Vietnam is increasingly playing an important role in Apple’s supply and manufacturing chain, with its key suppliers ramping up operations in the country.

On September 21 in New York, the US, Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh met with top executives from global giants, including Apple.

At the meeting, Nick Ammann, Apple vice president of global policy, said, “Vietnam is a very important market and production area for Apple. There is a lot of potential for cooperation given the outstanding growth in production scale and export value of Apple products in Vietnam during this challenging period. This affirms the group’s trust in the Vietnamese market.”

“Apple is very interested in Vietnam’s clean energy strategy and wants its suppliers in Vietnam to gain access to clean energy. At the same time, Apple wants to engage in HR development and training, especially for hardware engineering,” he said.

Apple’s suppliers, such as Lux Share, Foxconn, Compal, and GoerTek, operate 32 factories in Vietnam. These factories create jobs for 160,000 workers producing and assembling components for Apple products.

PM Chinh congratulated the company on the successes of Apple globally as well as in Vietnam. He also acknowledged the group’s proposals.

“We welcome Apple to increase the use of clean energy and train human resources for Vietnam in high technology. We also hope that Apple will make Vietnam an increasingly important base in Apple’s supply and production chain,” the PM noted.

The PM suggested that Apple continue to research, expand investment cooperation, and enhance localisation rates. At the same time, Apple will act as a bridge for US businesses and Apple’s suppliers to increase investment in Vietnam, which will support Vietnamese businesses to improve production capacity and competitiveness and participate in the global supply chain.

PM Chinh also wants Apple to offer consulting for the National Innovation Centre on building a research and development centre with a focus on innovation and digital transformation.

In a recent webinar, Nguyen Thang Vuong from the Europe-America Market Department of the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that Apple has finalised the relocation of 11 of its audio device production facilities to Vietnam, marking a significant shift in the company’s global supply chain strategy.

In 2022, Apple’s suppliers recorded an export value of $30 billion for Apple products.

JPMorgan’s analysis estimates that Apple will relocate 20 per cent of iPads, 5 per cent of MacBooks, 20 per cent of Apple Watches, and 65 per cent of AirPods to be manufactured in Vietnam by 2025.

Vietnam Investment Review