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IN FOCUS
- Indosat spearheading Indonesia’s AI sovereignty, big-time telco style
- Profitable cybersecurity startup placing agentic AI at the first line of defense
- Alibaba throws a wrench into the vibe coding race
Hi there,
What does AI have to do with telcos? Quite a lot, if you ask Indosat. Indonesia’s number two telco, which has long trailed behind the partly state-owned Telkomsel, is now firing on all cylinders to lead the country’s AI charge.
Sure, AI can help optimize networks and save millions in capex – something Indosat says it has already done. But the company wants to go further.
Driven by the Indonesian government’s push for AI sovereignty, Indosat wants to be the catalyst that democratizes AI adoption.
In our first Big Story for this week, my colleague Jofie sat down with Indosat CEO Vikram Sinha to unpack the company’s AI ambitions and how it’s trying to shift Indonesia’s role from user to contributor.
It’s still early days, sure. But Indosat is already training local large language models, deploying GPUs on its data centers, and setting up infrastructure to back startups and researchers.
Our second Big Story spotlights Peris, a Singapore-based cybersecurity startup founded by someone who knows firsthand what it’s like to be hacked. Peris is betting on agentic AI to help SMEs fight back, utilizing automated cyber defense that mimics human teams.
Finally, my colleague Peter explores whether computer science students still have a place in the age of vibe coding. Speaking of AI coding agents, I have a Hot Take on whether Alibaba’s recently launched Qwen3-Coder can move the needle in this increasingly crowded space.
THE BIG STORIES
Indosat bets big on AI. Is Indonesia ready?
Indosat’s flurry of initiatives puts the telco at the forefront of Indonesia’s push for AI sovereignty. The company has secured Nvidia’s latest, most advanced AI chips for its data center services, and it recently launched a new version of its Indonesia-focused large language model, Sahabat AI. The question is: Will anyone actually use what Indosat is building?
The hacked strikes back: Agentic AI startup fights cyber threats
Image credit: Peris.ai
THE HOT TAKE
DEEP READS
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