Indonesia's BKPM Pushes Batam to Rival Johor as ASEAN's Premier Data Centre Hub

The advancement of digital technology in the era of artificial intelligence (AI) is driving the growth of data centres. Johor, Malaysia, has established itself as one of the growth centres for the data centre industry in Southeast Asia, successfully attracting investment flows from global technology companies. Meanwhile, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam are also aggressively offering various incentives to attract data centre investment in the ASEAN region. Indonesia sees this as an opportunity to capture AI data centre investment, supported by its large market and strategic location. Saribua Siahaan, Director of Promotion for Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand & the Pacific at the Ministry of Investment and Downstreaming/BKPM, stated that Indonesia has Batam as a hub for data centre and AI development. To seize this investment opportunity, Indonesia is providing a range of incentives related to land, regulatory ease, and licensing.