BLOOMBERG
20 March
"THERE'S NO SUPPLY CHAIN IN THE WORLD MORE CRITICAL TOTHE COMPANYTHAN CHINA'S"
TIM COOK, CEO, Apple
Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook arrived in China on Wednesday touting the country’s importance as a market and production base, reaching out to Chinese consumers who may be souring on the maker of iPhones.
There’s no supply chain in the world more critical to the company than China’s, Cook told the Global Times in an interview tweeted by the newspaper. Apple’s been expanding its base in the country and increasing investment over the past 30 years, he added. Cook’s comments, ahead of Thursday’s launch of Apple’s eighth store in Shanghai, come as the “symbiotic” relationship between the company and China as he once described is showing signs of fraying.
Anchored by Foxconn, or Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, Apple’s manufacturing presence in China has been broad and unshakable for over two decades. But the company has suffered snags in production in recent years due to a US and China trade war and Covid triggered factory closures, delaying launches of products. Apple is now diversifying its operations away from China by working with assembly and component manufacturing partners in India, Thailand, Malaysia and elsewhere.
Demand for its products in China is also cooling. Phone sales plunged 24 per cent over the first six weeks of this year, according to research firm Counterpoint. Apple has been losing market share to US-sanctioned Huawei Technologies Co., which has benefited from a wave of patriotic buying for its homegrown Mate 60 Pro devices.
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