By Wu Siya

 

BEIJING, Nov. 29 (China Economic Net) – "I'm thrilled to be here. I'm so proud that Apple has an exhibit here with our partners," Apple CEO Tim Cook said, as he was accompanied by Ren Hongbin, Chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), on an advance tour of the exhibition booths at the 2nd China International Supply Chain Expo (CISCE).

 

 

The CEO continued: “I value them very highly. We could not do what we do without them. We are very committed to China-that’s the reason I’ve been here three times.”

 

At the expo’s main venue, Cook visited Apple’s booth, marking the global giant’s second participation in CISCE. Apple showed breakthroughs in AI and green transition through a joint booth with four Chinese suppliers. By now, China remains crucial to Apple’s global supply chain, with over 80% of its 200 major suppliers operating factories in China, where working diligently to produce cutting-edge products.

 

In the exhibition booth, the robotic arms of Lingyi iTECH are swinging flexibly, attracting many visitors to stop. The 6-axis robotic arms are mounted on the automatic guided vehicle independently developed by Lingyi, automatically performing material exchange and high-precision assembly. “Our cooperation with Apple began 15 years ago, and now covers thousands of modules and components.” a Lingyi staff introduced to CEN reporter.

 

Goertek, an acoustic component manufacturer that has been cooperating with Apple since 2010, is collaborating in areas including micro microphones, sensors, speakers and other components. AI and flexible manufacturing technologies are making the production line more intelligent.

 

Crystal Optoelectronics has integrated optical technologies such as photolithography, coating, and silk-screen printing to bond three prisms into a quadruple reflection prism, which is used in the rear camera of Apple mobile phones to achieve optical zoom without increasing the physical size of the lens.

 

“Our fully automatic packaging production line can fold an Apple box in 1.9 seconds, with the hot-melt adhesive we independently developed is applied to the outermost layer, replacing traditional glue and being more low-carbon and environmentally friendly. Today, Apple boxes have completely removed plastic components and are 100% made of environmentally friendly materials made from plant fibers such as sugarcane and bamboo pulp,” a staff member of YUTO told.

 

 

Apart from tangible products and accessories, intangible but crucial data also reflects the close link between Apple and Chinese partners. “Guizhou Province has become a big data center in China, which has unique policy support and a cool and pleasant climate that is particularly friendly to big data servers running at full capacity. Therefore, our cooperation with iCloud is a natural outcome,” said a staff of Guizhou Cloud Big Data, the Chinese iCloud cloud service provider.

 

Sean Stein, incoming president of the US-China Business Council, said that over the past few decades, global supply chains have not only been the cornerstone of economic development, but also a key stabilizer for world peace and international cooperation.

 

Such interconnectedness has enabled the creation of resilient economies, supported innovation and generated employment opportunities. “Collaboration and development have benefited both China and the United States, as well as the whole world,” Stein added.

 

“For U. S. companies, China remains an indispensable part of their overall supply chain, and it’s hard to see any market that can replace China,” Michael Hart, President of the American Chamber of Commerce in China (AmCham China), said in an interview. “I firmly believe there are many areas for continued cooperation between our two countries, most notably between businesses and consumers. There is no doubt that China, a huge market, also attracts many U.S. companies to continue to invest here. Both our countries benefit from growing trade with each other.”

 

CISCE, the world’s first national-level exhibition focused on supply chains, hosts over 600 companies from around the globe this year, including a significant number from the United States.