Apple opens research center in Shenzhen, China, aiming to become the largest research facility outside the U.S. amid fierce local competition
Apple has opened its largest research and development lab outside the United States in Shenzhen, China’s technology capital, as it seeks to strengthen its position in the world’s largest smartphone market amid fierce domestic competition.
The facility began operating last Thursday at state-run Hetao’s Shenzhen Park. People’s Daily The newspaper reported.
Spanning approximately 3.89 square kilometers, the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science, Technology and Innovation Cooperation Zone is located at the intersection of the northern zones of Shenzhen and Hong Kong, and was developed by the central government to foster technological partnership between the two cities.
In March, Apple announced plans to build a new research lab in Shenzhen to strengthen its testing and research capabilities for flagship products such as the iPhone, iPad and Vision Pro headset, and strengthen collaboration with local suppliers. South China Morning Post Reported.
Regional base
Initially measuring 20,000 square meters, the new facility is intended to be Apple’s research hub in the Greater Bay Area, which includes nine major cities in Guangdong province, including Hong Kong, Macau and Shenzhen.
The lab will employ more than 1,000 people from home and abroad, making it Apple’s “largest” lab outside the United States, the report said.
Apple is diversifying its supply chain into regions such as India and Vietnam in response to the disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
However, the region remains the largest market after the Americas and Europe.
Apple announced in March that it had doubled its research and development staff in China over the past five years, opening research labs in Beijing, Shanghai, Suzhou and Shenzhen.
The investment comes as Apple faces increasing competition from domestic smartphone makers, including Huawei, which in 2019 began producing high-end smartphones with domestically produced 5G chips and processors in response to U.S. sanctions. It was done.
Research firm CINNO reported last week that Huawei sold more devices in mainland China in August for the first time in nearly four years, surpassing Apple.
competition
The China Academy of Information and Communication Technology, a government research organization, revealed that overseas smartphone shipments in the same month decreased by 12.7% compared to the previous year.
Canalys said in July that Apple dropped from the top five in mainland China’s smartphone market in the second quarter, behind only local smartphone brands, despite the market growing 10% year-on-year and shipments exceeding 70 million units. It was revealed that he had dropped out.
iPhone shipments fell 6.7% in the quarter, according to Canalys research.
According to Canalys data, the company shipped a total of 9.7 million units in China in the quarter ended June, down from 10.4 million units shipped in the same period last year.
Canalys said its market share was 14%, down from 16% a year ago to No. 6 in China.
Earlier this year, Counterpoint Research reported that Apple’s iPhone sales in China fell by 19% in the first quarter, while Huawei’s smartphone sales in the country increased by 69.7% during the same period.
