Singapore-based data center company Princeton Digital Group (PDG) said it is building a 96 MW data center campus in Batam, Indonesia with an initial investment of $1 billion.
The new data center is a part of PDG’s Singapore+ strategy, which involves constructing data centers in Batam, Indonesia and Johor, Malaysia to make it easier for customers in Singapore to expand their infrastructure beyond Singapore.
Batam is an island in Indonesia’s Riau Islands Province, just 20 km south of Singapore, while Johor, a southern Malaysian state, is located about 20 km north of Singapore.
Founded in 2017, PDG invests, develops, and operates data center infrastructure in the digital economies of Asia including China, Singapore, India, Indonesia and Japan. The company said the new campus will be built on 15 acres of land in Batam. It will consist of four buildings of up to 24 MW capacity each. PDG said that power is fully secured for the entire 96 MW capacity.
“Our SG+ strategy is aimed at providing a seamless infrastructure growth roadmap for our customers,” PDG Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Rangu Salgame said. “The new campus in Batam reinforces our growth strategy and solidifies our already strong presence across the region in China, Singapore, India, Indonesia, and Japan.”
With an investment of $300 million, the company launched its 48 MW flagship data center data center in Mumbai in December 2022. Its 100 MW data center in Saitama, Tokyo, is scheduled for completion in 2024.
The Rise of data centers in Asia
According to a November 2022 research by ResearchAndMarkets, the Southeast Asia data center market is experiencing a significant surge in investments. In the first quarter of 2022, there were approximately 200 operational colocation centers in the market, supporting a combined IT load exceeding 1 gigawatt. Moreover, there are approximately 50 upcoming facilities anticipated to commence operations by 2025.
Investment in the Southeast Asia data center market is influenced by several factors, including the implementation of digitalization initiatives throughout the region, the expansion of subsea and inland connectivity, and the uptake of advanced technologies like 5G, Big Data, the Internet of Things, and Artificial Intelligence, according to the ResearchAndMarkets report.
Over the past few months, Asian countries have received numerous investments in the data center market.
In November, Chinese technology firm Huawei launched its first ‘3AZ’ data center in Indonesia. The company also announced spending $300 million in the next five years to upgrade local cloud infrastructure.
In September, Equinix completed the acquisition of the India operations of GPX Global Systems. The $161 million transaction includes a fiber-connected campus in Mumbai with two data centers.
Singapore will have the lion’s share of the data center market, according to market research and advisory firm Technavio. “The growth of the regional market can be attributed to increasing investments in the construction of data centers in the country. Also, the increasing demand for edge computing is contributing to the growth of the data center market in Singapore,” it said.