Apple CEO Tim Cook said that Apple wants to invest more in suppliers in Vietnam during a meeting with Vietnamese prime minister Pham Minh Chinh on Tuesday, Bloomberg reported, citing state-owned media.
“Today, Apple announced it will increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, along with new progress in an initiative to support clean water for local schools,” the company said in a statement seen by Reuters, which also reported on the news. Apple did not immediately respond to Quartz’s request for comment.
Apple has been on a steady campaign to diversify its supply chains outside of China for some time now — and it’s convinced allies to do so, too. Apple’s major iPhone supplier, Foxconn, began growing its investments in Vietnam last year with a $300 million to expand production there. Today, its Vietnam factory spans 111 acres. And in December, the company was reportedly working with its major iPad assembler, China’s BYD, to move its production resources to Vietnam, another nod to the country’s growing significance to the tech giant.
In a statement cited by Bloomberg, Apple said that it’s invested nearly $16 billion in Vietnam so far. The company is the third-largest supplier of smartphones in the country, and its supply chain partners operate over 70 factories employing more than 250,000 people. In addition to Foxconn, its other suppliers in Vietnam include GoerTek, Luxshare, Intel, Samsung Electronics and Compal. Meanwhile, Chinh is reportedly creating a Vietnameseworking group to aid Apple’s expansion.
Cook’s trip to Vietnam comes just a few weeks after a visit to China to meet with suppliers including BYD. According to the South China Morning Post, a Hong Kong-based English language newspaper owned by Alibaba, Chinese internet users are expressing uneasiness about Apple’s shifting focus on Vietnam and India.
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