Daewoo’s ‘all-in-one’ bet on energy and data
Daewoo Engineering & Construction said Chairman Jung Won-joo visited Jakarta from 7 to 11 September. He met senior figures across government, parliament and investment circles. He tabled an “all-in-one” convergence model combining small modular reactors (SMR), LNG terminals and power plants, and a gigawatt-scale AI data centre.
During the visit, Jung met Sugeng Suparwoto, chair of Commission XII (Energy) in Indonesia’s House of Representatives. He also met Todotua Pasaribu, vice minister for investment and downstream affairs. Both meetings focused on the bundled development proposal.
Indonesian counterparts indicated a willingness to actively cooperate on the proposed projects. This signals early political support for the concept, even though no binding agreements have yet been disclosed.
The approach moves Daewoo beyond traditional engineering, procurement and construction roles into a developer-operator posture. This aligns with Indonesia’s own push to scale AI-ready infrastructure. Indonesia is working on Presidential Regulations for a National AI Roadmap and AI Ethics. It aims to expand national data centre capacity from 600 megawatts to around 1.65 gigawatts by end-2026. That creates clear demand for high-density, power-secure AI facilities.
Against that backdrop, Daewoo’s model tightly couples power reliability and compute capacity. It positions the firm as a one-stop private partner for Indonesia’s emerging AI and digital government agenda.
Building a strategic market, not just projects
Daewoo E&C has operated in Indonesia since 1986. It says it has delivered seven construction and plant projects worth US$540 million in the country. These include a kraft paper mill, the District 8 mixed-use complex in Jakarta, and the Tangguh LNG expansion.
Recently, the company has shifted from pure contracting to acting as a developer. It now takes on investment and project structuring itself. This pivot mirrors its experience in Vietnam’s Starlake City. Daewoo cites that project as a reference for exporting an integrated urban development model that fuses real estate, energy and digital infrastructure.
In Jakarta, Jung also met Pandu Sjahrir, chief investment officer of Indonesian sovereign fund Danantara. The two sides discussed potential cooperation on new city development and investment-led projects. They agreed to keep identifying follow-up opportunities in large-scale complex schemes. This suggests that any future Indonesia AI City vehicle could sit within a broader urban or special-economic-zone framework rather than as a standalone plant.
Indonesia is already expanding smart-city and digital-government pilots. These include cooperation with South Korea on a smart city centre in the new capital Nusantara. A launch of an AI-based GovTech platform is also planned for October 2026. Daewoo’s pitch arrives as policymakers look for partners that can marry hardware, software and real-asset development at scale.
A Daewoo E&C official described Indonesia as a “core strategic market with great growth potential”. The company aims to help build the foundation of future industries such as energy infrastructure and AI data centres, not only real estate. That framing positions Daewoo closer to long-term platform investor than short-cycle contractor. Investors will recognise this shift from Korean peers moving up the value chain across ASEAN.
For institutional investors, the proposed Indonesia AI City concept is still at the signalling stage. However, it points to a pipeline where Korean developers package SMR-linked baseload, LNG flexibility and hyperscale AI capacity inside integrated urban projects. These could be backed by sovereign funds and policy incentives.
The next markers to watch will be any formal feasibility studies, government project designations or joint investment frameworks involving Danantara and Indonesian ministries. Those would turn Daewoo’s convergence pitch from diplomatic talking point into investable energy-plus-digital infrastructure deals.
