Apple chief Tim Cook and his trip to China

To discuss industrial and supply chain stabilization, Tim Cook, chief executive officer of Apple Inc., met with China’s minister of commerce, Wang Wentao on Monday. This is his first trip to China since 2019. Tim Cook has been ranked No. 4 in a list of the world’s best CEOs for 2023; meanwhile, Apple Inc ranked No. 3 in the CEOWORLD magazine’s ranking of the most influential companies in the world.

Despite rising trade and geopolitical tensions between Beijing and the US, Tim Cook has praised Apple’s symbiotic relationship with China:

Cook said during the visit, “Apple and China . . . grew together, and so this has been a symbiotic kind of relationship.” “We could not be more excited,” Cook said at the China Development Forum in Beijing. “We have a very large supply chain in China. We also have a thriving App Store,” the Apple chief said in the state-run China Daily.

“We have a very large supply chain operation in China, and then of course we also have our . . . Apple stores,” he said, adding that the company had millions of developers in the country for its iOS operating system.

“From the moment we hit the ground yesterday, we couldn’t wait to see some of our customers so we went to the Sanliutn store [in Beijing],” he said.

Participants at the forum, which was held from Saturday to Monday, included Samsung Chairman Lee Jae-yong, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, Bridgewater founder Ray Dalio, Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman, Alliance Group CEO Oliver Bäte, Rio Tinto CEO Jakob Stausholm and Hitachi CEO Toshiaki Higashihara.

Apple is now looking to diversify its manufacturing operations further:

The meeting comes as Apple (AAPL) has reportedly worked to move some production out of China. The company’s biggest supplier, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd. (Foxconn) is slated to open a massive factory presence in Bengaluru, India. Cook said in an earnings call last year that India was a “hugely exciting market” and “a major focus” for Apple that recorded “solid double digits year over year,” indicating its high interest in expanding production in the South Asian country.

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