Apple COO meets Shenzhen official to discuss supply chain ahead of iPhone 16 launch
A top Apple executive has paid a visit to China's southern tech hub Shenzhen to speak with the city's party secretary about supply chains, underscoring China's importance for the US consumer giant as other tech firms seek to "de-risk" from the country.
According to official statements from Shenzhen, Apple chief operating officer Jeff Williams met on Wednesday with Meng Fanli, the city's Communist Party secretary. Williams reportedly told Meng that Shenzhen is an important market for Apple, which intends to deepen its cooperation with the city.
Meng welcomed Apple to increase its local business and investment, adding that Shenzhen would strengthen its supply chain for the company to produce more mutually beneficial results, according to the Chinese readouts.
Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.
Apple chief operating officer Jeff Williams in Shenzhen. Photo: Sina alt=Apple chief operating officer Jeff Williams in Shenzhen. Photo: Sina>
Apple is currently ramping up production for its iPhone 16 series devices, which are expected to launch in the fall, as its contractors in China, including Foxconn Technology Group's plant in Shenzhen, are recruiting workers. While Apple has joined rival firms like Samsung Electronics in building up production capacity in countries such as Vietnam and India, China has remained a key assembly location for the iPhone maker, as no other country yet has the same level of manufacturing sophistication and scale.
Williams was among the US executives who met with Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing on Monday as part of the first US business delegation to visit China after a key Communist Party meeting this month. The official statement on the visit did not mention Williams, but a photo published by China's foreign ministry showed him in the group.
The meeting between Meng and Williams came four months after the Cupertino, California-based company unveiled a plan to open a new applied research lab in Shenzhen this year. The Shenzhen lab is expected to boost Apple's testing and research capabilities in developing important products such as the iPhone, iPad and Apple Vision Pro, with deeper collaboration with local suppliers, according to the company.
Apple has also invested in other research and development facilities in the country. It has established R&D centres in Shanghai, Suzhou, Beijing and Shenzhen. Apple said in March that it has so far invested 1 billion yuan (US$137.5 million) in its Shanghai applied research lab, which it is expanding.
While in Beijing, Williams visited an Apple Store in the Wangfujing shopping district to greet staff and customers, Isabel Ge Mahe, Apple's vice-president and managing director of Greater China, said in a Weibo post.
He also met with team members of Migu, China's digital entertainment service provider, who were at the store to showcase their app developed for the Apple Vision Pro, which just hit the shelves in China last month.
This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2024 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
Copyright (c) 2024. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.