Indonesian Engineers Still Lag Significantly Behind Vietnam

Jakarta — The number of Indonesian engineers remains behind neighbouring Vietnam. The current ratio of engineers is about 2,500 per 1 million people, far below Vietnam’s around 9,000 per 1 million. Ilham Akbar Habibie, chairman of the Indonesian Engineers Association (PII), said the total number of engineers in Indonesia is about 700,000. He said increasing the number of engineers is crucial to drive industrial development and strengthen the national economy, especially in realising Indonesia Emas 2045. At the same event, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto stated that the additional need for Indonesian engineers is about 45 percent of the current total. He outlined that for the development of the semiconductor industry alone, Indonesia needs around 15,000 engineers. For the digital sector, the additional requirement is projected at 150,000 engineers per year over the next six years. To meet this demand, the government is promoting vocational education, retraining and reskilling through the Ministry of Manpower (Kemenaker). It is also entering into training collaborations with the global industrial ecosystem. Airlangga noted that in a London signing between Danantara and Arm, training is prepared for 150,000 engineers to support the strengthening of the technology ecosystem. He also referred to government discussions with global technology companies such as NVIDIA and Amazon about developing data‑centre capacity in Indonesia. Some companies have indicated plans to add capacity at facilities they already operate. ‘Some are preparing to increase the capacity they already have in data centres. So we are pushing them in that direction,’ Airlangga said. The growth in both the number and quality of engineers is viewed as a key factor in supporting industrial transformation, technological development and investment in strategic sectors such as semiconductors and data centres.