[BEIJING] Apple chief executive officer Tim Cook pledged to boost investment in China during a visit to the world’s second largest economy, despite threats from US President Donald Trump to slap tariffs on its foreign-made products.
Cook met Chinese Minister of Industry and Information Technology Li Lecheng on Wednesday (Oct 15), the agency said in a post on its official WeChat account. Li urged Apple to work closely with local suppliers, while Cook said Apple will boost cooperation with China. The country is Apple’s biggest market outside the US and remains a key manufacturing hub for the Cupertino, California-based company.
During his trip, Cook posted about meeting Labubu-creator Kasing Lung and visited an Apple store in Shanghai. He also outlined a donation to Tsinghua University, the country’s most prestigious college.
While Apple has been diversifying its supply chain away from China over the past few years, including increasing handset operations in India, it still makes the bulk of iPhones in the country with help from Foxconn Technology Group and Luxshare Precision Industry.
It is committed to expanding its manufacturing presence in the US, while also adding production capacity elsewhere. The company is preparing to make new smart home devices in Vietnam to lessen its dependence on China.
But Apple has run into challenges with its diversification efforts. Earlier this year, Foxconn sent hundreds of Chinese engineers at its iPhone plants in India back home, dealing a blow to Apple’s manufacturing push in the South Asian country.
That came after officials in Beijing verbally encouraged regulatory agencies and local governments to curb technology transfers and equipment exports to India and South-east Asia in what is a potential attempt to prevent companies from shifting manufacturing elsewhere, Bloomberg News has reported. BLOOMBERG
