Apple (AAPL, Financials) is proposing a $10 million investment to meet Indonesia’s local manufacturing requirements, aiming to lift a recent ban on the sale of its new iPhone 16 models, Bloomberg News reported, citing sources.
Working with a range of vendors to produce accessories and parts for Apple devices, the American technological firm intends to invest in a manufacturing plant in Bandung, southeast of Jakarta. This project aims to solve Indonesia’s legislation requiring minimum of 40% locally produced components for sold cellphones within the nation.
Citing non-compliance with local investment criteria, Indonesia banned the sales of Apple’s iPhone 16 series last week. Under the same guidelines, Alphabet (GOOGL, Financials) too suffered a restriction for its Pixel cellphones.
Apple formally sent a proposal to the Ministry of Industry of Indonesia; this application is now under evaluation.
In past initiatives, Apple spent 1.5 trillion rupiah (about $95 million) in Indonesia mostly for the creation of four development academies. This sum, meanwhile, is less than Apple’s previous promise of 1.7 trillion rupiah. Though Apple does not have stand-alone factories in Indonesia, instead working with local suppliers, the new investment proposal might enable the corporation to increase its presence in a market with 278 million people.
The investment request is supposed to be decided upon by the Ministry of Industry soon.
This article first appeared on GuruFocus.