Peer reviewed analysis from world leading experts
Macquarie University
US technology companies’ investments in artificial intelligence in Southeast Asia risk reproducing existing patterns of technological dependency. Partnerships with regional telecommunications firms provide hyperscalers with data, infrastructure and market access while leaving control over AI development concentrated abroad. Though regional companies and governments seek greater technological autonomy, their reliance on foreign technology and capital limits technological sovereignty. A more equitable AI future requires rethinking ownership, governance and value distribution.
Technologies are never just tools, they are accompanied by patterns of labour, know-how and social relations. In Southeast Asia, unequal ownership structures and geopolitical factors have always shaped technological sovereignty. Deepening this techno-societal divide is growing investment by US technology companies in artificial intelligence (AI) in the region.
The deals struck by US firms such as OpenAI, Meta and Google with telecommunications and digital service providers from India and Southeast Asia demonstrate this trend. Companies like Singapore’s Singtel, Indonesia’s Telkomsel and India’s Bharti Airtel and Reliance Industries provide US technology companies with two fundamental resources — nearly a billion consumers whose usage and behavioural data train and refine their models, as well as local infrastructure, payment interfaces, identity systems and regulatory cover. This integration drives customer acquisition costs towards zero, embeds their models inside existing data flows and shapes governance frameworks.
