RI Jajaki Special Semiconductor Project with British Company, Worth 200 Million US Dollars
JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto revealed that there is currently a discussion regarding a special project or special project between the Government of the Republic of Indonesia and the British semiconductor company, Arm Limited.
Airlangga explained that the project was outside the 15,000 engineer training program with the Danantara Investment Management Agency (BPI), whose contract signing was witnessed by President Prabowo Subianto in London, England, last February.
"(Special project) outside 15,000 (engineers). But this is the next phase, we are still in negotiations. Therefore, we cannot discuss," said Airlangga when met on the sidelines of the 2026 Semiconductor Talent National Briefing at the Batavia Tower, Jakarta, Thursday, March 5.
He added that the value of the project is estimated to reach around 200 million US dollars. "There is about (the value) 200 million US dollars," he said.
In the project, Airlangga emphasized, Arm will focus on software development and design, not manufacturing.
"So Arm is always going towards software, towards design. If the manufacturer is, yes, TSMC, Nvidia. So, it's a different approach that the government is approaching," he said.
Then, Airlangga conveyed that President Prabowo Subianto in a meeting with Arm also emphasized the importance of building a biotechnology ecosystem. This field is considered related to the convergence of technology that includes nano, bio, information and cognitive, which is referred to as the foundation of the next industrial revolution.
"Well, semiconductors are the brains of all modern technology because it includes sensors, controls. One EV vehicle has a minimum number of semiconductors of more than 200," he continued.
The former Golkar Party General Chairperson said that global demand for semiconductors is expected to continue to increase and reach US$1 trillion by 2030, driven by the need for data centers, AI, quantum computing, wireless communications, and automotive electronics.
"At the same time, the digital economy is estimated to be 16 trillion worldwide and of course for Indonesia this is called re-entering the ring," he explained.
According to Airlangga, Indonesia needs to re-enter the global semiconductor industry chain, considering that Indonesia was once involved in this industry in the 1980s with Fairchild.
However, they lost momentum when they chose not to adopt automation, so the investment moved to Malaysia.
Currently, Malaysia has about 200 companies in the semiconductor ecosystem and is one of the strongest in ASEAN, followed by Vietnam and Singapore. "And for Malaysian semiconductors, they can also get special treatment to enter the American market," he said.
Meanwhile, domestically, Airlangga highlighted that Indonesia has the largest number of internet users in ASEAN, namely around 230 million people, with a mobile phone penetration rate of 116 percent.
"And we must not just be a market for the digitalization industry," he explained.