Indonesia's AI Fever: Conglomerates Opt for Data Centres Over Startups
Indonesia is not merely following the global AI trend; its largest conglomerates are making genuine investments in the sector.
According to the Stanford HAI AI Index Report 2026, global AI investment reached US$278 billion in the first quarter of 2026 alone, a 34% increase from the same period the previous year.
In Indonesia, this wave extends beyond startup discussions into corporate balance sheets and acquisition strategies. What is intriguing is not just the figures, but who is moving and where they are heading.
Conglomerates Enter, Not Just Financial Investments
The narrative around AI in Indonesia has traditionally focused on small startup teams, hackathons, and funding hunts. However, the bigger picture has shifted. AI is no longer just about applications, but about infrastructure. At this juncture, major players are taking positions.
The Djarum Group, synonymous with banking and telecommunications, is now aggressively entering the digital infrastructure business through PT Remala Abadi (DATA) under Sarana Menara Nusantara (TOWR). Meanwhile, PT DCI Indonesia (DCII), controlled by Toto Sugiri and Anthoni Salim, has recorded an extreme surge in valuation.
The rise in share prices in this sector is not mere euphoria. It reflects a fundamental change: AI requires vast computational power, meaning demand for data centres will surge sharply.
Shares of PT Remala Abadi (DATA) surged 431.61% throughout 2025
Shares of PT DCI Indonesia (DCII) rose 456.24% to Rp234,175
The Djarum Group is expanding its business from telecommunications towers to digital infrastructure and data centres
The Toto Sugiri and Anthoni Salim partnership is strengthening its dominance in the hyperscale data centre sector
The government is facilitating the first Quantum AI Data Centre project in Asia in Indonesia
Moreover, policy directions are aligning. The government, through the Ministry of Investment and Downstreaming/BKPM, has facilitated an initial investment of US$400 million (approximately Rp6 trillion) for the construction of the Quantum AI Data Centre.
This figure is significant, not only for its size, but because it shows that AI is now viewed as strategic infrastructure, on par with toll roads or power plants in previous eras.
The conclusion is simple but crucial: AI is no longer just software. It needs a “home”, and that home is the data centre. Whoever controls the infrastructure has the potential to control its economic growth.
Indonesian AI Startups That Are Truly Growing
According to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2026, AI is no longer just chatbots answering simple questions. The latest models released in the second quarter of 2026 can understand deep contexts, recognise emotions from voice tones, and adapt to each individual’s unique communication style. This opens up market segments that previously did not exist.
In Indonesia, several names are starting to gain real traction. Kata.ai, an Indonesian conversational AI startup, is already operating with Natural Language Processing (NLP) technology for the Indonesian language. They are actively opening positions for AI engineers and LLM specialists in 2026, a signal that they are seriously building technical capacity.
PT Elang Mahkota Teknologi (EMTK) from the Emtek Group is strengthening its digital services and media with AI integration to enhance user experience.
This is not an empty pivot; EMTK has a media and platform ecosystem that generates vast amounts of user behaviour data, the primary fuel for AI.
There is a business logic behind this pattern that needs to be understood. Generative AI requires massive computation. Massive computation requires data centres. Data centres require capital, land, electricity, and networks. All of that is the domain of conglomerates, not startups.
Thus, the money from conglomerates entering data centre infrastructure is safer in terms of risk compared to entering AI application startups whose business models are not yet proven. Infrastructure is rented by whoever wins in the application layer. Even if someone loses above, the infrastructure below keeps running.
This is why the Djarum Group and Salim Group are playing in the infrastructure layer. They do not need to choose who will become Indonesia’s “Google”. They just need to ensure that all major players need their infrastructure.