Apple keen to invest in AI development in new capital: Minister

Pandjaitan, in his Instagram post at luhut.pandjaitan, posted on Thursday, stated that Apple is also interested in the AI Center development in Bali and Solo, Central Java. (File photo: Laurenz Heymann/Unsplash)

JAKARTA – Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Padjaitan revealed that Apple is interested in investing in the development of artificial intelligence (AI) in Indonesia’s new capital city Nusantara.

Pandjaitan, in his Instagram post at luhut.pandjaitan, posted on Thursday, stated that Apple is also interested in the AI Center development in Bali and Solo, Central Java.

In his Instagram post, he mentioned about the meeting between President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) and Apple CEO Tim Cook at the Presidential Palace, Jakarta, on Wednesday (April 17), in which he was also present to accompany the head of state.

The minister stated that Cook is interested in the application of future technology in Nusantara.

“Regarding this matter, President Jokowi has also given me the mandate to coordinate all the processes required for Apple’s investment in building a smart city ecosystem in the new capital,” he remarked.

He assessed that stable economic growth with macroeconomic conditions and a well-controlled inflation rate had drawn Apple to invest in Indonesia.

Moreover, he highlighted that Indonesia has a demographic dividend that will continue to grow until 2030.

“(They) also saw the downstreaming industry that we have now. With the downstreaming and raw materials that we have, they saw that Indonesia is a really good country,” he stated.

He noted that the government is ready to provide incentives, akin to those in India and Thailand, to attract investment from Apple.

He said one example of incentives that the government can give to Apple is the ease of import duties on Apple components.

He opined that Indonesia should follow what Thailand and India have done by making adjustments to domestic regulations.

“However, if the regulations hinder us, we have to change them,” he stressed.

So far, Apple has invested more than Rp1 trillion (around USD61.81 million) in the Apple Development Academy, which is a digital talent training program for developing Apple applications.

The program has already been implemented at four locations, namely BSD City, Surabaya, Batam, and most recently in Bali.