Singapore-based banks DBS and UOB have arranged a record SGD 530 million loan to finance the development of a new data centre campus in Nongsa Digital Park, Batam, Indonesia.
The loan is the largest-ever rupiah-denominated financing for a data centre that will support a joint project by digital infrastructure firm DayOne and Indonesia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Indonesia Investment Authority (INA).
DBS (Development Bank of Singapore) and UOB (United Overseas Bank), both among the largest and most established financial institutions in Southeast Asia, jointly structured the deal to back the construction of three state-of-the-art data centres.
These facilities will form the core of the DayOne Nongsa Digital Park Data Centre campus, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2025.
Once operational, the campus will offer a combined IT load capacity of approximately 72 megawatts, representing about 5% of Indonesia’s projected total data centre capacity by 2029.
The development is strategically located in Nongsa Digital Park, which has been positioned as a digital bridge between Singapore and Indonesia, enabling Singapore-based companies to tap into Indonesia’s growing digital talent pool and infrastructure, while channeling Singapore’s technological know-how and capital into the Indonesian market.
This initiative also shows INA’s first investment in the data centre sector, a move seen as a strong signal of the government’s commitment to digital transformation.
Jamie Khoo, CEO of DayOne, said the scale of the financing underscores confidence in the company’s ability to deliver critical digital infrastructure at pace.
The financing deal comes amid surging demand for data centre capacity across Southeast Asia, driven by rapid digitalisation, the growth of cloud services, and accelerated adoption of artificial intelligence technologies.
Research by Boston Consulting Group estimates that Southeast Asia’s data centre demand could rise to 6.5GW by 2030, triple the capacity recorded in 2023. The Singapore-Johor-Batam corridor alone is expected to supply nearly half that total.
Group Head of Telecommunications, Media & Technology, Western MNCs and Digital Economy, DBS Bank, Amit Sinha said the transaction was a strategic investment in the region’s digital economy.
“Expanding data infrastructure is critical to helping businesses embrace emerging technologies like AI and real-time data processing,” he said.
UOB Indonesia’s Wholesale Banking Director Harapman Kasan added that the project aligns with Indonesia’s ambition to become a regional digital hub, especially given Batam’s geographic advantage as a gateway to Singapore.
DayOne and INA have established a joint venture to drive forward this development. Headquartered in Singapore, DayOne operates a regional network of next-generation data centres across key Asian hubs including Johor, Bangkok, Hong Kong and Tokyo.
Shahriena Shukri is a journalist covering business and economic news in Malaysia, providing insights on market trends, corporate developments, and financial policies. More about Shahriena Shukri.
