A single elite artificial intelligence researcher can now command compensation worth around Rp 1 trillion.
That is roughly USD 62 million.
For one person.
The figure was cited this week by Pandu Sjahrir, Chief Investment Officer of Indonesia’s newly established sovereign wealth fund, Danantara, while describing the increasingly extreme global competition for frontier AI talent.
“The high skilled labor in AI is probably below 600 or 700 people globally,” Pandu said during a presentation on Tuesday.
“For example, if someone from OpenAI moves to Meta, the price for that one person is Rp 1 trillion.”
He argued that the value of a world class AI researcher can now exceed that of entire professional sports teams.
Whether or not the exact number reflects a typical compensation package is almost beside the point.
The message was clear.
The competition for artificial intelligence talent has become one of the world’s most expensive races.
The Global Talent War
Danantara is not simply observing that race.
It wants Indonesia to participate.
The sovereign wealth fund, established to manage and expand state assets, sees AI as one of the defining investment themes of the coming decade.
But competing in AI means competing for people.
And the people capable of building frontier AI systems remain exceptionally scarce.
Pandu described the workforce challenge as increasingly divided between two groups.
For lower skilled workers, the priority is job creation, training, and upskilling.
For highly specialized workers, the challenge is different.
Competition is global.
“Indonesia needs to focus on developing high skilled labor,” Pandu said.
The logic is straightforward.
Countries that successfully attract elite talent tend to attract capital, research, and new industries alongside them.
Beyond Salaries
Danantara’s strategy is not centered purely on compensation.
According to Pandu, the fund is exploring partnerships with major financial centers to help attract world class expertise.
“Our focus is on the few, the team,” he said.
“Danantara can cooperate with financial centers to get some of the best people. To make Indonesia one of their homes.”
That ambition represents a significant shift.
For decades, Indonesia has largely competed using natural resources, manufacturing capacity, and labor costs.
Competing for elite technology talent requires a different proposition.
Researchers and founders tend to choose locations based not only on money, but also on ecosystems: access to capital, quality universities, research infrastructure, regulations, and networks of other talented people.
The challenge is therefore larger than recruitment.
It is ecosystem building.
Why This Matters Beyond Jakarta
At first glance, discussions about sovereign wealth funds and frontier AI researchers may appear disconnected from everyday life.
But the effects of technological investment rarely stay confined to capital cities.
Indonesia’s broader ambition to attract researchers, founders, investors, and technology companies could influence the type of industries, capital flows, and international communities emerging across the country.
Places already attracting entrepreneurs, remote workers, startup communities, and international professionals may eventually feel those shifts more quickly than others.
The question is no longer whether AI will reshape economies.
It already is.
The question is where that value creation happens.
The Bigger Challenge
The Rp 1 trillion figure should not be mistaken for a normal salary.
It reflects the extraordinary scarcity of researchers capable of building cutting edge AI systems.
For perspective, software engineers in Indonesia earn only a small fraction of those amounts.
But the symbolism remains important.
Danantara is signaling something larger than compensation.
It is signaling that Indonesia wants to compete in a space where talent increasingly determines economic power.
Whether that ambition succeeds depends on factors that extend far beyond investment funds.
Research infrastructure.
Education.
Regulation.
Quality of life.
Access to opportunity.
Pandu acknowledged the scale of that challenge.
Because ultimately, attracting world class talent is not only about convincing people to move.
It is about giving them reasons to stay.
