Apple CEO Tim Cook has made his third visit to China this year, attending a suppliers’ conference on the same day a senior Beijing official hosted a key meeting with foreign CEOs. In a video shared on his Chinese social media account, Cook was seen meeting Wang Chuanfu, the founder and chairman of BYD, the world’s largest electric vehicle maker. He also visited Lens Technology, a Chinese optics company that produces lenses for some iPhone models. As reported by the state-run China Daily, Cook commended the company’s partners for contributing to the world’s most advanced manufacturing. During his trip, Cook also stopped by a film production studio, interacted with mobile game developers, and posed for photos with shoppers and store staff.
The visit underscores the importance of the Chinese market for Apple, which accounts for 19% of its worldwide revenue. It comes amid rising competition in the country’s booming smartphone market from domestic rivals and regulatory challenges that have delayed the rollout of the company’s new on-device AI system, Apple Intelligence, for local users.
The trip will also come the week after Apple opened a vast new store in Shanghai, its second-biggest worldwide, as part of a push to reverse declining sales in the country’s most important international market. Cook is expected to give a speech on Monday in which he will highlight the company’s commitment to privacy, security, and artificial intelligence and offer an update on its vision for future products.
He will also likely discuss the growing consensus in business and academia that AI poses risks to the public, from the spread of misinformation to the potential for human extinction. The chief executive will likely say that the company is developing new hardware and software to mitigate those dangers.
During his last visit to China in March, Cook reiterated that “there’s no supply chain more critical to us than the one in China.” In meetings with Chinese Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao and other officials, he pledged to boost investment in the country and work closely with local companies on green and intelligent manufacturing.
The visit comes as China prepares for a meeting of the Group of 20 industrial and economic leaders in Hangzhou, starting Saturday. It is the first time leaders of the major economies are to gather since a trade war flared up in late 2017. The meeting included Samsung Electronics Co., Pfizer Inc., Rio Tinto Corp. CEOs, Blackstone Group LP Chairman Stephen Schwarzman, and Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio. The meeting is intended to help calm tensions, and the participants have urged companies to take measures to mitigate the impact of possible trade barriers between the US and China. The talks are being held as companies worldwide are bracing for President-elect Donald Trump’s threat to hike tariffs on Chinese goods, which could hurt their global profits.
