Amazon's Investment Plan In Indonesia Is Expected To Spur The Development Of Startups And SMEs

Minister of Industry Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita held a meeting with the Vice President for Global Public Policy at Amazon Web Service, Michael Punke. (Photo: Ministry of Industry)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Industry is actively involved in encouraging increased digital investment to strengthen the domestic technological structure, especially in an effort to support the implementation of industry 4.0 for the manufacturing sector. This strategic step is in accordance with one of the priority programs contained on the road map for Making Indonesia 4.0.

“So, we welcome Amazon Web Services, Inc.'s investment plans. (AWS) in Indonesia. We hope this will spur the development of the manufacturing sector, startups to small and medium industries (IKM) in the country to transform towards industry 4.0, "said Minister of Industry Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita in a statement received in Jakarta, Thursday, January 23.

In a series of agendas to attend the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2020 in Davos, Switzerland, Minister of Industry Agus held a meeting with Vice President Global Public Policy Amazon Web Service, Michael Punke. The company, which is Amazon's technology services division, will open an infrastructure area (AWS region) in Jakarta in late 2021 or early 2022.

AWS Jakarta will become the 9th AWS region in the Asia Pacific region, joining existing regions in Beijing, Mumbai, Ningxia, Seoul, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo and Hong Kong. AWS Jakarta is planned to consist of three Availability Zones, each of which consists of several data centers. Currently, AWS has presented 69 Availability Zones in 22 regions around the world.

"This investment is very important, because it will support Indonesia's position as a strategic digital hub for AWS customers," said Agus.

According to him, with the presence of the AWS region in Indonesia, startups and large companies can take advantage of advanced technologies from AWS including analytical technology, artificial intelligent, Internet of Things (IoT), machine learning, mobile services, and serverless information technology infrastructure. to generate innovation.

“The AWS region in Indonesia will certainly support the startup ecosystem so that it can grow rapidly, and help create more jobs and companies in the technology sector. In addition, it can boost the national economy and also enable companies in various sectors to reduce costs and increase flexibility, "he explained.

AGK Minister added that the company from the United States also plans to implement a cloud computing skills improvement program designed to help digital transformation in Indonesia. These efforts include setting a target to train hundreds of thousands of Indonesian human resources (HR) in various cloud service expertise by 2025.

"They will cooperate with the Government of Indonesia and related training agencies, including educational institutions," he said.

The Minister of Industry is optimistic that industrial human resources in Indonesia who are ready with skills regarding cloud computing in the future are one of the pillars in accelerating national economic growth.

During the meeting, Michael Punke said, AWS was ready to work together to support the data storage needs of industry in Indonesia, including for financial service providers. "We also have a target that the AWS region will fully use renewable energy by 2030," he said.

Previously, the Director General of Metal, Machinery, Transportation Equipment and Electronics (ILMATE) of the Ministry of Industry, Harjanto, said that AWS's investment was recorded as the largest in the technology and information sector that would be realized in Indonesia so far.