Nvidia-Backed Indonesian AI Platform Zankore Signs $3.1B GPU Loan
nashnova research
Indonesia's Zankore signed a $3.1 billion GPU loan with Nvidia providing revenue-share credit support — the first deal of its kind, turning GPU financing from a hardware bet into a platform-backed structure that could unlock Southeast Asia's AI buildout.
How big is this deal, and who's lending?
Zankore signed a $3.1 billion senior term loan on September 9, making it one of Asia's largest AI infrastructure financing transactions.
Five banks underwrote the facility: Citi, ING, Natixis, Qatar National Bank, and UOB. Citi served as sole debt adviser.
This means → five cross-regional banks committed real capital — a sign that lender confidence in GPU-backed assets is shifting from wait-and-see to action.
Why is Nvidia stepping in directly?
The core breakthrough: Nvidia provided a revenue-share and credit-support mechanism, directly addressing banks' two main concerns — GPU residual-value uncertainty and geopolitical risk.
In plain terms = banks feared two things: what these GPUs would be worth in a few years, and whether export controls might strand them. Nvidia essentially said "I'll share the risk with you" — and that made the loan possible.
Nvidia launched this model in July, aiming to help partners widen data-center financing channels while giving smaller AI players access to financial support.
What is Zankore building with the money?
The funds will go toward Zankore's AI factory — starting at 100 MW, with a long-term target of 1 GW (ten times the initial capacity).
The first ~200 MW phase is planned for H1 2027, offering cloud services to AI-native companies across Indonesia and Southeast Asia.
This reflects an ambition that goes beyond Indonesia — Zankore is positioning itself as a regional-scale AI compute platform for Southeast Asia.
Who stands behind Zankore?
The largest shareholder is Qatar telecom operator Ooredoo Group, holding 49% as both founding investor and top backer.
Other shareholders include Indonesia's second-largest mobile operator, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison, and Nokia.
This means → the shareholder mix spans Middle Eastern capital, local telecom, and European equipment — Zankore was built as an industrial alliance, not a pure financial play.
What does this deal signal for the market?
GPU financing is becoming the new frontier in AI lending. Banks and private credit are extending from data-center real estate into the hardware that powers it.
In Asia, chip residual-value uncertainty and geopolitical risk from the U.S.–China tech rivalry have been the main barriers to bank-led GPU deals.
In plain terms = if Nvidia's guarantee model works here, it sets a template for Southeast Asian AI infrastructure financing — the next project seeking bank credit will face a lower bar.
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