Indonesia’s investment coordinating minister said Elon Musk will consider a proposal to build Tesla electric vehicle battery factory in the country. This has been said after the Tesla CEO met with President Joko Widodo over the weekend. Musk and Widodo met in Bali, Indonesia. Both joined the World Water Forum on Monday.
“We made an offer, is it possible to build an EV battery plant here, precursor cathode. And he will consider it,” Luhut Pandjaitan told reporters, according to Reuters.
The minister said Widodo also asked Musk to consider investing in an artificial intelligence center in Indonesia. The President also again proposed that SpaceX build a launch pad on Biak Island in Papua province. This proposal has already been made by the government several times before.
The Indonesian government has been courting Musk’s companies for several years. In the last few, it has been trying to attract Tesla to build an electric vehicle factory. Indonesia is looking to develop its electric vehicle sector by leveraging the country’s rich nickel resources. As previously reported, the Tesla delegation was visiting Indonesia in search of a suitable location to build a factory at the end of 2023.
In addition to attending the World Water Forum, Musk visited Indonesia to launch SpaceX’s satellite internet service, Starlink, with Indonesian Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin for the country’s healthcare sector. He arrived in Bali to attend the launch ceremony at a community health center in the provincial capital Denpasar.
Starlink is now commercially available in Indonesia. However, the government will focus its services primarily on remote and underdeveloped regions.
