We Live in the Era of the "Cloud Economy"

The economy is now built on the basis of mastery of technology. It is increasingly important for countries to have an educated population.

BPMI SEKRETARIAT PRESIDEN/VICO

President Joko Widodo received Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, Tuesday (30/4/2024).

CEO Microsoft Satya Nadella visited three Southeast Asian countries, namely Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia, on April 30-May 2 2024. During his visit to these three countries, Satya promised investment in Microsoft and employment. An investment of 2.2 billion US dollars and the absorption of 200,000 workers was promised by Satya to Malaysia. "This investment of 2.2 billion US dollars is the largest single investment in Malaysia in the last 32 years," said Nadella.

Previously, Satya promised a 1.7 billion US dollar investment and the absorption of 840,000 workers to Indonesia. In Thailand, the investment value was not mentioned, but the country was promised to benefit from projects that would employ 100,000 of its citizens (Kompas.id, May 2, 2024).

The promised investment is focused on cloud computing and artificial intelligence. According to him, this investment will help investment destination countries to build inclusive economies and ensure the creation of innovation. He reminded that the economy is now built based on mastery of technology.

AP PHOTO/BARBARA ORTUTAY

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman (left) talks with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella at the OpenAI DevDay event on November 6th, 2023 in San Francisco, United States.

What Nadella is planning is part of a grand strategy by giant technology companies to strengthen the cloud economy. More or less, the cloud economy is an economy built based on data center infrastructure, the internet, and computer programs. Through this cloud infrastructure, companies and public service providers such as governments can innovate more quickly and create extraordinary economies of scale.

Let's just look at market place companies. They don't need to build their own data center because they can rent it from corporate cloud infrastructure providers, such as Microsoft, AWS (Amazon Web Service), Google Cloud, and Alibaba Cloud. The rental costs are much smaller than having to build your own cloud infrastructure.

Through infrastructure that is also equipped with artificial intelligence services, local marketplace rental companies not only receive data storage space. Beyond that, cloud infrastructure will help rental companies analyze data, such as the behavior of millions of consumers when purchasing goods. As a result, rental companies can find out the type of goods that are most sought after by the middle-income group on weekends. Discount strategies can also be applied to the most sought-after type of goods, increasing sales figures on weekends.

KOMPAS/A TOMY TRINUGROHO

The atmosphere at one of the booths at the exhibition which is part of the AWS re:Invent activity, in Las Vegas, United States, November 30 2023. A replica of an F1 racing car is displayed to show that this race uses cloud computing services from AWS to process data collected from hundreds of sensors in cars.

Also read: Microsoft's investment in Malaysia is bigger than in Indonesia

The era of the cloud economy took place after computers, the Internet, artificial intelligence technology, and a capable telecommunications infrastructure. The growth of the cloud economy is determined by continuous innovation, namely the continuous development of artificial intelligence, the increase in microprocessor speed over time, and the continuous improvement of workforce capacity and skills.

Based on that, Microsoft has invested in Southeast Asia. The large population growth in Southeast Asia has become a reason for technology corporations to strive to dominate the market in the region and ensure the availability of adequate workforce from the population of Southeast Asia.

KOMPAS/ABDULLAH FIKRI ASHRI

The atmosphere of the Alibaba Cloud Global Summit 2023 in Hangzhou City, China, 26 September 2023.

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Not only Microsoft, but AWS also has a great interest in Southeast Asia. The corporation invested 5 billion US dollars in Indonesia for 15 years. AWS also carried out the same amount of investment and duration in Thailand. In Malaysia, the investment value is 5.4 billion US dollars for almost 15 years.

As Nadella conveyed, the economy today is built on the basis of technology mastery. Therefore, there is no choice for Indonesia and other developing countries other than to ensure their population has a good education so that they can optimally engage in technology-based innovative economies. We must not let our country only become a market or a place for selling.