Apple CEO Tim Cook visits Vietnam as US tech giant’s supply chain shift stirs unease in China

Apple chief executive Tim Cook has kicked off his two-day visit to Vietnam, as the US tech giant’s efforts to diversify its supply chain comes into focus again, just weeks after the CEO concluded a tour in the company’s key market of China.

On Monday, Apple announced on its Vietnam website that it would “increase spending on suppliers” in the country, adding that such expenditure has reached nearly 400 trillion Vietnamese dong (US$16 billion) since 2019.

The pledge comes three weeks after Cook wrapped up his visit to China, which remains Apple’s largest production base. During his time there, Cook praised the country’s supply chain as being the most “critical” in the world and promised that the firm would keep investing in research and development, as well as the supply chain in China.

He also attended the high-level China Development Forum, the nation’s answer to the World Economic Forum’s summit in Davos, Switzerland, where he lauded the “huge contribution” that Chinese suppliers have made to the iPhone maker’s carbon-neutral goals.

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Despite Cook’s reassurance, some Chinese internet users expressed their uneasiness about Apple shifting some of its manufacturing to countries such as Vietnam and India.

One Weibo user called “eddzccy” commented on a post about Cook’s Vietnam visit with a three-lemon emoji, which symbolises jealousy. Another user named “Renkongzhineng” sarcastically referred to Cook as a “master of marketing”.

Vietnam has emerged in recent years as one of the most important manufacturing hubs of Apple, with suppliers including Luxshare Precision Industry, Goertek and Foxconn Technology Group, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry, all having operations there.

The US has strengthened its relationship with Vietnam amid growing tensions between Washington and Beijing. In a visit to the Southeast Asian country last September, US President Joe Biden announced an elevated “comprehensive strategic partnership” with Vietnam.

Still, Apple has doubled down on a variety of initiatives in mainland China, the world’s largest smartphone market, where iPhone sales fell 24 per cent year on year in the first six weeks of the year, according to market consultancy Counterpoint.

The company faces “stiff competition at the high end [of the market] from a resurgent Huawei [Technologies], while getting squeezed in the middle on aggressive pricing by the likes of Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi”, said Counterpoint.

Apple said in March that it planned to expand its research centre in Shanghai and open a new laboratory in Shenzhen later this year.

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Apple CEO Tim Cook visits Vietnam as US tech giant’s supply chain shift stirs unease in China

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