Apple supplier Foxconn has signed a $300 million memorandum of understanding with Vietnamese developer Kinh Bac City to invest and expand in the north of the country to diversify production.
According to the newspaper Tuoi Tre, the Taiwanese company’s factory is located on 50.5 hectares of land in Bac Glang province and is expected to create 30,000 local jobs.
The company is already facing a battle for talent in Vietnam as key Apple suppliers continue to move capacity from China to the Southeast Asia country due to ongoing tensions between Beijing and Washington.
Foxconn’s chairman, Young Tai, says Chinese rivals in Vietnam have set up offices near their campus sites to attract the company’s employees.
Three of Foxconn’s Chinese competitors are already in Vietnam: Luxshare Precision Industry and GoerTek produce AirPods there, while BYD is preparing to produce iPads.
Today, Foxconn employs about 60,000 people in Vietnam. Vietnam is Foxconn’s largest manufacturing site outside China.