Microsoft increases its investment in Indonesia’s digital economy, with plans to establish a new datacenter region and a commitment to skill over 24 million Indonesians by end of 2021 through its decades’ long skilling investment

JAKARTA, INDONESIA - Media OutReach^[1] - 25 February 2021 - Microsoft today announced its Berdayakan Ekonomi Digital Indonesia initiative, which marks a significant commitment to advancing growth and digital transformation for Indonesia, its vibrant developer and startup ecosystem, enterprises, and the public sector. As part of the plan, Microsoft will establish its first datacenter region in Indonesia to deliver trusted cloud services locally, with world-class data security, privacy, and the ability to store data in country. Microsoft also announced plans to skill an additional 3 million Indonesians to achieve its goal of empowering over 24 million Indonesians by the end of 2021, through its long-established skills programs designed to create inclusive economic opportunities in the digital era.

Today's announcement will play a pivotal role in accelerating the country's digital transformation, toward its vision of becoming Southeast Asia's leading digital economy. According to research from IDC, Microsoft's investment in Indonesia is expected to generate up to USD $6.3 billion in new revenues from the country's ecosystem of local customers and partners. In addition, its cloud-consuming businesses are expected to contribute 60,000 jobs to the local economy, over the next four years*.

"As a leading global provider of advanced cloud solutions, Microsoft's investment to establish local datacenters, digital skilling and collaboration with the Government of Indonesia will support local innovation, economic recovery, and digital transformation. The Ministry of Communication and Information welcomes Microsoft's plans to establish a local datacenter region with highly secure and compliant cloud services, which will benefit local businesses, government, and individuals across all sectors. We also welcome Microsoft's commitment to increase the capacity of Indonesian digital talent across all skill levels," Mr. Johnny G. Plate, Minister of Communication and Information, Indonesia.

"Microsoft has a long-term commitment to Indonesia's growth. Today's announcement is our most significant investment in the 26 years we have been established here.  I am delighted that we are helping to empower Indonesia to realize its vision to lead the region's digital transformation. From ecommerce to agriculture, Indonesian businesses across all sectors are gaining a digital advantage with the agility, security and scale offered by Microsoft's cloud services. With a local datacenter region, businesses will have faster access to cloud services and the ability for data to be stored in country. To ensure everyone can take advantage of the digital opportunities ahead, we will continue to support digital skilling, with a new program that will reach over 24 million Indonesians by the end of 2021," said Jean-Philippe Courtois, Executive Vice President and President, Microsoft Global Sales, Marketing and Operations.

"We're proud to support Indonesian businesses and governments in their move to the trusted cloud with Microsoft. Over the last 26 years, we have been empowering industries across Indonesia and preparing Indonesians with future ready skills to improve their employability. Today's announcement validates our Berdayakan Ekonomi Digital Indonesia initiative, to empower every person and every organization in Indonesia to achieve more. With more than 150 employees and 7,000 partners across Indonesia's 17,000 islands, Microsoft's significant presence in Indonesia has actively supported the startup community and ecosystem. Leading companies such as Bukalapak^[2], Pertamina^[3], and The Ministry of Agriculture^[4] have benefited from Microsoft's global scale cloud services and have expressed their commitment to using Microsoft Cloud from the new region when it is available," said Haris Izmee, President Director for Microsoft Indonesia.

Accelerating digital agility across Indonesia

With the new datacenter region, Indonesia will join the world's largest cloud infrastructure with over 60 datacenter regions announced to date. Businesses of all sizes and industries will have access to Microsoft Azure at launch, which enables anyone to invent with purpose using cloud services and capabilities that span computing, networking, databases, analytics, artificial intelligence, and Internet of Things (IoT). Microsoft delivers enterprise-grade data security and privacy. With more than 90 compliance certifications, Microsoft meets a broad range of industry and regulatory entity standards.

To support customer needs for high-availability and resiliency in their applications, the new datacenter region will feature Azure Availability Zones^[5], which are unique physical locations equipped with independent power, network and cooling for additional tolerance to datacenter failures. The Indonesia datacenter region will also support Microsoft's sustainability goals^[6], including its commitment to shift to 100 percent supply of renewable energy in Microsoft datacenters by 2025.

"Our partnership with Microsoft is transforming e-commerce and operations for merchants in Indonesia. With a trusted local datacenter region, we will help our 6.5 million merchants, 7 million Bukalapak partners and more than 100 million customers achieve business resiliency in the face of the pandemic. Equally, our combined efforts in skilling merchants and our employees will empower the digital economy, improving employability, creating opportunities, and transforming lives," said Rachmat Kaimuddin, CEO of Bukalapak.

"Pertamina and Microsoft have a strong collaboration in accelerating digital transformation and empowering Indonesia's digital economy. I welcome Microsoft's commitment to establish a datacenter region in Indonesia, which will enable every Indonesian business to embrace the digital economy and create disruptive innovation," said Nicke Widyawati, President Director, Pertamina.

"We welcome Microsoft's commitment to establish a datacenter region in Indonesia, which will give even more opportunities for joint programs in enhancing the agricultural digital ecosystem. Agriculture is one of Indonesia's critical industries where with the support of real-time, data driven innovation through sensors on the field connected with the cloud as well as providing digital farming capability training for Young Farmers it can make an enormous positive impact on Indonesia's economy," said Mr. Syahrul Yasin Limpo, Minister of Agriculture of Indonesia.

Empowering Indonesia's workforce with future-ready skills

As part of the Berdayakan Ekonomi Digital Indonesia initiative, Microsoft will empower individuals with the skills they need to succeed in a cloud and AI-enabled future, by developing talent pipelines for high-demand skills, while increasing the employability of Indonesians. A continuation of Microsoft's commitment to skills training^[7] in Indonesia over the last 26 years, the company will work with government and industry stakeholders to skill an additional 3 million people, bringing the total to 24 million Indonesians skilled by the end of 2021. This initiative, in collaboration with four universities and the Ministry of Communications and Information, extends across backgrounds, including students and teachers, those in mid-career, home makers and people from disadvantaged communities. The skills initiative will empower Indonesians in AI, cybersecurity, and data science through a digital literacy curriculum.

*IDC Info Snapshot, sponsored by Microsoft, The Microsoft Cloud Dividend Snapshot: Indonesia, Doc. # US47443521, February 2021

References

1. ^{^} Media OutReach (www.media-outreach.com)
2. ^{^} Bukalapak (www.bukalapak.com)
3. ^{^} Pertamina (www.pertamina.com)
4. ^{^} The Ministry of Agriculture (www.pertanian.go.id)
5. ^{^} Azure Availability Zones (azure.microsoft.com)
6. ^{^} sustainability goals (blogs.microsoft.com)
7. ^{^} continuation of Microsoft's commitment to skills training (news.microsoft.com)