Temasek-Backed ST Telemedia Leads JV to Build 72MW Data Centre Campus Near Jakarta

A unit of Singaporean tech firm ST Telemedia is joining forces with its owner, state holding company Temasek, and Indonesian conglomerate Triputra Group to develop a data centre operating platform in Jakarta.

The joint venture plans to build its first data centre campus at Greenland International Industrial Center in Kota Deltamas, a township 50 kilometres (31 miles) east of the Indonesian capital. The campus will support the development of multiple buildings and up to 72 megawatts of critical IT capacity, according to a Tuesday press release issued by ST Telemedia Global Data Centres (STT GDC).

Construction of the first phase is expected to begin in the coming months and conclude by the first quarter of 2023.

“This joint venture marks our strategic entry into the Indonesia data centre market and is an important step for STT GDC to reinforce its position as a leading data centre player in Asia Pacific,” said Bruno Lopez, president and group CEO of STT GDC. “We are pleased to have Triputra and Temasek as our partners, both stalwarts with deep market expertise in their respective fields.”

Tapping SE Asia’s Giant

Demand for digital and cloud services in Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s biggest economy and top internet market, is growing exponentially, said Triputra director Arif Rachmat. The nation’s digital economy is projected to be worth $124 billion by 2025, according to PwC research cited by Triputra.

The Indonesian government has set out a national roadmap to support an inclusive digital economy and to accelerate digital activity among local enterprises, Rachmat said.

Triputra is one of the largest diversified conglomerate groups in Indonesia, with lines in agribusiness, manufacturing, mining, trading and services. STT GDC expects the partnership with Triputra to achieve greater portfolio diversity and strengthen its Asian data centre network.

Founded in 2014, the data centre unit of ST Telemedia has more than 120 facilities across Singapore, China (through NASDAQ-listed GDS Holdings), India, South Korea, Thailand (through a JV with Frasers Property Thailand) and the UK (through subsidiary Virtus Data Centres).

Rising Star in Bit Barns

Cushman & Wakefield’s latest global market comparison identified Jakarta as a fast-growing regional hub for co-location data centres, with a sizeable development pipeline.

Last month, the cloud unit of Chinese tech giant Tencent announced the launch of its first Indonesian internet data centre in Jakarta’s CBD. The facility is already fully operational, Tencent Cloud said.

Dutch consultancy Arcadis’s 2021 index of the most attractive places to build data centres placed Indonesia at 35th in the world, between Turkey and Iceland.