Apple eyes manufacturing in Indonesia: CEO Cook

Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company will “look at” manufacturing in Indonesia following a meeting with the Southeast Asian country’s President Joko Widodo on Wednesday.

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

The statement came at a time when the iPhone giant accelerates the diversification of its supply chain away from China.

“I think the investment ability in Indonesia is endless. I think that there are a lot of great places to invest. And we’re investing. We believe in the country.”

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), according to Reuters.

Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita, Indonesia's industry minister who attended the meeting, was quoted by Reuters as saying that if Apple decided to build a manufacturing facility in Indonesia, it would have the capacity to produce for export.

"We will discuss how Apple's facility in Indonesia could become part of the global supply chain," he said, adding that the government noted 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, but the government hoped that number could be pushed higher with a manufacturing facility, Agus said.

Cook arrived in Jakarta on Tuesday after visiting Vietnam.

Apple has been diversifying its manufacturing base beyond China in the past few years, and Vietnam has become one of the tech giant’s biggest manufacturing hubs, with suppliers like Luxshare, Foxconn, Compal, and GoerTek operating factories in the country.

Apple on Monday announced plans to increase investments in Vietnam as CEO Cook began a two-day visit to Hanoi. The iPhone maker will expand spending on suppliers in Vietnam, according to a Monday statement, but did not detail the amount it would spend or priorities for the new investment.

The tech heavyweight noted that it has spent nearly VND400 trillion ($15.88 billion) since 2019 via supply chains in Vietnam, and more than doubled annual spending in the country during the same period. Since it entered Vietnam a decade ago, Apple has helped generate more than 200,000 jobs.

In a meeting with Cook on Tuesday, Vietnam's Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh urged Apple to continue helping Vietnam in updating legal frameworks, achieving green growth, deploying renewable energy (solar, wind, biomass power), and developing a high-quality workforce.