Tim Cook leaves Vietnam

Apple CEO Tim Cook completed his first trip to Vietnam with six sessions with developers and content creators, ending with a meeting with the Government.

At nearly 2:00 p.m. on April 16, the plane carrying Tim Cook and Apple's delegation took off from Noi Bai airport.

Tim Cook boarded the plane and left Hanoi on the afternoon of April 16. Photo: Giang Huy

Three hours earlier, he had a working session with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, mentioning his desire to further promote high-quality cooperation and investment activities in Vietnam.

Here, the Prime Minister highly appreciated Apple for expanding production and business in Vietnam, creating more than 200,000 jobs for workers. The Prime Minister hoped that Apple would support training high-quality human resources and consider Vietnam as a "stronghold" to participate in the global supply and production chain and diversify the market.

Meanwhile, the Apple CEO pledged to buy more components made by partners in Vietnam, contribute to the field of innovation, increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, expand vocational training programs for people with disabilities. He also wants to further promote Vietnamese culture, including music and cinema, to the world.

The Prime Minister received Apple CEO Tim Cook on the morning of April 16 in Hanoi. Photo: Doan Bac

Tim Cook arrived in Vietnam early on April 15. In an interview with VnExpress , he said the purpose of his first trip to Vietnam was to meet with programmers, content creators and the community. "I was very surprised because young Vietnamese people are full of energy," said the Apple CEO.

During his nearly 36 hours in Vietnam, Cook had seven main activities and posted six articles on social network X. This level of updates is considered quite frequent compared to the more than 30 posts since the beginning of the year on this CEO's personal page.

First, he met singer My Linh for coffee and chatted for about 30 minutes in the Old Quarter. He discussed a number of topics including art, creative fields, technology, as well as learning about Hanoi's culture and history.

The 63-year-old CEO then moved to Hoan Kiem Lake, met with technology KOL Ngo Duc Duy, and discussed the application of iPhone features in content creation. "Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi is as beautiful as a symbol," he said. "It was great to spend time with Duy and watch his creative process using Cinematic mode on iPhone 15 Pro."

Tim Cook chats with technology KOL Ngo Duc Duy. Photo: Tuan Hung

After about 15 minutes, he and his group moved to the studio and met with young director Phuong Vu (Antiantiart). In the afternoon, the Apple CEO also met with Vietnamese rappers Max and Suboi. He was impressed when listening to Vietnamese creators describe how they apply technology in their work.

"Thanks to VietMax for showing me how the iPhone and iPad fit into his street art, as well as rapper Suboi for sharing her latest song in Spatial Audio," he wrote on X.

One of the highlights of the visit was meeting with two application developers CollaNote and Elsa Speak, and discussing the Vision Pro support project with Mr. Bryan Pelz, CEO of Bootloader Studio.

"I think Vietnam has a very young population and you can see that in the developers, very vibrant and very energetic. You can feel the excitement in me," Tim Cook told VnExpress later.

From left to right: Nguyen Quoc Huy - CollaNote representative, Van Dinh Hong Vu - Elsa Speak representative, Bryan Pelz - CEO Bootloader Studio and Tim Cook - Apple CEO. Photo: Apple

On his second morning in Vietnam, the Apple CEO visited Hanoi Star School, attended a class using iPads and did homework with students. He was described as "friendly, attentive, and interested in education."

Tim Cook said he had a wonderful visit and work in Vietnam, received a warm welcome from leaders and people, and witnessed the strong and vibrant innovation community, and believes this will be the "source of development" of Vietnam.

Apple previously said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, in parallel with developing community projects. The company said it has spent nearly VND400 trillion since 2019 through its local supply chain and has more than doubled its annual spending in Vietnam during the same period.

Luu Quy - Vnexpress.net