AI Data Centres Hungry for Power as Indonesia Faces Energy Shortfall

Rapidly advancing AI technology requires massive amounts of energy. Former Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan explained that 10,000 kWh per capita of electricity is needed. Only a few countries can currently meet that standard, including the United States, China, Singapore, and Brunei Darussalam. Indonesia, meanwhile, only has 1,300 kWh per capita. “I believe that for a country to be able to harness AI, it requires electrical power of 10,000 kWh per capita,” Gita said at the XLSMART Bravo 500 Summit in Jakarta on Thursday (11/6/2026). Gita elaborated that energy is critically needed because AI models require 10 to 15 times the energy of a standard internet search. “Because when you use Gemini, DeepSeek, ChatGPT or anything else, you use 10-15 times more energy than a Google search,” he clarified. At the same event, former Minister of Communication and Informatics Rudiantara voiced similar concerns. He cited Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang regarding the five layers of AI, highlighting energy as one of them. Rudiantara stated that the electrical capacity in the city of Beijing is far greater than that of all of Indonesia. The capacity currently available is only suitable for small-scale data centres. “At present we have capacity, but it is only for small-scale data centres,” he explained. Rudiantara also touched on the challenge of building data centres amid chip demand far exceeding supply. TSMC is known to hold a majority of the supply, as much as 90%, and he advised gaining access to it. “My advice, if you want to build a data centre with GPUs, we must have access to Taiwan. Whether direct or indirect,” Rudiantara said.