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Apple goes online, Foxconn expands in Vietnam
Nation to make 20% of iPads, Apple Watches, 5% of MacBooks, 65% of AirPods by 2025
Sao Da Jr 18 May 2023

Tech giant Apple, the world’s biggest company by market valuation, opened on May 18 its first online store in Vietnam while its supplier Foxconn is expanding production in the country with fresh investments.

Vietnam is home to a population of 100 million people, and now customers in the country can shop online directly with Apple to buy products like iPhones, MacBooks, AirPods Pro and more. They can now also use the company’s cloud services to get everything up and running.

As well, on the same day as the store’s launch, MoMo, Vietnam’s leading fintech company, started to provide flexible payment plans for shopping on the platform. Alongside a one-time payment option, those who choose to use MoMo Instalments for the Apple Store online can also split their purchase into six to 24 monthly instalments. In 2019, MoMo was the first e-wallet in Vietnam to become a payment method for the App Store.

Electronics contract manufacturers already produce some Apple products in Vietnam, including AirPods, Apple Watches and some iPad elements. JPMorgan Chase expects that by 2025 Vietnam will make 20% of all iPads and Apple Watches, 5% of MacBooks and 65% of AirPods.

Taiwanese contract manufacturer Foxconn plans to make MacBooks in Vietnam for the first time this May and is expanding production in the country as part of its supply-chain diversification process.

On May 11, Vietnamese officials in the central province of Nghe An completed procedures for Foxconn to lease a 48-hectare site in the province’s WHA Industrial Zone 1 to build a new manufacturing facility with a US$100 million investment. The cost to lease is more than 509.5 billion dong (US$21.7 million), according to a Foxconn filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSE), where the company is listed.

Foxconn, according to the Vietnamese certificate for the new investment, is set to commence construction of the facility this June and complete it by next June. Between July and October 2024, the Taiwan-based supplier will conduct trial runs, then enter official operation the next month.

In February, Foxconn signed a lease for a 50-hectare plot in Quang Chau Industrial Park in Bac Giang province near Hanoi for around US$62.5 million to meet “operational needs and expand production capacity”, according to another TSE filing. The land leasing deal will run until February 2057, and the production project is expected to create more than 30,000 local jobs, according to data from the park.

As well, Foxconn earlier leased 70 hectares in the park for its facilities and spent a total of US$773 million on them, not including the investment for the February leasing deal, which the producer has not unveiled.