Jakarta, INTI - The evolution of data centers is accelerating alongside the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI). Once primarily used for data storage and processing, data centers have become the backbone of the digital economy, supporting cloud computing, industrial automation, financial technology, e-commerce, data-driven public services, and large-scale AI ecosystems.

“AI requires data centers to think beyond capacity alone. The challenge is designing infrastructure capable of delivering power safely, managing heat with precision, and providing real-time operational visibility. For Indonesia, this readiness is crucial to ensure that digital economic growth remains not only fast, but also efficient, reliable, and sustainable,” said Ellya Cen, Business Vice President Data Center at Schneider Electric Indonesia, in a statement on Wednesday, June 17, 2026.

With more than five decades of cooling innovation and a comprehensive end-to-end portfolio, Schneider Electric is helping data center operators build infrastructure capable of meeting growing AI demands. The company is also collaborating with NVIDIA on reference designs for AI-ready data centers, aimed at accelerating deployment while ensuring scalable architectures.

As an energy technology partner, Schneider Electric views this transformation as part of a broader mission to enable smarter, more efficient, reliable, and sustainable energy management. Through its “Advancing Energy Tech” commitment, the company provides technologies and expertise that help data center operators prepare for AI-driven growth without compromising operational efficiency or sustainability.

Building AI-Ready Data Center Infrastructure

According to Schneider Electric, one of the keys to developing AI-ready data centers is an integrated infrastructure design encompassing power systems, cooling technologies, rack architecture, software visibility, and lifecycle services.

This holistic approach is becoming increasingly important as data centers evolve into AI factories, where operators must understand system performance from the planning stage through to daily operations and maintenance.

Without proper planning, excessive heat can lead to reduced computing performance, thermal throttling, higher energy consumption, operational disruptions, and even costly downtime that directly impacts digital services and customer trust.

To address these challenges, Schneider Electric offers an end-to-end portfolio that includes liquid cooling, air cooling, Coolant Distribution Units (CDUs), manifolds, heat rejection systems, high-performance chillers, prefabricated modular pods, and power infrastructure ranging from medium-voltage and low-voltage systems to UPS, PDU, switchgear, busway, and Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS).

To meet the increasing power requirements of next-generation AI racks, Schneider Electric has also introduced innovations such as the HVDC 800V Power Sidecar, an 800VDC architecture designed to support megawatt-scale power delivery for AI workloads.

The solution relocates AC-to-DC power conversion to a dedicated power rack positioned beside IT racks, freeing up valuable computing space while reducing cable density and minimizing disruption to existing AC-based infrastructure.

On the software side, Schneider Electric provides Building Management Systems (BMS), Electric Power Management Systems (EPMS), ETAP Digital Twin technology, EcoStruxure IT, and AVEVA digital twin solutions to enhance visibility into downtime risks, energy efficiency, and operational performance throughout the data center lifecycle.

Indonesia’s Growing Opportunity in the AI Data Center Market

Schneider Electric’s leadership in data center infrastructure is reinforced by its global track record. Following its acquisition of Motivair in February 2025, the company expanded its liquid cooling capabilities, adding more than a decade of deployment experience and over 4 gigawatts of installed liquid cooling capacity. Motivair technologies have also been used to cool six of the world’s ten fastest supercomputers, including the top three.

In Indonesia, Schneider Electric has established a team of locally certified liquid cooling engineers, providing customers with a combination of global expertise and local implementation support.

Indonesia is increasingly seen as a promising market for AI-driven data center growth. With a population of approximately 287 million people and 235 million internet users, demand for reliable digital infrastructure continues to rise.

According to the Indonesian Data Center Providers Association (IDPRO), Jakarta has strengthened its position as the country’s primary digital gateway, with operational colocation and hyperscale data center capacity reaching 637.24 megawatts in the first quarter of 2026. An additional 1.65 gigawatts of capacity is planned for development throughout 2026.

This expansion is being driven by growing digital consumption, enterprise migration to cloud computing, data localization requirements, submarine cable connectivity, AI infrastructure investments, and increasing demand for secure, high-speed data processing.

However, the AI era also introduces new challenges. AI workloads require significantly greater computing power than conventional applications, while widespread adoption of GPUs and high-performance computing systems is dramatically increasing power and cooling requirements.

Schneider Electric estimates that AI-related workloads and supporting infrastructure will drive electricity consumption from 4.3 gigawatts in 2023 to between 13.5 and 18 gigawatts by 2028. During the same period, AI’s share of total data center power consumption is expected to increase from 8% to between 15% and 20%.

The shift is also accelerating the emergence of AI factories—large-scale computing facilities designed and optimized from initial planning and simulation through construction, operations, and maintenance. Between 2025 and 2030, approximately 60% of new data center deployments are expected to be dedicated to AI, while 75% of AI workloads are projected to require liquid cooling. Furthermore, International Data Corporation (IDC) forecasts that 65% of the 2,000 largest companies in Asia-Pacific will operate AI factories as core infrastructure by 2028.

As computing density increases, power distribution demands are rising sharply. Systems that once operated with 72 GPUs can now scale to 288 GPUs, increasing rack-level power requirements from roughly 150 kilowatts to as much as 1,000 kilowatts. As heat becomes concentrated within increasingly dense environments, traditional air-cooling methods must be complemented by more precise and efficient cooling architectures capable of supporting intensive AI workloads.

Schneider Electric’s industry leadership continues to gain international recognition. The company was included in TIME’s World's Most Sustainable Companies rankings in both 2024 and 2025, ranked first in the Corporate Knights Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations 2025 list, and was named by TIME100 Companies 2026 as one of the world’s ten most influential energy companies. In the data center sector, Data Centre Magazine also ranked Schneider Electric as the leading company in the liquid cooling category.

Conclusion 

As AI adoption accelerates, data centers are evolving from traditional storage facilities into critical infrastructure that powers digital economies and next-generation technologies. Through its end-to-end portfolio, advanced cooling innovations, and AI-ready solutions, Schneider Electric aims to help operators build scalable, efficient, and sustainable data centers capable of supporting the growing demands of the AI era. For Indonesia, this transformation presents a significant opportunity to strengthen its position as a leading digital hub in Southeast Asia.

Read more: Data Centers Seen as the Next Game Changer in Indonesia’s Digital Economy Push