Indonesia shifts data‑centre plan east

Data centres are having an Indonesia geography problem. Most of the country’s server capacity sits around Jakarta and Batam, which makes business sense but leaves a giant archipelago digitally lopsided. Now the government wants to change that. On April 30, the Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs said it is preparing a new master plan to steer more data-centre development into eastern Indonesia, not just the usual western hubs. ### What exactly changed? The new thing is not a single project. It is a planning shift. Wayan Toni Supriyanto, the ministry’s director general for digital infrastructure, said the government is drafting a master plan to make data-centre distribution more even across the country, with explicit attention to eastern regions. That is a policy signal to investors, utilities, and local governments that future growth should not default to Jakarta and Batam. ### Why were Jakarta and Batam winning before? Because they solve the boring hard stuff. Jakarta has dense fiber networks, enterprise customers, and existing cloud demand. Batam sits close to Singapore and has become a logical overflow site for operators that want lower costs while staying tied into regional connectivity. That combination made western Indonesia the easiest place to build first. ### So why push east now? Two reasons — resilience and sovereignty. If most critical digital infrastructure clusters in a few western locations, the country ends up with uneven service quality and more concentrated risk. Spreading facilities east is meant to support local digital economies, reduce dependence on a narrow corridor, and keep more market gravity. That is the basic logic behind the master plan. ### Is there actually a market there? The government clearly thinks so, and industry projections help make the case. One widely cited forecast puts Indonesia’s data-centre market at about $1.83 billion in 2026 and $3.48 billion by 2031. Those numbers are being used to argue that future demand will be large enough to support broader power lines, substations, or subsea links. ### Does this mean Jakarta loses? Not at all. In fact, the same week this policy shift surfaced, Princeton Digital Group said it had acquired a new Greater Jakarta site for its JC4 hyperscale campus. The site, in Bekasi Regency’s GIIC industrial area, comes with land secured and power allocated for 240 MW. That lifts PDG’s total Indonesia portfolio to 400 MW. So the story is not “west stops, east starts.” It is “Indonesia wants both.” ### Why does power matter so much here? Because data centres are really electricity projects wearing an internet label. A region can have land and political support, but without reliable power and connectivity, hyperscale operators will not come. That is why industry groups in Indonesia keep stressing green and dependable version of the trick. ### What happens next? The next test is whether the master plan turns into concrete incentives, permits, and utility commitments. If that happens, eastern Indonesia could start attracting edge facilities, public-sector workloads, and eventually larger campuses. If it does not, Jakarta and Batam will keep absorbing most of the demand by default. ### Bottom line? Indonesia is not abandoning its western data-centre hubs. It is trying to stop them from becoming the whole map.