Prime Minister of Vietnam meets with Tim Cook in bid to lure manufacturing business

Viet · May 19, 2022

Allison McDaniel - May. 18th 2022 1:59 pm @aamcdani

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The Prime Minister of Vietnam, Pham Minh Chinh, has met with Tim Cook at Apple Park. During his visit to the United States, Chinh stopped at other Silicon Valley tech giants like Intel and Google. The purpose of this visit was to reach out to US tech companies with the hope they’ll bring business to Vietnam.

During the meeting, the Prime Minister underlined cooperation in trade, investment, and finance as the driving force for a successful US-Vietnam partnership. Chinh mentioned to Cook that his government is working to create a market-based environment to help US firms progress in Vietnam.

Vietnam’s interest in Apple and its products continues to increase alongside the growth of the digital economy. Chinh also expressed that Vietnamese residents of all ages use and enjoy Apple devices and that this appreciation would only grow more with Apple’s business.

Apple doesn’t have a plant in Vietnam. The country does, however, have 31 companies with 160,000 workers producing and assembling parts for Apple products. As Vietnam becomes more active in the global supply chain, Chinh expressed interest in Apple doing more business there. He explained to Tim Cook how Vietnam could become Apple’s model market within Asia. The tech giant could also expose its products to a wider audience within the country.

Cook added that Apple is looking to extend its supply chains to Vietnam and involve more of the country’s firms. Additionally, the CEO is considering increasing domestic suppliers and raising the rate of domestic products used in production lines.

The hope is the Vietnamese Government will introduce more favorable policies to encourage investments from US tech firms like Apple.