While a rush on nickel to feed electric-vehicle companies has made Indonesia by far the world’s top supplier of the mineral, a long-anticipated Tesla factory hasn’t come. The stakes are high as the country of 280 million people heads to the polls Wednesday to elect a new president. But Indonesians haven’t experienced the export-led manufacturing boom that turned countries such as South Korea and Taiwan into Asian tiger economies. The number of companies supplying Apple from Indonesia halved from four in 2017 to two in 2022. Vietnam got its big break, too, with manufacturing companies as diverse as Denmark’s Lego and American semiconductor-packaging firm Amkor expanding their industrial base.

Source: Wall Street Journal February 14, 2024 12:26 UTC