United States-listed infrastructure company Equinix. Inc and Indonesian conglomerate PT Astra International Tbk (Astra), have on Tuesday announced a joint venture to develop the digital infrastructure in Indonesia that multinationals and local businesses need to accelerate their digital transformation.

Equinix and Astra established a joint venture company with a 75% and 25% equity stake, respectively, the duo said in a statement.

Combining the global digital infrastructure expertise of Equinix and the extensive experience of Astra in operating in Indonesia, this joint venture will help local businesses and multinationals develop their digital capabilities and capitalize on new and emerging technologies, such as hybrid multicloud, 5G, internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), and more.

“The Indonesian government is strongly committed to accelerating digital transformation across the nation. This joint venture with Astra taps into the rising potential of digitalization and illustrates Equinix’s ongoing commitment to serving the Indonesian community with capacity at scale to match computational, storage and edge requirements,

“We look forward to working with Astra to unlock new opportunities for Indonesia’s bright digital future,” said Jeremy Deutsch, President, Asia-Pacific, Equinix.

According to the statement, Indonesia’s national digital transformation program creates a framework for economic development and demand for digital infrastructure as the government targets 30 million micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) to go digital by 2024.

“The collaboration with Equinix is based on the growth of Indonesia’s digital economy and Astra’s focus on accelerating its digital transformation,

“We hope this joint venture will strengthen Indonesia’s data center infrastructure and help businesses by providing a comprehensive data center that is more integrated, modern, easily accessible, and operated with the spirit and principles of sustainability,” said Djony Bunarto Tjondro, President Director of Astra.

This joint venture will initially develop and operate an International Business Exchange (IBX) data center in the heart of Jakarta, named JK1, with further expansion afterward in Indonesia.

The eight-story JK1 IBX data center is scheduled to open by the second half of 2024 and is expected to provide more than 1,600 cabinets and more than 5,300 square meters of colocation space when fully built.

Located in Jakarta’s Central Business District and in close proximity to major internet exchanges, JK1 will provide local and foreign businesses operating in Indonesia with the digital infrastructure and vibrant ecosystems required for optimal performance.

JK1 will incorporate sustainability into its design, leveraging innovative technologies such as Equinix’s cooling array to support economic and environmental goals for organizations in Indonesia.

Equinix was the first in the data center industry to set a 100 percent renewable energy goal and commit to reaching climate neutral by 2030 backed by an approved short-term science-based targets.

These goals are in alignment with the Astra 2030 Sustainability Aspirations.

According to the statement, Indonesia is poised to become the largest ASEAN colocation market by 2027 as the region continues to witness significant retail demand for colocation coupled with growing hyperscale activity.

The country’s colocation market is forecast with a valuation of $1.2 billion by 2027.

In addition, major cloud service providers like Google Cloud, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Alibaba Cloud have announced that they are launching cloud regions in Indonesia.

The country is forecast to become the second largest public cloud market in Southeast Asia.

Thus, the joint venture of Equinix and Astra is well-positioned to capture the untapped growth of this high-potential market.

It is also noted that the global footprint of Platform Equinix spans more than 245 data centers across 71 metros and 32 countries, providing digital infrastructure for more than 10,000 of the world’s leading businesses, including more than 50 percent of Fortune 500 companies.

In Asia-Pacific, Equinix currently has 51 data centers in key metros across Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, and Singapore. Along with this, Astra, with its deep local know-how and vast experience in various sectors in Indonesia will be able, to support the joint venture in unlocking the potential of the Indonesian data center market.

Equinix is the world’s digital infrastructure companyTM. Digital leaders harness Equinix’s trusted platform to bring together and interconnect foundational infrastructure at software speed.

Equinix enables organizations to access all the right places, partners and possibilities to scale with agility, speed the launch of digital services, deliver experiences and multiply their value, while supporting their sustainability goals.

Astra is one of Indonesia’s largest public companies, comprising 270 subsidiaries, joint ventures, and associate companies, supported by around 200,000 employees.

The company’s diversified business model creates synergies and opportunities across industry sectors, including automotive, financial services, heavy equipment, mining, construction and energy, agribusiness, infrastructure and logistics, information technology, and property.

The company has a new sustainability framework that contains Astra 2030 Sustainability Aspirations. It will guide Astra’s transition journey to be a more sustainable business by 2030 and beyond.

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