Tim Cook's visit brings many positive points to Vietnam

(Dan Tri) - After a 2-day visit to Vietnam, CEO Tim Cook shared that he wants to boost investment activities in Vietnam, especially in developing high-tech products.

On April 15, Apple CEO Tim Cook arrived in Hanoi to begin a two-day visit to Vietnam. This is the billionaire's first visit to Vietnam since meeting with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh in the US in September 2022. On the same day, Apple also issued a statement on strengthening its commitment to Vietnam. Specifically, Apple said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, along with new progress in its initiative to support clean water for local schools. “There is no place like Vietnam, a vibrant and beautiful country. I am so excited to be here connecting with students, innovators and customers, and learning more about the diversity of how they use our products to do extraordinary things. At Apple, we work hard to build deeper connections and bring more benefits to the people where we operate. From partnering with local suppliers, to supporting clean water projects and educational opportunities, we are committed to continuing to strengthen connections in Vietnam,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO.

Vietnam is increasingly important to Apple

At the meeting between Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Apple CEO Tim Cook in May 2022, the Prime Minister affirmed that Vietnam is committed to creating an equal and transparent business environment based on market principles, creating maximum conditions for US businesses and investors to increase their operations in Vietnam, especially in areas of both economic and strategic significance.

Since 2022, Apple has expressed its desire to expand its supply chain in the Vietnamese market (Photo: Manh Quan).

At that time, the CEO also made it clear that Apple was committed to and wanted to expand its supply chain in the Vietnamese market, cooperating with Vietnamese businesses that met the conditions and standards to participate in Apple's value chain. Talking to Dan Tri reporter, Mr. Vu The Binh, Vice President and General Secretary of the Vietnam Internet Association, commented that this visit by CEO Tim Cook once again affirmed Apple's interest in Vietnam and their commitments to expanding the supply chain in Vietnam. "We believe that this visit brings many positive points to Vietnam, both in terms of opportunities for businesses participating in the supply chain, as well as increasing the confidence of foreign investors in the business environment in Vietnam. We also believe that the Vietnamese Government will continue to implement its commitments and policies to attract foreign investment in Vietnam, in order to promote economic development as well as contribute to increasing the technological value of Vietnamese businesses," Mr. The Binh shared. In recent years, Apple has been steadily increasing its production in Vietnam. Apple began assembling AirPods in Vietnam in March 2020. Since then, a series of other products such as AirPods Pro, iPad, MacBook and Apple Watch have been produced in Vietnam. "Vietnam has always played an important and strategic role, with the potential to become one of the next global manufacturing hubs. Apple's recent supply chain map demonstrates the ability of its manufacturing facilities in Vietnam to assemble iPads and scale up production," said Ivan Lam, an analyst at Counterpoint Research .

Apple continuously expands many activities in the Vietnamese market (Photo: Manh Quan).

Not stopping there, Apple is also actively promoting its activities in the Vietnamese market. In mid-May 2023, the company opened an online store for the Vietnamese market. The online Apple Store has a team of experts to share professional knowledge in Vietnamese and support customers when needed. Mr. Nguyen Lac Huy, communications representative of the CellphoneS system, said that Vietnam is one of the emerging markets but owns a large number of people using Apple devices. Currently, there are nearly 20 million iPhones in use in the Vietnamese market. "For many years, the genuine iPhone market has continuously grown by double digits and is among the top emerging markets with the best growth rate. From a business perspective, the appearance of important figures recently is the result of a long investment process and upgrading the market over many years," Mr. Huy shared.

Apple wants to increase investment in Vietnam

On April 16, Apple CEO met with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and visited the Government Headquarters. The Prime Minister highly appreciated the important contributions of Apple and its partners to the development of Vietnam, including bringing Vietnam deeper into Apple's global supply chain, with an increasingly important position in developing the market for Apple products.

Apple CEO met with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on April 16 (Photo: Doan Bac).

According to the Prime Minister, the Vietnam-US relationship is developing well, the two countries have just upgraded to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. This is the foundation for promoting increasingly effective cooperation in all fields, focusing on science and technology, innovation, training of high-quality human resources, semiconductors, and digital transformation. The head of the Government suggested that Apple, in its role, have a voice in support of the US Government and Congress to soon recognize Vietnam's market economy status, and soon remove Vietnam from the US list of countries with restrictions on high-tech exports. Regarding the priority orientation for attracting foreign investment, the Prime Minister emphasized that Vietnam creates all conditions, accompanies and supports foreign enterprises to invest effectively and develop long-term and sustainably in Vietnam. He hopes that Apple will expand investment cooperation with Vietnam, helping Vietnam participate more deeply in the production chain, supply chain, and value chain of Apple, the US and the world, in the spirit of "harmonious benefits, shared risks". According to Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, the Vietnamese Government is ready to coordinate with Apple to establish a Working Group to support Apple in investing and expanding its operations in Vietnam. He asked Apple to increase support and advice for Vietnam in developing science, technology and innovation; promote cooperation and association with Innovation Centers and software parks in Vietnam; and in the immediate future, research and establish a research and development (R&D) center at the National Innovation Center. In addition, the Prime Minister expects the Group to study the possibility of providing scholarships for Vietnamese students in the fields of information technology, programming, electronics, semiconductors, and artificial intelligence (AI); support Vietnam in the program of training high-quality engineers, including 50,000 high-quality engineers in the semiconductor industry. At the meeting, Apple CEO also shared his impressions when witnessing the development process of Vietnam, especially the remarkable development, full of vitality of the science and technology community, innovation in Vietnam.

CEO Tim Cook visits primary school students in Hanoi (Photo: Hanoi Star).

The billionaire said that with 2 legal entities in Vietnam, more than 70 factories as original equipment manufacturing partners, 40 distribution partners and over 5,000 authorized stores, Apple has created jobs for about 200,000 workers in Vietnam. However, the CEO affirmed that Apple's cooperation in Vietnam is still very large and can achieve better results in the future. Therefore, Apple is ready to join the Working Group to promote investment and expand operations in Vietnam as requested by the Prime Minister. Mr. Tim Cook wishes to promote investment activities in Vietnam, especially developing high-tech products, developing applications to participate in Apple's App Store, bringing Vietnamese products not only to meet domestic needs but also to spread globally. The CEO of Apple also affirmed that the Group is ready to cooperate with Vietnam in energy transition, reducing net emissions to zero by 2050; Participate in exporting cultural values, promoting Vietnamese culture to the world, through Apple products and applications on Apple's App Store.

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