Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit.
The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go.
Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported.
Photo: AFP
The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China.
Images on VnExpress showed Cook taking a walk by Hoan Kiem Lake in downtown Hanoi.
“Hello Vietnam. I am so excited to be here today. I can’t wait to see all the developers and creators in the community,” Cook said in a video on VnExpress.
Apple said that it has spent nearly 400 trillion dong (US$16 billion) since 2019 through its local supply chain, and has more than doubled its annual spending to Vietnam over the same period.
“From cooperating with local suppliers, to supporting clean water projects and educational opportunities, we are committed to continuing to strengthen connections in Vietnam,” Cook said in the statement.
Cook’s visit to Vietnam comes as Apple’s smartphone shipments dropped 9.6 percent year-on-year to 50.1 million units in the first quarter, hurt by intensifying competition from Android smartphone makers aiming for the top spot and the sluggish sales in China, data released on Sunday by research firm International Data Corp (IDC) showed.
The drop is the steepest for the US tech giant since COVID-19 lockdowns snarled supply chains in 2022, IDC said, adding that it is significant given that the overall mobile market registered its best growth in years.
Global smartphone makers shipped 289.4 million handsets in the January-to-March period, a 7.8 percent increase from the trough a year ago, when many manufacturers were grappling with a surfeit of unsold devices.
“While Apple has been super resilient and seen a lot of growth in shipments and share over the last few years, it will be a challenge for it to maintain the pace of growth and the peak share it saw in 2023. As the market recovers further in 2024, IDC expects Android to grow much faster than Apple,” IDC research director Nabila Popal said.
Samsung Electronics Co regained the top spot in the first quarter, while budget-focused Transsion Holdings Co (傳音控股) increased shipments by 85 percent and Xiaomi Corp (小米) bounced back to close the gap on second-placed Apple.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
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