Exec: Apple Inc to expand R&D presence

Apple Inc is expanding in China with new applied research labs, in a fresh move to tap into the country's manufacturing and research and development prowess to make the best products, a senior executive of the company said on Tuesday.

The move means that Apple is the latest multinational company to seek growth opportunities in China amid its innovation boom, as the nation sharpens its focus on nurturing new quality productive forces.

Experts said China remains a magnet for foreign high-tech investment, and multinational companies' enthusiasm to expand their local R&D presence reflects the appeal and vitality of the world's second-largest economy amid external uncertainties and challenges.

Isabel Ge Mahe, vice-president and managing director of Apple Greater China, told China Daily: "We have already invested 1 billion yuan ($139.4 million) into an applied research lab in China. And with the new expansion plan, our investment will continue growing."

She said that Apple will establish a new applied research lab in Shen-zhen, Guangdong province, later this year, deepening cooperation and strengthening testing and research capabilities for its products.

Meanwhile, the US tech company is enhancing the capabilities of its Shanghai applied research lab to support the reliability, quality and material analysis of all of its product lines.

"We choose to have the two labs in China, because of the country's manufacturing prowess and local suppliers' strong presence," she said.

Apple has R&D centers in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Su-zhou, Jiangsu province, and its R&D workforce in China has doubled over the past five years.

"They play a crucial role in Apple's product innovation," she added. "The investment shows our long-term commitment to the Chinese market, and will inject new vitality into local innovation and supply chain development."

Apple, which has been in China for over three decades, is scheduled to open its eighth store in Shanghai next week. As a result, it will have 47 stores on the Chinese mainland, second only to the US, and this comes amid intensified competition with Chinese smartphone makers such as Huawei Technologies Co.

Bai Ming, a researcher at the Beijing-based Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, said Apple's latest investment "speaks volumes about China's appeal to foreign companies despite geopolitical uncertainties and global subdued investment sentiment".

Apple is not alone in expressing its strong confidence in China as an innovation hub. French industrial and tech company Schneider Electric SE established a string of research institutes in China in 2023, including a digital power distribution R&D center, an automation R&D center and an AI innovation lab.

Pan Helin, co-director of the Digital Economy and Financial Innovation Research Center at Zhejiang University's International Business School, said, "As China beefs up its tech clout, more foreign companies will build R&D centers in the country, showing that China is not just a market, but also an important source of innovation."

In 2023, China's R&D investment exceeded 3.3 trillion yuan, up 8.1 percent year-on-year, and funding for fundamental research reached 221.2 billion yuan, an annual rise of 9.3 percent, according to the Ministry of Science and Technology.