Indonesia increases pressure on Apple

In this photo taken and released by the Indonesian Presidential Palace, Indonesian President Joko Widodo (right) speaks with Apple CEO Tim Cook at Merdeka Palace in Jakarta, April 17, 2024. PRESIDENTIAL PALACE / AFP Investira , will not invest? Indonesia is awaiting confirmation from Apple of a new investment of 1 billion dollars (960 million euros), the result of a clash that began in October with the ban on the sale of the iPhone 16, its latest smartphone, in this country of 277 million inhabitants. Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers With its iPhone 16, Apple is entering the race for smartphones powered by artificial intelligence Read later Apple is ordered by Jakarta to increase, for its smartphones sold in Indonesia, the “proportion of components manufactured domestically ”, a policy known by the acronym TKDN (“national content level certificate”) which governs access to the Indonesian market for many product categories, from medical equipment to solar panels to electric vehicles. For 4G and 5G smartphones, the TKDN stands at 35%. A manufacturer can, however, defer this if it is credited with a sufficiently high rating thanks to alternative investments in training, research and development, and software. This is what Apple chose: the Cupertino (California) company created three Apple Developer Academy to train coders and designers, but did not reach the promised threshold in 2023 of 1,600 billion rupees (95 million euros) of investments. The Indonesian government therefore threatened to suspend the license for its 2024 model, the iPhone 16. Apple proposed an extension of 10 million dollars then, faced with a new refusal, of 100 million dollars, in the form of a fourth academy, in Bali, and a factory of earphone cushions. New end of inadmissibility: Apple’s proposal, protested Jakarta, deviates from the “principles of equity” in terms of job creation and local content in comparison with its competitors. You have 67.05% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.



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