Jakarta. A top brass at technology behemoth Huawei recently said that the company saw unique potential in Indonesia’s high-tech industry development, while also pledging to give the Southeast Asian country’s digital transformation a boost.

The Shenzhen-based company also revealed that it even had discussions last year with Chief Investment Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan regarding Nusantara — Indonesia’s new capital project that would embrace a “smart city” concept.

Southeast Asia’s digital economy is booming. According to the e-Conomy SEA 2021 report, Southeast Asia’s digital economy is on its way to reaching $1 trillion by 2030. The Indonesian internet economy’s gross merchandise value is also forecast to skyrocket from $70 billion in 2021 to $146 billion in 2025.

“Indonesia is the largest digital economy in Asean,” Huawei rotating chairman Guo Ping said at the company’s 2021 annual report conference on Monday.

Guo said Huawei met with Luhut at the company’s headquarters last year, during which they had fruitful discussions on ICT infrastructure, digital transformation, 5G, cloud and the capital city project. 

“I was very impressed and grateful of Minister Luhut’s visit,” Guo said, while adding that Huawei would continue to contribute to Indonesia’s digital transformation.

Among others by closing the country’s digital divide and tech talent gap. In Indonesia, people living in remote areas have to cope with an unreliable internet connection. And so last year, Huawei rolled out the first 4G network for a million villagers in the remote West Papua. 

Indonesia also struggles with a tech talent shortage. The archipelagic country needs to cultivate at least 9 million digital talents by 2030. At the press conference, Guo said that Huawei committed to invest $50 million to develop 500,000 digital talents in the Asia-Pacific region over the next five years. 

“In Indonesia, Huawei aims to cultivate 100,000 [digital] talents and 1,000 ICT instructors within five years,” he said.

According to Guo, in the past two years, Huawei has already achieved half of its goals through training partnerships like the Asean Academy — a learning center dedicated to equipping talents with digital skills.

“We hope that our 5G, AI [artificial intelligence], and cloud computing technologies can support Southeast Asia to achieve a more rapid development in their digital transformation journey,” Guo said.

In a press statement, Huawei Indonesia CEO Jacky Chen reiterated the company's commitment to bolster Indonesia's digital transformation.

"We will make every effort to support Indonesia to achieve its digitalization national vision. ICT talent education is one of the key factors on this path. We will utilize our expertise in advanced technologies to develop local high-tech ecosystem towards building a fully connected, 5G-oriented, more intelligent, digital and green Indonesia," Jacky Chen said.