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Apple’s Tim Cook meets with China’s commerce minister, the second regulator he’s met this week

Umito October 25, 2024

Apple CEO Tim Cook met with China’s commerce minister on Friday in his second visit to mainland China this year, as the US tech giant pledged to increase investment in the country.

Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao said during his meeting with Cook that the country “welcomes Apple to seize the opportunity and engage more deeply in the Chinese market,” according to a ministry statement Friday. “Mutually beneficial” economic cooperation between China and the United States is good for both countries, he added, and exaggerating the issue of national security will not “conduce normal economic and trade exchanges.”

Cook called China “an important market and key supply chain partner for Apple” during the meeting, according to the statement, adding that the iPhone maker will continue to invest in Chinese supply chains. Apple will also continue to be “a bridge” between China and the United States in areas related to economics and trade, Cook said.

People queue outside an Apple Store on a rainy day in Beijing as the new iPhone 16 series smartphones go on sale on September 20. Photo: Reuters

The executive reiterates Apple’s commitment to China at a time when that country faces growing competition from local smartphone makers such as Huawei Technologies in one of its most important markets. The local deployment of its highly anticipated artificial intelligence (AI) the service faces uncertainty as it requires regulatory approval.

His meeting with the Minister of Commerce took place two days after his conversation with the head of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technologieswhen that regulator made similar comments about opportunities for foreign companies in China. The ministry’s announcement of the meeting did not provide any information on the availability of Apple Intelligence in the country.

Apple Intelligence, a set of generative AI (GenAI) services, is expected to launch soon in some countries, but not in China, where authorization from Beijing is required for any public release of such software. As of August, China had approved a total of 188 GenAI services for Chinese users, all developed by local companies.

The company has marketed its Apple Intelligence feature as one of the key selling points of the latest iPhones. The launch of the iPhone 16 in September brought Apple back to Number 2 in the Chinese smartphone market in the third trimester, after fell out of the top five over the previous three months, according to the latest data released Friday by research firm IDC.