Interview: Apple’s India move is about perception, Chinese dependency is reality

Apple’s India move only in perception, Chinese dependency is reality

This article was originally published in Rest of World, which covers technology’s impact outside the West.

Apple, the world’s second-most valuable company, is caught between the US, 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 US 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 US held their closely watched trade talks, McGee spoke to Rest of World about where Apple stands.

The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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My argument is essentially that Apple is playing the role of Prometheus handing the Chinese the gift of fire. Apple’s influence on China exceeds that of the Marshall Plan’s impact...

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