20220921 Cover Vietnam's supply chain ambitions img

Inside a Manutronics Factory in Bac Ninh province, Vietnam. The country is trying to repeat the industrial success of Taiwan and South Korea but might be a few decades too late. © Reuters

Vietnam's battle to climb the global value chain

The country earns global factory status but fears it will remain an 'assembly platform'

HANOI -- Flip over an Apple Watch or MacBook box in the future, and it might say, "Assembled in Vietnam."

The imprimatur of Apple would be a win for Hanoi, which for more than a decade has made a priority of attracting top technology brands like Intel, Samsung and Xiaomi to set up supply chains in the country. Apple sources AirPods earphones from Vietnam and is testing watch and laptop production. Making those more complex devices would be a badge of success for the country’s manufacturing industry and its determination to join the global electronics supply chain.

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