In comments made during a visit to China, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the country was ‘critical’ to the company.
Amid rising geopolitical tensions, Cook has become a frequent visitor to China, an important market for Apple products and a major manufacturing base, the Financial Times (FT) reports. His latest public relations offensive began with an interview with local media in Shanghai, in which he praised the country and pledged to invest more in it.
The Global Times, a Chinese newspaper known for its criticism of the US, quoted Cook as saying in its report on the pledge to increase investment: “There is no more important supply chain for us in the world than China.”
Shanghai state media reported that Cook praised “the high level of modernisation in Chinese factories, with their sophisticated production capabilities and well-trained workers”.
Cook also told Chinese media that Apple needed the country’s help to make all its products carbon neutral by 2030 and that the company was investing heavily in productive artificial intelligence.
Cook’s visit came as sales in China, which accounted for $21 billion or 17 per cent of Apple’s revenue in the fourth quarter, were in decline. The figure represents a 13 per cent year-on-year decline, while research group Counterpoint said iPhone sales in the first six weeks of this year were down 24 per cent year-on-year.
The US company has been hit by a campaign to reduce iPhone use among Chinese government employees and the comeback of Huawei, which last year launched a domestic smartphone capable of near 5G speeds, circumventing US sanctions.
This month, a group of delegates to China’s top political meeting told the Financial Times they were using domestic phones, and several claimed iPhones could spy on them.
But Cook and Apple are working hard to change that narrative. Last week, the company announced it was revamping its research centre in Shanghai and opening a lab in Shenzhen to conduct research and testing for its iPhone, iPad and Vision Pro product lines, as well as deepening collaboration with Chinese suppliers.
Apple said the projects would build on its investment of more than $140 million in applied research labs in China. Local president Isabel Ge Mahe said the company was ‘proud to deepen our roots in China and expand our world-class facilities here’.
Cook spent Wednesday meeting with Apple’s Chinese suppliers, including the chairman of electric car maker BYD and executives from Lens Technology and Changying Precision Technology.
He started the day with a stroll along Shanghai’s waterfront with Chinese actor Zheng Kai, eating soup dumplings. “I am always so happy to be back in this wonderful city,” he wrote in a post on Chinese social network Weibo.
Cook is expected to open Apple’s eighth retail store in Shanghai on Thursday and attend the China Development Forum, which begins at the weekend.
