Just days into his presidency, Indonesia’s new leader has sent a strong message to foreign tech companies looking to sell in the world’s fourth-most populous country: invest locally or lose access to the market.
But analysts warned that strategy, which remade Indonesia’s economy as a commodities powerhouse, could backfire against the likes of Apple and Google as competition in the region for foreign direct investment heats up.
Over the past week, Prabowo Subianto’s government has banned sales of Apple’s iPhone 16 and Google’s Pixel phones, citing the companies’ failure to meet requirements for 40 per cent of products to be made with locally sourced raw materials.