It appears that Indonesia has every intention to get investments from Elon Musk’s biggest companies. On the heels of the CEO’s visit to Indonesia for Starlink’s official launch, coordinating minister of investment Luhut Pandjaitan stated that Musk is also considering a potential electric vehicle plant in the country.
As noted in a Reuters report, Musk and Indonesia President Joko Widodo, who is also known as Jokowi, met in Bali after they attended the World Water Forum on Monday. As per Pandjaitan, Indonesian officials pitched the idea of a Tesla facility in the country, and Musk seemed to respond to the idea pretty well.
“We made an offer. Is it possible to build an EV battery plant here, precursor cathode. And he will consider it,” Pandjaitan noted.
The minister noted that Jokowi also asked Musk if he would consider investing in an AI center in Indonesia. The Indonesian President also reportedly pitched the idea of a SpaceX launchpad Biak island, which is located in Papua province.
Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet service was officially launched in Indonesia during a ceremony on Sunday. While the government has noted that Starlink is available commercially, efforts would be rolled out to focus the satellite internet system’s services on outer and underdeveloped regions.
Indonesian officials have been looking to secure an investment from Musk’s companies for years. In 2022, a delegation of officials from the country visited Tesla’s Gigafactory Texas to meet with Musk. During the meeting, Musk and the officials reportedly discussed Indonesia’s rich nickel deposits, which are quite valuable in the production of batteries for electric vehicles.
Elon Musk himself also hosted Jokowi in Starbase, Texas, where they discussed a variety of topics such as Tesla’s potential nickel investments in the country. Reports at the time also suggested that Tesla representatives had visited Indonesia to discuss a potential battery-related investment. Musk seemed quite optimistic about Indonesia then, stating that there was room for “partnerships in many things because Indonesia has a lot of potential.”
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