HCMC – Many local media outlets and news sites recently reported that Apple had decided to suspend its iPhone production plan in Vietnam over the living conditions of workers, without citing any official source of information.
The news immediately caught the attention of many individuals interested in foreign investment activities, as they have not heard any official information from the American multinational tech firm and its manufacturing and assembly partners regarding a plan to develop an iPhone manufacturing or assembly plant in Vietnam.
Further, some newspapers published articles from experts and investment consultants who expressed regret over Vietnam missing its chance to join the Apple supply chain, given the fierce competition among countries to attract investments from global tech giants.
However, observers on foreign capital investment doubted the authenticity of the news.
According to findings from The Saigon Times, most local media agencies reported the news from Apple Insiders. Meanwhile, Apple Insiders said they cited the news based on a story by a local news site, which was translated into English, saying, “The Apple side continually surveyed the workshop of Luxshare in Bac Giang on the iPhone production conditions.”
However, the original article of the local news site in Vietnamese only said that a workshop of Luxshare-ICT Vietnam Company in Van Trung Industrial Park in the northern province of Bac Giang produces wireless headphones and is set to make smart watches for Apple. It did not mention any plan over the Luxshare facility in Bac Giang manufacturing the iPhone.
A representative from the northern province’s Management Board of Industrial Parks, which granted a business certificate to Luxshare to set up the manufacturing facility, told The Saigon Times that the firm only produces phone and electronic parts at present.
By Hung Le
