Batam, the island city across the strait from Singapore, is filling with data centers while it runs short of water. The Jakarta Post counts at least 16 new data centers in various stages, most in Nongsa Digital Park and the newer Kabil Industrial Tech Park. The biggest is DayOne's campus at Kabil, which signed a 450-megawatt power deal with PLN Batam in April 2026, with power arriving in phases through 2027.
Batam's clean water comes from six reservoirs producing 3,487 liters a second. The Nongsa treatment plant, which serves Nongsa and Batu Besar, was cut step by step from 65 liters a second on August 12 to 40 on September 18 as the Nongsa reservoir fell, and its operator, Air Batam Hilir, says it may have to bring in water from the Duriangkang reservoir system. Researcher Rezza Aji Pratama estimates that existing and planned data centers would use about 8% of the island's water.
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In December 2024 dozens of residents of the Teluk Mata Ikan fishing village protested outside Nongsa Digital Park because water kept flowing to the tech park while their homes went short; officials blamed a "technical glitch." Hotmauli Sidabalok of Yayasan Amerta Air Indonesia warned in the Jakarta Post of "environmental injustice" as households and data centers compete for water. Economist Suyono Saputra of Batam International University says the long-term fix is desalting seawater, which takes large sums and time.
Batam's mayor, Amsakar Achmad, says data centers can grow as long as their power and water needs are met, and he promised faster permits when PLN Batam signed a power deal with Altiva Identity Data Center on July 28, 2026. BW Digital topped out its NDP1 building at Nongsa in October 2025, planned to reach 144 megawatts. Gorilla Technology is installing AI servers at NeutraDC's Kabil data center in phases from September 2026, and Firmus plans a 170,000-chip Nvidia cluster at a DayOne campus of up to 360 megawatts, rolling out through 2027 and 2028.
Projects not tied to an area
Sites whose records name no county. Everything else is on the pages listed above.
Riau Islands3
| Project | Company | Status | Power | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DayOne Batam (Nongsa Digital Park)Batam | DayOne / Indonesia Investment Authority | 72 MW | ||
| ByteDance Indonesia (Batam / Jakarta)Batam | undisclosed landlord | Not reported | Not reported | |
| PDG BT1 (Nongsa Digital Park, Batam)Batam | Princeton Digital Group (Warburg Pincus) | Not reported | Not reported |
Where this comes from
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Every project above is drawn from public records, filings and local reporting. Each row links to what it is based on. Statuses change, so check the source date before you rely on one. Found something wrong? Write to [email protected] and it gets fixed.