"In order to create a market based on industry scale, we need to initiate a laptop designed to cater to the government's needs, through establishing an engineering center," Industry Minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita said at an online press conference originating from Jakarta on Thursday.
Establishing an Engineering Center to protect Intellectual Property (IP) and support the main components of laptops, among other things, could bring great opportunities for the development of domestic industries, not only large industries, but also small industries, the minister added.
Based on the ministry's calculations, the assembly of 1-2 million laptops in Indonesia could encourage original design manufacturers (ODM) to become interested in strengthening the laptop ecosystem in Indonesia, he said.
"With support from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology (Kemendikbudristek), we can domestically assemble 300-400 thousand units. We need support from related stakeholders to expand our domestic laptop market share," he informed.
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The Engineering Center can also aid the development of the domestic semiconductor industry, Kartasasmita pointed out.
The semiconductor industry will produce strategic products in the future, especially in the Industrial Era 4.0, which will include chipsets for all industrial activities and daily needs, he elaborated.
"Thus, we must have independence in design and semiconductors production," he said.
He also said he is currently finalizing a regulation on the procedure for the calculation of local content requirement (TKDN) for laptop production to support the development of the domestic industry.
The goal of the regulation is to increase investment and human resources to support the Bangga Buatan Indonesia (Proud of Made-in-Indonesia) program, Kartasasmita said.
"We hope our program will boost confidence in our people to have a domestic product in order to obtain national branding on the global (stage)," he added.
In order to encourage investment and produce more electronic components domestically, Kartasasmita said a production line is required as part of the TKDN assessment.
"In addition, we are encouraging software development to fulfill needs in education, offices, and design for domestic manufactures," the minister added.
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Translator: Sella Gareta, Resinta Sulistiy
Editor: Suharto
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