Apple said to offer $100M investment in Indonesia to reverse iPhone 16 ban

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has offered to invest about $100M in Indonesia over two years to reverse the ban on iPhone 16 sales in the country, a nearly tenfold increase from its prior proposal, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The tech giant previously proposed to invest around $10M in Indonesia, which included investment in a factory in Bandung that makes accessories and components.

But Indonesia’s Ministry of Industry has demanded that Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) investment plan should focus more on local research and development for its smartphones. It is yet to make a final decision on the iPhone maker’s latest offer.

The ministry last month blocked iPhone 16 sales in Indonesia, saying Apple’s (AAPL) local unit didn’t meet a 40% domestic content requirement for its devices. Alphabet’s (GOOG) (GOOGL) Google Pixel phone sales have also been banned in Indonesia over the same issue.

Indonesia’s assertive efforts to boost domestic manufacturing has worked in the past. ByteDance’s (BDNCE) TikTok invested $1.5B in a joint venture with local marketplace Tokopedia, a move that helped it resume services after a ban on social media e-commerce.