Indonesia Joins Global Semiconductor Third Phase with Malaysia

RRI.CO.ID, Jakarta - The Indonesian government has set an ambitious medium-term economic growth target of 8%. As one step towards achieving this, the government is positioning industrial and technological cooperation with Malaysia, particularly the state of Sarawak, in the energy and semiconductor sectors.

Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto, stated on Tuesday, 3 February 2026, that Indonesia is collaborating with Malaysia in the green energy and technology sector. This collaboration is a pathway towards the "Golden Indonesia 2045" vision, with an economic growth target of 8% this year.

At the opening of the 2026 Indonesia Economic Summit (IES) in Jakarta, the minister hoped that Indonesia could receive input regarding the development of renewable energy domestically. “So, the key drivers is in services, high svalue-added manufacturing and I think we should learn from Sarawak on the renewable energy, the hydrogen as well as for the semiconductors,” he stated.

This event was also attended by the Premier of Sarawak, Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari bin Tun Datuk Abang Haji Openg whom Airlangga mentioned to have come as a mentor for this sector.

Minister Airlangga also stated that this collaboration with Malaysia is a significant support for Indonesia's leap into the global semiconductor ecosystem, which has entered its third phase. He stated that in this phase, the government plans to enter the automotive and computing sectors.

“I think with collaboration of the Sarawak we can work together for the third phase and we can share the future cake in the area of mobile, IoT (Internet of Things), PC, automotive, and cloud, including on data center,” he said.

Moreover, the minister continued by mentioning the government's access to national silica sand. Indonesia will leverage the availability of this raw material with Malaysia's manufacturing strength.

“Indonesia is strong from the upstream from the silica sand. We already have the floating glass, next will be for solar panel and next is for water so if the design is working together so the printing will be the next industry that we can create together.”

Furthermore, Coordinating Minister Airlangga also proposed that the two countries strengthen collaboration in the tourism sector. He hopes Sarawak Air can open more routes to Indonesia beyond Jakarta and Bali.

Notably, there are several destinations he has in mind, which are Bangka Belitung and Medan. He stated that opening more routes will boost Indonesian exports to Malaysia.