liquid cooled data center facilities.

Construction companies, logistics providers, cybersecurity firms, maintenance businesses, financial institutions, educational institutions, and talent development providers can all participate as the ecosystem grows.

The opportunity therefore extends much further than building AI software.

Who Actually Creates the Value?

Traditional business thinking often focuses on a single company creating a product and selling it to customers.

Digital ecosystems operate differently.

Consider the Batang AI ecosystem.

NVIDIA may provide the computing technology, but computing hardware alone does not create a complete AI service.

It requires telecommunications infrastructure to connect it.

It requires electricity to operate it.

It requires cooling to keep the equipment functioning.

It requires financing to build the infrastructure.

It requires software companies and developers to transform computing capacity into useful applications.

Finally, enterprises, governments, startups, and other organizations must use those applications to solve real problems.

Value is therefore created collectively across the ecosystem.

This illustrates an important concept in digital business: companies increasingly compete not only through their individual products, but also through the strength of the ecosystems surrounding them.

From Infrastructure to Business Ecosystem

The development can be understood as four connected layers.

Core Infrastructure provides the foundation. This includes AI computing, data centers, telecommunications networks, electricity, and cooling.

Complementors build additional services around that infrastructure. Cloud services, cybersecurity, analytics, logistics, education, energy solutions, and other businesses can increase the usefulness of the core platform.

Customers then use the ecosystem. These may include established enterprises, governments, startups, developers, researchers, and other organizations.

Finally, these interactions produce Value Creation through new AI services, productivity improvements, innovation, and new business models.

This is why infrastructure can become much more than infrastructure.

When enough organizations begin building around it, infrastructure can become the foundation of a broader business ecosystem.

The Opportunity Is Not Only for Technology Giants

There is another important lesson from the Batang case.

A company does not need to become the next NVIDIA or build a billion dollar data center to participate in the AI economy.

Smaller businesses may find opportunities in areas such as cybersecurity, analytics, equipment maintenance, talent development, specialized AI applications, energy management, logistics, sustainability services, or industry specific consulting.

A university may contribute through education and research.

A startup may develop software that runs on the infrastructure.

A renewable energy company may help supply electricity.

A financial institution may support infrastructure investment.

Each participant solves a different problem within the same ecosystem.

The question for entrepreneurs and Digital Business students therefore changes from:

“How can I build an AI company?”

to:

“What problem exists within the AI ecosystem, and what value can I create there?”

What This Means for Digital Business Students

The Batang AI Factory illustrates why understanding technology alone is no longer enough.

Digital Business professionals need to understand how technology connects with business models, infrastructure, finance, customers, partners, and other industries.

This perspective is also reflected in the Digital Business program at BINUS Business School, which integrates Business, Information Systems, and Finance to help students understand how technology can create business value and enable digital ecosystems.

In the Digital Technology in Business course, students explore how digital ecosystems, infrastructures, and technologies enable value creation and operational efficiency.

The Batang case makes that idea tangible.

AI may begin with computing technology, but its economic impact emerges through the businesses, partnerships, infrastructure, people, and services that grow around it.

The competitive advantage is not only the technology. It is the ecosystem built around the technology.

That may ultimately be one of the most important opportunities created by Indonesia’s emerging AI infrastructure.