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Apple CEO Tim Cook visits Vietnam as US tech giant’s supply chain shift stirs unease in China
- During Tim Cook’s visit to Vietnam, Apple says it will raise investments on suppliers in the Southeast Asian country
- The CEO, who visited China just three weeks ago, has become a subject of satirical comments from Chinese internet users
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Coco Fengin Beijing
Apple chief executive Tim Cook has kicked off his two-day visit to Vietnam, as the US tech giant’s efforts to diversify its supply chain comes into focus again, just weeks after the CEO concluded a tour in the company’s key market of China.
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On Monday, Apple announced on its Vietnam website that it would “increase spending on suppliers” in the country, adding that such expenditure has reached nearly 400 trillion Vietnamese dong (US$16 billion) since 2019.
The pledge comes three weeks after Cook wrapped up his visit to China, which remains Apple’s largest production base. During his time there, Cook praised the country’s supply chain as being the most “critical” in the world and promised that the firm would keep investing in research and development, as well as the supply chain in China.
He also attended the high-level China Development Forum, the nation’s answer to the World Economic Forum’s summit in Davos, Switzerland, where he lauded the “huge contribution” that Chinese suppliers have made to the iPhone maker’s carbon-neutral goals.
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Despite Cook’s reassurance, some Chinese internet users expressed their uneasiness about Apple shifting some of its manufacturing to countries such as Vietnam and India.
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