Apple Sets up A New Company in Shanghai to Promote the Landing of AI Smartphones in China

Apple established a new company in China on January 10th called Apple Technology Development (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., with a registered capital of 35 million US dollars. According to public information, the business scope of this company includes software development, big data services, data processing services, and storage support services.

As early as September 2017, Apple had established Apple Technology Service (Guizhou) Co., Ltd. in Guizhou, China and invested $1 billion to build a main data center. It is worth mentioning that Tejas Kirit Gala, the legal representative of the newly established Apple Shanghai company, had just resigned from Apple’s Guizhou company in December 2024.

The establishment of Apple’s new company coincides with Apple actively introducing artificial intelligence (AI) services into the Chinese market for iPhone sales. However, this plan is still awaiting regulatory approval, and it is uncertain whether Apple Intelligence can be implemented in China. It is reported that Apple is negotiating with Chinese tech companies such as Tencent and ByteDance to explore how to integrate the models of these two major companies into the iPhone system to meet the needs of Chinese users.

For Apple, a prerequisite for launching the Apple Intelligence suite in China is that data must remain local. Therefore, the newly established company in Shanghai has also clearly stated requirements for local data processing. However, the delayed release of Apple Intelligence in China may put Apple at a disadvantageous competitive position as other Chinese smartphone manufacturers are actively integrating AI functions.

According to analysts from Barclays investment bank, it is estimated that the Chinese version of an AI-powered iPhone from Apple will be launched by 2025. The institution also mentioned that Apple may have to lower prices to gain more market share in China. Additionally, Apple’s performance in the Chinese market has been affected by some domestic high-end phone brands returning and significant advancements made by Chinese manufacturers in hardware specifications and software features on their new models.

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