Investors Turn Optimistic on a Long-Delayed Southeast Asian Power Grid

A long-discussed plan to build a shared power grid across the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is drawing renewed investor interest, according to investors and Indonesian policymakers who gathered in Bali, the South China Morning Post reported. Demand from artificial-intelligence computing and data centers, together with the region's shift toward cleaner energy, is behind the renewed optimism.

The project has been talked about for years without decisive progress. What has changed is the demand outlook. Data centers require large, reliable supplies of electricity, and a connected regional grid would let member states share generation and balance loads across borders.

For investors, the appeal is a durable buildout of transmission and generation capacity tied to a demand source that is expanding quickly and is relatively insensitive to short-term economic swings.