🇮🇩 Jakarta ranks 20th globally in data center construction costs as AI demand surges
Indonesia strengthens its position as a strategic APAC market
🪶 The Main Takeaway
Jakarta now ranks 20th globally for data center construction costs—at Rp187,207 per watt—making Indonesia one of the more competitive markets in Asia Pacific.
Despite lower construction costs compared with Singapore and Tokyo, AI-driven demand is pushing up operational and design costs by 2–3×.
🌏 Why It’s on Our Radar
Indonesia is rapidly emerging as a regional hub for AI-ready infrastructure, supported by abundant power supply and growing investor interest.
But the shift toward high-density workloads, liquid cooling, and high-voltage power systems is exposing infrastructure bottlenecks.
The Turner & Townsend Data Centre Construction Cost Index 2025 highlights a regional trend: AI workloads are reshaping cost structures, raising the stakes for APAC markets, especially Indonesia.
⚠️ What’s at Stake
📈 Jakarta’s cost advantage: Rp187,207/watt, below Singapore (Rp257,681) & Tokyo (Rp253,005).
⚡ Power availability remains a bottleneck: 48% of global respondents cite grid access delays as the main challenge.
🧊 Local supply chain not yet AI-ready: 83% industry experts say Indonesia lacks advanced cooling supply capability.
💸 Operational + design costs up 2–3× due to AI-density demand.
🌐 Growing dependence on global supply chains for high-tech components.
📸 The Big Picture
AI is transforming what “modern” data centers look like, bigger, denser, and more power-intensive.
Indonesia’s competitive cost base is offset by infrastructure limitations, especially in high-voltage transmission and advanced cooling technology.
Turner & Townsend executives warn that AI-built facilities will continue to be more complex and more expensive, requiring:
investment in grid upgrades,
diversified supply chains,
and design innovation (including off-grid solutions).
🌐 The Regional Stakes
APAC stands out with rapidly accelerating AI demand projected to increase power consumption by 165% by 2030.
Malaysia (Rp189,879/watt) and Mumbai (Rp110,888/watt) also emerge as attractive investment targets.
Competition for power access will intensify as AI workloads expand across governments, enterprises, and consumers.
🏠 Why This Hits Home
Indonesia’s push for AI-ready data infrastructure will determine:
how competitive the country will be in the regional cloud + AI economy,
whether developers can deliver at scale despite supply chain constraints,
and how fast the country can attract the next wave of hyperscalers and regional cloud investments.
Jakarta’s relatively low construction costs give Indonesia momentum — but grid upgrades, supply chain readiness, and design innovation will shape whether the country can lead the next phase of APAC’s AI infrastructure boom.
(VRG/ELS)