- The Apple CEO arrived in Hanoi, Vietnam to meet with Apple suppliers and content creators.
- The company also announced plans to increase spending with suppliers nationwide.
- Vietnamese manufacturing has been important to Apple as it moves away from its reliance on China.
Tim Cook has arrived in Hanoi, Vietnam, to begin a two-day trip to one of Apple’s main manufacturing hubs.
During his visit, he will meet with content creators, app developers and students to learn how they use Apple products, according to local media.
Apple also plans to strengthen ties with local suppliers during the trip and help fund clean water projects and education opportunities, local newspaper VietnamNet wrote.
In an article on X, the Apple CEO shared a photo of himself drinking egg coffee with two Vietnamese musicians. In another message, he shared his visit to a workshop where creators used Apple products to create and share their works.
Apple also announced plans to increase spending with its suppliers in Vietnam.
Since 2019, the company has spent nearly 400 trillion Vietnamese dong ($16 billion) through its supply chains in Vietnam and more than doubled its annual spending in the country over the same period, it said. the company in a statement published on its Vietnamese website.
The statement added that Apple supports the employment of 200,000 people in Vietnam through direct employment, through suppliers and as application developers.
In 2020, major Apple supplier Foxconn moved its iPad and MacBook assembly to Vietnam from China at the request of Apple as he attempted to downplay the impacts of trade tensions between the United States and China.
A few years later, Foxconn faced problems with Chinese smartphone makers trying to poach their talent from Vietnam, luring them with higher salaries.
Apple recently suffered a major blow as iPhone shipments fell nearly 10% in the first quarter of 2024, while global smartphone shipments increased.
