Apple CEO Tim Cook says it is considering a manufacturing facility in Indonesia

Apple CEO Tim Cook after meeting with Indonesian President Joko Widodo on April 17, 2024 in Jakarta. Photo by AP

Apple Inc will look into building a manufacturing facility in Indonesia, its CEO said on Wednesday after meeting President Joko Widodo, who hoped the tech giant would increase its local content by partnering with domestic firms.

Apple chief executive Tim Cook arrived in Jakarta on Tuesday after visiting Vietnam. He met with Jokowi, as the president is popularly known, and will inaugurate its fourth developer academy on the island of Bali.

“We talked about the president’s desire to see manufacturing in the country, and it is something that we will look at,” Cook told reporters after the meeting.

Apple has no manufacturing facilities in Indonesia, but since 2018 it has been setting up app developer academies, which including the new academy have a total cost of 1.6 trillion rupiah ($99 million).Indonesia’s industry minister, Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita, who also attended the meeting, told reporters that if Apple decided to build manufacturing facility in Indonesia, it would have the capacity to produce for export.

“We will discuss how Apple’s facility in Indonesia could become a global supply chain,” he said, adding that the government said that even if Apple didn’t built a factory, it could partner with Indonesian companies to obtain components.

Apple has met Indonesia’s 35% local content requirement to sell its products by investing in developer academies, Agus said, but the government hoped that number could be pushed higher with a manufacturing facility.

Apple has based much of its key manufacturing of iPads, AirPods and Apple Watches in Vietnam; suppliers for MacBooks are also investing in the country.

Indonesia has a huge, tech-savvy population, making the Southeast Asian nation a key target market for tech-related investment.