Apple and Indonesia: An Investment Offer in Motion

Indonesia is currently considering an investment offer of $100 million from Apple with interest. The aim of the American technology giant is to lift the sales ban on its latest model, the iPhone 16, in the country. The largest country in Southeast Asia, Indonesia, confirmed the receipt of Apple's latest investment proposal. The plan is to build a production facility to manufacture accessories and components, as reported by the Ministry of Industry on Wednesday evening. Minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita, who imposed the sales ban on the iPhone 16 in October, will convene for a discussion on the offer on Thursday. A spokesperson for the ministry commented that the meeting shows the industry minister's openness to Apple's investment intentions. According to an earlier report from Bloomberg News, Apple has almost tenfold increased its investment offer after initially proposing nearly $10 million to reverse the ban. The Indonesian government had halted the sale of the iPhone 16 because the local unit of the US company did not meet the requirement of a 40-percent domestic content share for smartphones and tablets. According to authorities, Apple has so far invested 1.5 trillion Rupiah (approximately $95 million) through developer academies, falling short of the targeted 1.7 trillion Rupiah. The sale of Alphabet's Google Pixel phones was also stopped in Indonesia due to similar investment gaps. These sales bans are another example of how Indonesia, under President Prabowo Subianto, is pushing international companies to strengthen local production. In the previous year, Indonesia had introduced regulations forcing ByteDance to separate the shopping function of TikTok from the popular video platform to protect the domestic retail market from cheap Chinese products.