Indonesia is chasing the position of global AI players, the government is accelerating digital infrastructure and data centers

JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto emphasized that the government is making the development of artificial intelligence or artificial intelligence (AI) as one of the main drivers of national economic growth in the future.

He added that to support this strategy, the government has a plan to invest in the construction of a data center (data center) with a capacity of around 1.3 gigawatt (GW), much larger than the capacity that has been operating today.

Airlangga said that the development of AI has become one of the government's priorities in the midst of rapid global technological transformation.

However, according to him, the development of AI can only run optimally if supported by a strong digital ecosystem, ranging from the availability of green energy, telecommunications infrastructure, to qualified human resources (HR).

"Regarding AI, the key is from the digital ecosystem. The first is of course green energy, the second is the inter-island infrastructure that we already have, namely fiber optics," he told the media, Friday, July 10.

He explained that the government continues to strengthen international digital connectivity through the development of submarine cable networks.

In the near future, Airlangga said the government will inaugurate a new landing point connecting Batam with Singapore, and currently Indonesia also has a landing point in Bitung, North Sulawesi, which is a connectivity route to the United States.

According to Airlangga, this infrastructure is one of the main attractions for investors to develop large-scale data centers in Indonesia.

Currently, he continued, the capacity of national data centers that have been operating has reached around 580 megawatts (MW), while projects that are still in the development stage (pipeline) are expected to add capacity up to 1.3 GW.

"Our installed capacity is now equivalent to 580 megawatts. And that in the pipeline for investment is equivalent to 1.3 gigawatt. So this is a big number," he said.

In terms of investment, Airlangga estimates that additional projects with a capacity of around 1.3 GW have an investment value of between 15 billion US dollars to 20 billion US dollars.

"What has been 580 megawatts is probably equivalent to 1 million (US dollars) per megawatt. Well, then if there are additional 1.3 gigawatt, this is what is now in Batam, which also has an investment of around 15-20 billion that is already on the pipeline," he said.

To support long-term digital transformation, the government is also preparing special regulations related to AI while actively participating in various international forums, including discussions on AI cooperation in the United States and the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization meeting in Shanghai.

Airlangga assessed that Indonesia has a great opportunity to become one of the main players in the global AI industry.

According to him, all countries are currently at a relatively equal starting point in the development of AI technology, although innovative companies are still dominated by the United States.

He added that a number of data center projects in Indonesia involve various global technology companies, including NVIDIA's collaboration with an Australian company, Telkom Indonesia's investment, and data center expansion by a number of major technology companies in Karawang.

In addition to strengthening digital infrastructure, the government is also encouraging the use of renewable energy to support the AI industry.

Airlangga said the government had started to implement a 100 GW solar power plant development program which was expected to meet the energy needs of the digital sector while opening up new investment opportunities.

"Well, in renewable energy, it can also involve middle-class groups. It's a chance to participate in the 100 gigawatt panel program. Because the President's direction is democratized, it is opened in several regions and the target is 100 gigawatt, and one of us has about 80,000 rural and urban areas where it can be a point for development rather than the solar cell itself," he explained.

On the human resources development side, the government has established cooperation with Arm Ltd, a global chip designer company that dominates the majority of the world's chip design market, and the collaboration is aimed at strengthening national capabilities in the fields of AI and semiconductor industries.

Through this cooperation, Airlangga said, the government targets around 15,000 Indonesian technicians and engineers to join the Arm ecosystem as part of the development of the national semiconductor industry.

On the same occasion, Deputy Chairman of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) James Riyadi said that the development of AI is one of the agendas that has attracted the most attention from ambassadors in meetings with the government.

According to James, in addition to the construction of landing points in Batam and Bitung, Indonesia has also begun to attract investment for the construction of a computing center that will be equipped with high-tech GPU chips to support the development of AI.

"There are many data centers coming in and there will even be tens of billions of dollars coming in to build computing centers, bringing the most advanced GPU chips here," said James.

James assessed that the influx of investment further strengthened Indonesia's position as one of the candidates for a center of digital economic growth in the Asia Pacific region.