Areas with high AI interest emerge in Jakarta, East Kalimantan, and Riau Islands
This post begins a series of articles exploring key insights from e-Conomy SEA 2024 , a report jointly produced by Google, Temasek, and Baik & Company. Over the next seven posts, we will explore Indonesia’s journey as Southeast Asia’s largest digital economy, exploring the trends that are having a major impact on key sectors. From AI to e-commerce to transportation to online finance, this series will provide a comprehensive overview of Indonesia’s growth and its impact on Southeast Asia at large.
In a short time, artificial intelligence (AI) has started to become a key element in Indonesia’s digital transformation, driving progress in various industries such as e-commerce, finance, and education. As the country’s digitalization process progresses, AI is seen as a critical tool to support efficiency, improve customer experience, and drive innovation.
The surge in interest in AI is seen across Indonesia, but especially in East Kalimantan, Jakarta, and the Riau Islands, which recorded the highest levels of AI searches and requests nationally, according to Google data.
The 2024 report also shows that marketing, gaming, and education are the top industries where AI could have transformative impact. Marketing leverages AI for targeted ads, gaming enhances interactivity, and education explores adaptive learning—all shaping Indonesia’s digital future.
AI-powered mobile applications are also starting to be widely used in Indonesia, especially in content creation (9%), photo effects (9%), and video editing (7%). This reflects the high demand from users for digital creative and interactive tools, making AI play an increasingly important role in the content-based industry and consumer engagement in the country.
The rise in demand for AI also increases the need for infrastructure that is ready to support the technology. Indonesia has taken a big step by increasing its data center capacity, which currently stands at 202 MW. In the next few years, it is expected to add another 268% of capacity. This expansion is similar to a more general trend in Southeast Asia, where data center capacity is expected to grow 1.5x by 2030, with a major focus on AI-ready facilities.
The e-Conomy SEA 2024 report highlights the critical role of technologies such as AI in Indonesia’s digital landscape. As more businesses and investors adopt this technology, the next wave of innovation in Indonesia will be heavily influenced by the strategic implementation of AI and its supporting infrastructure.
Click to explore the e-Conomy SEA 2024 blog series.
