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T Industri Telekomunikasi Indonesia (INTI) will begin talks with Taiwan-based Foxconn Technology Group to discuss a possible cooperation in the production of electronics and telecommunication equipment in Indonesia.

PT INTI’s president director Tikno Sutisna said in Jakarta on Friday that the state-telecommunication equipment production company was scheduled to meet representatives of Foxconn next week to
discuss the plan.

“We have been discussing a possibility to form a partnership with Foxconn both internally and with the Industry Ministry,” he said.

He added that the company was “very interested” to form a cooperation with Foxconn in the manufacturing of electronics and telecommunication and equipment in the country. The Taiwanese company recently announced its plan to build factories in Indonesia as part of the company’s regional expansion plan.

Tikno declined to elaborate further on what forms of cooperation that PT INTI would propose to Foxconn, whose major clients, including giant firms Apple Inc., Dell Inc. and Microsoft Corporation.

He acknowledged, however, that one of the possible plans was to jointly produce high-technology electronic hardware locally such as Apple’s iPad tablet computers.

PT INTI, whose clients including the country’s largest telecommunication operators, such as PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia and PT Indosat, had targeted to book Rp 1.2 trillion (US$127.2 million) in net sales this year, up by 71.36 percent from Rp 723.12 billion it booked in 2011.

Separately, Industry Minister MS Hidayat told reporters in Jakarta on Friday that he wished PT INTI would form a partnership with Foxconn in the hope that the cooperation could boost local brand’s name to international markets.

Foxconn, a subsidiary of Taiwan-based Hon Hai Precision Industry Ltd., is planning to spend between $8 billion to $10 billion over the next five years to set up manufacturing centers in Indonesia, as previously reported by The Jakarta Post.

The firm’s technical team will come to Indonesia next week to visit an area in Banten allocated for the firm’s production facilities, which are estimated to span over 500 hectares eventually.

Foxconn, according to Hidayat, might ground break in December as it aims to produce and sell its products during the middle of next year. (asa)