Tim Cook, chief executive officer of Apple Inc, exchanges business cards with participants at the China Development Forum 2024 in Beijing, on March 24, 2024. About 400 people, including experts, entrepreneurs, government officials and representatives of international organizations, attended the opening ceremony of the forum. Photo: VCG

Apple announced on Thursday that it has opened a new research and development (R&D) center in Shenzhen city, South China's Guangdong Province, a new move underscoring the US tech giant's confidence in the China market amid the country's earnest and steadfast reform and opening-up.

"We are happy to announce the establishment of our advanced application R&D center in Shenzhen," Ge Yue, Apple's vice president and managing director of Greater China region, posted on Sina Weibo on Thursday.

Many of Apple's top suppliers have facilities in Guangdong. The lab features material analysis, reliability testing, and other scientific research capabilities. Its establishment will help us deepen our commitment to this important region and advance our collaboration with suppliers, Ge said.

"This is a reasonable decision made by Apple amid complex global political and economic environment," Li Yong, a senior research fellow at the China Association of International Trade, told the Global Times on Thursday.

China is one of Apple's major markets, while Shenzhen, known as the Silicon Valley of China, is a place where information technology supply chain firms are heavily concentrated. Setting up an R&D center in Shenzhen will give full play to Shenzhen's advantage and help Apple achieve commercialization of new products in a shorter period of time, Li said.

Just days after the third plenary session of the 20th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, a delegation of top US executives including Apple Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams visited China to promote commercial exchanges.

The US delegation said that the plenum is expected to bring forward a new round of economic reform, further opening-up in China, and attract more sustainable foreign investment, Xinhua News Agency reported.

This underscores that the economic "decoupling" pushed by the Biden administration is impossible, as US business community needs broad and deep cooperation with China, Ma Jihua, a veteran telecom industry observer, told the Global Times on Thursday.

"On the one hand, they seek opportunities brought about by the huge China market. On the other hand, they face challenges in other markets like India by shifting part of their assembly lines out of China," Ma said.

Bloomberg reported recently that Apple's iPhone shipments in China surged 40 percent in May, continuing a rebound fueled by discounting from major retailers during the country's mid-year shopping spree.

Ma said China's sustained economic recovery in the first half of the year also contributed to Apple's robust performance in China.

After the conclusion of the three-day trip to Beijing, Williams visited Shenzhen. During the meeting on Wednesday, Meng Fanli, Party secretary of Shenzhen, welcomed Apple to expand businesses and increase investment in the city and actively strengthen industrial cooperation to achieve more win-win results, according to a statement on local government website.

Williams said Shenzhen is an important region and market for the US company to deepen the China market, and Apple is willing to deepen pragmatic cooperation with Shenzhen for mutual development.

The US business community stands to gain significantly from China's commitment to reform and opening-up, analysts said. A new survey by American Chamber of Commerce in China has shown that around 50 percent of the surveyed companies have identified China as a top three investment target, signifying a strategic shift in their investment priorities.

"Thanks to its vast market scale, resilient economy and growth potential, China is a market that multinationals couldn't neglect to realize their globalization ambition," Li said, noting that US politicians' unilateralism and protectionism will only disrupt and constrain US companies' global operations.

This year, Apple has stepped up operations in China although the US government continues to seek "decoupling" with China with intensified sanctions, baseless accusations and repeated provocations against Chinese companies.

In March, Apple opened a new store in downtown Shanghai, which is reportedly the highest-standard Apple store in the Chinese mainland. And more recently, Apple's highly anticipated augmented reality (AR) device Vision Pro was launched in the mainland, receiving a warm welcome by Chinese consumers.

The South China Morning Post reported in April that Apple added eight Chinese suppliers and removed four contractors in mainland during its past financial year ended September, the first time since 2021 that the US tech giant introduced more suppliers from the country than it cut, citing Apple's supplier list.

"Apple will likely see higher growth in the China market if it expands R&D and assembly in China. However, if it attempts to diversify supply chains by putting assembly to other countries, it may have impact on both R&D and market," Li said.