BDx Breaks Ground on 640 MW AI Campus in Indonesia: With Hydro Power and Liquid Cooling, Power-First Becomes the Main Line of Southeast Asia's Compute Race

On September 22, Singapore-based data center operator BDx Data Centers held a groundbreaking ceremony in West Java, Indonesia, for its 640 MW CGK4 AI campus. The project's significance goes beyond its scale: 845 MVA of grid capacity secured in advance, a hydro power arrangement being pursued with a state-owned water company, and direct-to-chip liquid cooling supporting racks of up to 500 kW - in Southeast Asia's AI infrastructure race, power supply capability is replacing land and site selection as the first precondition.

1. Project Profile: Six Buildings, About Three Years to Complete

The CGK4 (AI Campus 2) Jatiluhur campus is located in Purwakarta, about 5 km from the Jatiluhur Dam and about a two-hour drive from the capital, Jakarta. The project has secured 845 MVA of grid capacity from state utility PLN, and construction of the first of six planned buildings has begun; the campus is expected to be developed over about three years. The first 120 MW building is planned to enter service in early 2027, providing 120 MW of IT capacity in phases. The project adopts direct-to-chip liquid cooling designed to support racks with power demands of up to 500 kW, and holds certification under the NVIDIA DGX-Ready Managed Data Center program (April 2025). On the latest developments: Indonesian outlet Selular reported in October 2026 that West Java Governor Dedi Mulyadi requested construction be paused until approvals such as the AMDAL environmental impact analysis and the PBG building permit are complete; BDx said it is cooperating with the government, and the early-2027 target for the first phase is unchanged.

2. Power First: Grid Capacity and Hydro Supply

BDx is advancing a hydro power arrangement with state-owned water company Perum Jasa Tirta II as part of its efforts to secure low-carbon electricity for the campus. Across its three AI-focused campuses in Indonesia (CGK3/3A, CGK4, CGK5), the company has secured more than 1.2 GVA of grid capacity in total, and in 2026 obtained a USD 320 million loan facility to support its Indonesian expansion. The expansion comes as Indonesia seeks to attract more data center investment and build AI and cloud computing capabilities, with operators competing for land, power, and connectivity, especially in and around Jakarta.

3. Demand Signals and Official Statements

BDx Data Centers CEO Mayank Srivastava said Indonesia is entering a new phase of digital and AI development, and CGK4 is a long-term investment in the infrastructure this phase requires. BDx Indonesia CEO Agus Hartono Wijaya said the project will enable local companies, government agencies, and developers to run advanced AI workloads domestically. According to BDx, CGK4 has attracted interest from hyperscale cloud service providers, technology companies, AI cloud providers, and enterprises, though the company has not disclosed customers or contract values.

4. CNESA Observation: With Power as the Constraint, Space for Storage Opens Up

From the storage industry's perspective, the project sends three signals. First, 845 MVA locked in advance and more than 1.2 GVA across three campuses show that the primary constraint in campus competition is power, not land - stable supply capability directly determines whether a project can land and come online on schedule. Second, hydro direct supply is a low-carbon power path, but hydro output fluctuates seasonally, amplifying the role of campus-level storage in peak regulation and backup. Third, 500 kW racks and direct-to-chip liquid cooling mean supply reliability and thermal management requirements are rising together, making backup storage demand a certainty. For Chinese companies, the accelerating AIDC buildout in Southeast Asia opens a window for the storage and liquid cooling supply chains to go overseas; BDx has not disclosed its equipment suppliers, which is a potential entry point. As campus competition shifts from "site selection" to "power access", the toolkit for stable supply and green power assurance - storage, hydro supply, and liquid cooling - is becoming the hard requirement of AIDC infrastructure.

Source material: public information from BDx Data Centers and reports by DatacenterDynamics, Selular, and other media