Apple, the world’s second-most valuable company, is caught between the U.S., its home country, and China, its primary manufacturing base. Over the past few years, Apple has set up more production lines in Vietnam and India, and Chief Executive Tim Cook recently said most iPhones sold in the U.S. would be made in India. The company has also pledged to buy chips from TSMC’s Arizona plant and to make servers in Texas starting next year.
Yet McGee, who reported on Apple for the Financial Times, argues that the company is still far from withdrawing from China. The company has invested billions of dollars in talent and equipment in China, and the country’s authoritarian government now has more influence over Apple’s fate than any other country, he writes. As China and the U.S. held their closely watched trade talks, McGee spoke to Rest of World about where Apple stands.
