Indonesia's EV and Data Centre Boom: Factories Flock to These Regions
Demand for industrial land in Greater Jakarta during the first half of 2026 came from a variety of sectors. Data centres were one of the main contributors to land absorption, followed by the food and beverage sector, manufacturing, and industries related to electric vehicles.
Senior Research Advisor at Knight Frank Indonesia, Syarifah Syaukat, said industrial activity remained concentrated in several key sub-markets. Bekasi and Karawang were the areas with the largest land transactions in the first half of 2024.
“As a market summary of the performance of industrial estates in Greater Jakarta, we can say that Bekasi and Karawang are currently the sub-markets with the largest transactions in the first half of 2024,” Syarifah said during a virtual press conference on Thursday (20/8/2026).
Bekasi and Karawang also have a relatively strong industrial base, enabling them to attract various types of land users. Meanwhile, areas such as Purwakarta, Cilegon, and Serang have different appeal depending on the sectors entering them.
The development of the digital economy has become an important driver of industrial land demand. The need for data centres has increased in line with the growth of digital activity, making locations with adequate infrastructure support targets for expansion.
In addition, the food and beverage and manufacturing industries remain active land users. At the same time, the development of the electric vehicle ecosystem is beginning to create new demand in a number of industrial estates.
“We see that the active occupiers in the first half of 2024 came from data centres, F&B, manufacturing, and at the next level there are EV-related industries,” said Syarifah.
When viewed by location, the needs of each sector also show different patterns. Bekasi and Karawang are important locations for data centres, while F&B activity is strong in Bekasi and manufacturing has prominent absorption in Purwakarta.
Sectors related to electric vehicles are also beginning to form new growth pockets. Cilegon and Serang are among the areas recording activity from the chemical and EV-related sectors, in line with the growing needs of supporting industries.
“And then for several sub-markets we found in the first half of 2024 that these sub-markets excelled in certain absorption or new occupier transactions, such as data centres excelling in Bekasi and Karawang, then F&B in Bekasi, manufacturing absorption we found to be strong in Purwakarta, and then chemical and EV-related in Cilegon,” said Syarifah.
The entry of data centres, manufacturing, F&B, and electric vehicle-related industries shows that the structure of industrial land demand is becoming increasingly diverse. At the same time, the growth of these sectors is also driving the expansion of industrial estates to the eastern region, including Subang, as the need for new land continues to grow.
“And we also see that the activity of data centres cannot be separated from the digital economy that continues to grow, as well as our bargaining position in the regional arena for the growth of digital-based technology,” said Syarifah.