Apple Inc. will boost its investment by building Asia-Pacific's first research and development centre in China, the toughest market for Apple says Chief executive Tim Cook on Tuesday.
According to Reuters, the announcement comes from Apple CEO Tim Cook, on a visit in China this week, who spoke with Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli on Tuesday and detailed the company's plans for the center. The location and number of employees or the size of research and development centre is unclear to public as it was not disclosed.
"Apple's new research and development center will be built by the end of the year, Cook told Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli, one of China's most senior officials, according to the official Chinese state broadcaster.
The pledge comes after the head of China's industry and technology regulator in May told Cook he hoped Apple could deepen its cooperation with the country in research and development and stressed information security"
The new R&D centre will be housed with both new and existing staff. Apple has a huge count of 9000 staff currently employed in China, around half of it are working in 42 retail stores there. In the last four years, Apple has doubled the number of corporate offices in China to 45
No matter with revenue slides, Apple has increased its investments in R&D sector for future reliable products and international expansion. According to Financial Times, last month, Apple revealed a 26% increase in its quarterly R&D spend to $2.6bn, a record 6 percent of revenues. Its annual R&D spending is now approaching $10bn.
This Research and development centre is aimed at strengthening the relationship with local partners and universities, Apple said.
Earlier this year, Apple Corporation lost a patent case in Beijing that threatened to block the sales of iPhone 6. Also, Apple iTunes movies and iBook stores were blocked in China as a part of a wide crackdown on foreign content. As a result of the above, Apple decided to boost up the relationship with the Chinese government by opening R&D centre and China being the biggest market for Apple products in the world.
Apple builds an R&D center in China to survive a tough market. Watch the video below.