JAKARTA (Reuters) – Taiwan-based Foxconn will launch an $8 billion investment in Indonesia in the third quarter of this year to manufacture electric vehicles (EVs) and batteries, an Indonesian minister said on Wednesday.
The iPhone assembler will build a factory on 200 hectares (494.21 acres) of an industrial zone in Batang in Central Java to make battery cells, cathode precursor and telecommunication spare parts in addition to the vehicles, Investment Minister Bahlil Lahadalia told a forum.
Foxconn did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the investment.
The firm last month said it would partner with Indonesia’s investment ministry and other companies for a wide scope of investment on EVs https://reut.rs/3HDXVnb, including battery manufacturing.
That partnership included state-owned Indonesia Battery Corporation, energy firm PT Indika Energy and Taiwanese electric scooter vendor Gogoro.
Foxconn has expanded EV activities in recent years, announcing deals with U.S. startup Fisker Inc and Thai energy group PTT.
Indonesia has been trying to court Foxconn’s investment for years but a previous deal agreed in 2015 collapsed.
“Foxconn’s (investment) didn’t happen because it had asked for land and tax holiday incentive before. So I got orders from the president to find a way to get Foxconn,” Bahlil said.
“Now the government has provided cheap land in an industrial zone … close to a toll road and railway,” he added.
Top nickel producer Indonesia has ambitious plans to process its rich supplies of nickel laterite ore used in lithium batteries and eventually become a global EV production and export hub.
(Reporting by Stefanno Sulaiman; Editing by Gayatri Suroyo; Editing by Martin Petty)
