Indonesia Looks to Canada for AI Data Center Approach

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia is looking to Canada for approaches to the AI data center ecosystem, according to the country’s Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto.

“Canada’s approach towards data and computing sovereignty is relevant for Indonesia, particularly in preparing energy readiness and public trust as the foundation for the future development of the national AI and data center ecosystem,” Airlangga said in a statement in Jakarta on Thursday.

Minister Airlangga attended a luncheon titled “Scaling Canada’s AI and Technology Ecosystem” on the sidelines of the Canada Investment Summit 2026 in Toronto, Canada.

According to Airlangga, Canada’s AI strategy is built on three pillars: public trust, opportunity creation, and sovereign control.

In developing data centers, Canada is working with a framework that considers environmental sustainability, investment in surrounding communities, and data sovereignty.

This framework has been adopted by major global hyperscalers.

Canada is also leveraging its infrastructure advantages, including clean energy and relatively low-cost natural gas, to support the construction of large-scale data centers in Alberta, Ontario, and Saskatchewan.

According to Airlangga, this approach demonstrates that developing AI infrastructure requires not only technology and investment, but also energy support, data governance, and public trust.

Furthermore, Canada has set several targets to encourage domestic AI adoption, including in the health, education, natural resources, and defense sectors. This effort is supported by a US$500 million equity fund.

The private sector is also relevant in the discussion of Canada’s AI ecosystem, with one initiative being the OpenText venture capital fund, which is aimed at building a local AI ecosystem globally.

“Indonesia’s presence at this forum is part of an effort to broaden strategic insights regarding global AI policy developments, while simultaneously strengthening the knowledge base to support the development of a national digital ecosystem and data centers,” explained Airlangga.

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