Will manufacturers make phones in Indonesia next year?

Concerns surrounding the future of tech in Indonesia have been on the rise as we approach 2017. The Asian country holds plans to launch a new legislation starting January 1st, which would enforce a “Made in Indonesia” certification on high-end, 4G smartphones.

The government wants tech companies to bring their tech to the emerging smartphone market, but not without some conditions. They plan to increase the country’s production power by forcing phone makers to build at least 30% of these smartphones within Indonesia. This could include the hardware, software or a mixture of both.

Other governments and tech entities are worrying about the new standard and claim this will harm the country more than it could help, as many manufacturers would probably decide not to do business in said market.

“We fear that the approach taken in this draft regulation could inadvertently restrict access to new technologies, raise the cost of ICT for Indonesian companies, stimulate grey and black markets for mobile phones, and carry other unintended consequences.” -American Chamber of Commerce

But why not go to Indonesia to build these phones? There must be a lot of factors coming into play, but they are not only about money, really. Some companies worry that Indonesia may lack the supply chain to produce these high-quality mobile devices.

Needless to say not all companies are making a huge deal out of this. We know at least Lenovo/Motorola has found a way to accommodate to Indonesia’s requests. And that is kind of a big deal. Will other manufacturers follow suit? If there is money to be made, they probably will. What do you think?