Batam datacentre to capture spillover demand from Singapore

Indonesia’s NeutraDC is building a new datacentre facility in Batam to capture the spillover demand for datacentre services from neighbouring Singapore while meeting the domestic needs of Indonesian firms.

The facility will span three campuses over eight hectares, offering a potential capacity of 51MW. Powered by renewable energy from Indonesian power firm Medco Power and equipped with a building management system, it will first offer about 20MW of capacity in the initial phase of the project.

NeutraDC is the datacentre arm of Indonesian telecoms giant Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom). Formed from the consolidation of Telkom’s datacentre and connectivity assets to improve operational efficiency, it has set its sights on becoming a regional and global datacentre player.

Telkom CEO Ririek Adriansyah said the new facility would strengthen Telkom’s position in the regional datacentre market and enable it to meet the demand for datacentre services by enterprises, digital-native businesses and cloud service providers.

Kartika Wirjoatmodjo, Indonesia’s second vice-minister of state-owned enterprises, said: “The construction of this hyperscale datacentre in Batam by Telkom is a strategic step which we believe can serve the domestic and regional markets, particularly the Singapore market.

The datacentre will be majority owned by Telkom while Singapore’s Singtel and Medco Power will be minority shareholders. Both Singtel and Telkom will supply the connectivity services for the new facility, including the Batam Singapore Cable System (BSCS), Indonesia Global Gateway (IGG) and a future submarine cable.

Singtel’s stake in the new facility marks its foray into Indonesia’s datacentre market. Andrew Lim, chief commercial officer of its regional datacentre business, said: “As Southeast Asia’s largest digital economy, Indonesia is core to our expansion plans into high-growth markets.

“Our track record in designing, building and operating datacentres, combined with Telkom and Medco Power’s deep expertise in their respective fields, will prove a powerful partnership.”

Lim added that with its location, ample land and connectivity to Singapore, Indonesia and other parts of the world, Batam was expected to see investment spillovers as a result of land and power constraints in neighbouring markets.

“In fact, our hyperscale customers are looking to grow their cloud computing infrastructure to serve the Asia-Pacific region while being located near Singapore,” he said.

Indonesia’s demand for digital and cloud services is growing exponentially, with its digital economy projected to be worth $130bn by 2025. This is expected to fuel the growth of its datacentre market at a rate of over 11% annually to $2bn by 2025.