Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company will “look at” manufacturing in Indonesia, following a meeting with the country’s President Joko Widodo, at a time when the iPhone giant continues to diversify its supply chain away from China.

“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.

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

Over the past three years, Apple has been accelerating its push to diversify its manufacturing base beyond China after the Covid-19 pandemic exposed the Cupertino giant’s reliance on the world’s second-largest economy. CNBC

Indonesian Industry Minister Agus stated after the meeting with Cook that the Indonesian government hopes that Apple will use mobile phone parts made in Indonesia. Indonesian Minister of Communications and Information Budi Ali Setiadi said that he hopes Indonesia can become a global supply chain for Apple products. "Apple is part of Indonesia's ecosystem that attracts investment and focuses on future technological progress."

Reuters added that "Apple has met Indonesia’s 35 per cent local content requirement to sell its products by investing in developer academies, Agus said, but the government hoped that number could be pushed higher with a manufacturing facility.

Indonesia has a huge, tech-savvy population, making the Southeast Asian nation a key target market for tech-related investment.