Skip to main content

Apple planning a second research and development center in China

apple shenzhen china store pudong head
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Apple is investing heavily in the Middle Kingdom. Hot on the heels of a $45 million research and development facility in Beijing, the company has announced plans for a second facility in the city of Shenzhen in southern China. Apple chief Tim Cook made the announcement during a meeting with the city’s senior officials and Terry Gou, founder and chief executive of Apple hardware supplier Foxconn, at the city’s Four Seasons Hotel on Tuesday.

“We are excited to be opening a new research and development center here next year so our engineering team can work even more closely and collaboratively with our manufacturing partners,” Apple spokesman Josh Rosenstock told Quartz. “The Shenzhen center, along with the Beijing center, is also aimed at strengthening relationships with local partners and universities as we work to support talent development across the country.”

Recommended Videos

The company was mum on designs for the new facility, but its location is strategic. “The establishment of a new R&D center in Shenzhen allows Apple to facilitate better communication with iOS developers,” Dr. Neil Want, greater China president for Frost & Sullivan, told Shenzhen Economic Daily. “[It’ll also help the firm] come up with better products that cater to local customers.”

Please enable Javascript to view this content

Managing director for IDC China Kitty Fok, who also spoke to the publication, said that the new facility “[made] sense” given the area’s technological resources. The burgeoning hub is home to installations by some of China’s largest electronics manufacturers, including phone maker Huawei and social network Tencent.  “[The investment] shows commitment to the … market,” she said.

The new installation is part of Apple’s broader infrastructural push into mainland China. In September, the company announced its intention to employ more than 500 people at its Beijing facility in Zhongguancun Science Park. The R&D center, which neighbors offices for search giant Baidu and Lenovo, will reportedly develop hardware.

And this is also an attempt to allay concerns among Communist Party officials that Apple’s growth in the region will come at the expense of homegrown competition. Earlier this year, Chinese regulators blocked local access to Apple’s iBooks and iMovies services, and in June, the country’s Intellectual Property Office found that Apple’s iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus infringed on patents by Chinese company Shenzhen Baili.

The relationship has improved somewhat in the intervening months, spurred in large part by Apple’s $1 billion stock buy in ridesharing app Didi Chuxing, a Beijing, China-based ridesharing service. Reuters sources described a series of meetings in May between Cook and senior government and Communist party leaders as “productive.”

Economics are driving the discussion. China is experiencing what Cook referred to in Apple’s recent quarterly earnings call as “economic softness,” as Apple revenue for Hong Kong, Taiwan, and mainland China, overall, fell 33 percent year on year. The smartphone market suffered the most, experiencing the slowest growth in a quarter century.

Kyle Wiggers
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Kyle Wiggers is a writer, Web designer, and podcaster with an acute interest in all things tech. When not reviewing gadgets…
Apple boss Tim Cook launches charm offensive in vital market
Tim Cook inside an Apple Store in Shanghai.

Apple chief Tim Cook is spending a few days in China, one of the tech company’s most important markets and a major product manufacturing hub.

His visit comes as iPhone sales in the country dropped 24% year-on-year in the first six weeks of 2024, according to data from Counterpoint Research. The slump was attributed to strong competition from local tech firms such as Huawei, although "abnormally high" sales in January 2023 were also a factor.

Read more
Here are Apple’s secret plans for adding AI to your iPhone
A person holding the Apple iPhone 15 Plus and Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max.

Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max (left) and Apple iPhone 15 Plus Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

After the AI gala that was Samsung’s Galaxy S24 series phones, Apple could be the next to tap into the magic of deep learning and Large Language Models (LLM) that power tools such as ChatGPT and Google Bard. According to an industry analysis report by Financial Times, Apple has been on a hot acquisition streak, team reorganizations, and fresh hiring to develop AI capabilities for iPhones.

Read more
Apple’s 2024 iPad plans leaked — and they sound bad
A person's arm holding an Apple iPad Air 2020.

As 2023 is about to wrap up, we can definitely say it's been a peculiar one for Apple’s iPad lineup. Why? Because there were zero new iPad releases this year, which is a bit … odd. This is the first time that Apple has not released a new product in the iPad lineup since it was introduced.

But a new report from Mark Gurman’s Power On newsletter over the weekend seems to give us a look at what Apple’s iPad plans are for 2024. A few weeks ago, I talked about how the iPad lineup as a whole has gotten messy and convoluted. This new report takes both a step forward toward simplifying things while also featuring an interesting addition that I’m not sure who asked for.
Much-needed simplification

Read more