Indonesia said that Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) is considering investing in the country’s new capital city, a move that would bolster the US$34 billion construction project.
Hon Hai, which is known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), is looking at setting up an electric bus system and an Internet of Things network at Nusantara, as Indonesia’s new capital is to be called, Indonesian Minister of Investment Bahlil Lahadalia said in a statement yesterday.
Hon Hai chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) met with Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Saturday to discuss the company’s plan to invest US$8 billion to build a manufacturing plant with electric scooter start-up Gogoro Inc (睿能創意).
Photo: AFP via the Indonesian Presidential Palace
The factory, set to be built in Central Java province, would produce batteries and other products related to electric vehicles (EV).
Liu told Widodo that Hon Hai is happy to help Indonesia set up talent-training institutions, and it would provide EV technologies and products to local partners and work with them to build an EV ecosystem, the company said in a statement on Saturday.
Liu and Widodo also talked about batteries and renewable energy, and exchanged ideas about the electric mobility industry, it said.
Indonesia is seeking to capitalize on its large reserves of nickel, a key component in batteries, to develop an EV industry.
The Indonesian government is planning to relocate its capital from Jakarta on the island of Java Island to the island of Borneo, where it plans to build a “green” city that relies mostly on public transport and only uses renewable energy.
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