Zankore signs $3.1B loan deal to buy NVIDIA chips for Southeast Asia’s largest AI infrastructure push

An Indonesian AI compute platform that didn’t exist two months ago just locked down $3.1 billion in debt financing to buy NVIDIA GPUs. Zankore, a self-described “neocloud” venture, signed the senior term loan facility on September 9, making it one of the largest AI infrastructure financings ever assembled in Asia. The deal is the first of its scale anywhere in the Asia-Pacific region. And it’s backed by a lending syndicate that reads like a who’s-who of global banking: Citigroup, ING, Natixis, Qatar National Bank, and United Overseas Bank, with Citigroup serving as the sole debt adviser. From launch to billions in 34 days Zankore launched on August 6 in Jakarta. Roughly five weeks later, it had a multi-billion-dollar credit facility in hand. The speed makes more sense when you look at the backers. Ooredoo Group, the Qatari telecommunications conglomerate, holds a 49% stake in Zankore and has committed approximately $800 million to the venture. The remaining consortium includes Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison, NVIDIA itself, and Nokia. The loan proceeds will fund the purchase of cutting-edge NVIDIA GPUs, specifically to build out what Zankore calls “NVIDIA DSX AI Factory” capacity. The in...