Danantara ready to expand data centre investment amid high demand

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Investment Management Agency (BPI) Danantara is ready to expand investment in the data centre sector amid high demand for digital infrastructure in Indonesia.

Danantara Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Sigit Puji Santosa said the need for data centre capacity is currently increasing, with new capacity being absorbed by the market as soon as it is built.

“If we build 100 megawatts, 200 megawatts, it is gone immediately,” he said in Jakarta on Thursday.

According to him, demand for data centres in Indonesia is currently very large. Every new investment in data centre construction is said to be immediately followed by market absorption of the capacity.

He said this condition means the waiting time to obtain data centre capacity can reach six months to a year.

“Demand for data centres is extraordinarily large, resulting in scarcity. You have to wait six months, nine months, up to a year,” he said.

According to him, Indonesia currently has around 45 large-scale data centres. However, the high need for digital infrastructure makes capacity availability a challenge.

Danantara, he said, is ready to take part in developing this infrastructure, including preparing the technology needs and supporting components for the data centre industry.

In addition to data centre infrastructure, Sigit said Danantara is also paying attention to the development of semiconductor chips, especially artificial intelligence (AI) chips, whose demand is increasing rapidly.

He said Danantara has established cooperation with British semiconductor company Arm Limited to develop chip designs.

A number of state-owned enterprises (BUMN) are also involved in this development.

He added that the need for AI chips is currently experiencing a sharp increase globally, with waiting times to obtain these chips in several countries reaching six to nine months.

According to Sigit, Danantara will prepare digital infrastructure needs ranging from systems, subsystems, to components required to capture growth opportunities in this industry.

However, he said digital infrastructure development still faces a number of challenges, including power limitations and the complexity of processes and regulations.

“Indeed, the challenges are quite large, but the opportunities are also quite large,” said Sigit.