Jan 12 (Reuters) – Tesla Inc is nearing a preliminary agreement to build production facilities in Indonesia with a capacity of one million units, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter.
CEO Elon Musk tweeted on Wednesday, “Please be cautious when writing articles that cite ‘unnamed sources’, as they are often fake,” in a comment on a tweet referencing the report.
Indonesia’s senior cabinet minister, Luhut Pandjaitan, who has been leading talks with Tesla, said negotiations were ongoing, but declined to say more, citing a non-disclosure agreement.
The electric vehicle maker did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
Musk said last month that Tesla was close to choosing the location of its new “Gigafactory” following media reports that the automaker could announce a new factory in the northern state of Nuevo Leon Mexico as of December.
In November, Musk said South Korea was among his top candidate locations for a factory he plans to build in Asia to make EVs, according to South Korea’s presidential office.
Tesla makes its electric cars in Shanghai of China, Berlin of Germany, and Austin and Fremont in the United States.
The latest report said the Indonesia talks include plans for production facilities and to facilitate the company’s supply chain.
Tesla has signed contracts worth about $5 billion to buy materials for batteries from nickel processing companies in Indonesia, Luhut told CNBC Indonesia last year.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo urged the electric vehicle maker to manufacture its cars, as well as batteries, in the country, in comments made to Bloomberg News in August. (Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru, Hyunjoo Jin in Seoul, and Bernadette Christina Munthe in Jakarta; Editing by Shailesh Kuber, Ed Davies)
