Tim Cook built Apple's China era

When Cook joined Apple in 1998, the company was clawing its way back from the brink. In 1997, cofounder Steve Jobs said Apple was about 90 days from bankruptcy.

Cook was brought in to fix operations, and he made a radical call: shifting production to China. A network of manufacturers in that country was not only cheaper, but faster and easier to scale.

A key moment of this shift came when Cook met Terry Gou around 2000. Gou's company, Foxconn, would go on to become Apple's key manufacturing partner — assembling early iPods after their 2001 debut and later playing a crucial role in producing the iPhone when it launched in 2007.

At that time, China was also pushing to move up the value chain, encouraging factories to produce more advanced electronics instead of low-cost goods like toys and garments.

The decision to manufacture in China proved to be a payoff. By the time the iPhone era took off, Apple could launch products globally at a scale and speed competitors struggled to match.

Cook has been credited with making China an important consumer market for Apple.

In 2001, Apple officially entered China with a Shanghai-based trading company. By the early 2010s, it was rapidly expanding its retail footprint, opening stores in major cities.

One of the biggest breakthroughs came in 2013, when Apple struck a deal with China Mobile, then the world's largest carrier by subscribers. The partnership gave the iPhone access to hundreds of millions of potential customers and marked a turning point for Apple's presence in the country.

"We see this as bringing the world's best smartphone to the very largest and now the fastest network in China," Cook said in an interview with CNBC in 2014.

Cook also broadened Apple's reach beyond major cities through carrier partnerships and reseller networks, helping it tap a wider customer base as local rivals gained ground.

The company's China business has also grown over the past decade, from about $59 billion, or about 25% of revenue in 2015, to about $64 billion in 2025, cementing it as one of the company's biggest markets.

Apple topped China's smartphone market last year, holding about 22% share.

For Apple to succeed in China, Cook had to walk a political tightrope between Washington and Beijing.

In the US, Cook lobbied officials to emphasize the potential harm tariffs would cause to American consumers and businesses, framing Apple's success as integral to US economic interests.

In 2019, he engaged President Donald Trump on the impact of tariffs on Chinese imports and competition from the South Korean company Samsung Electronics. Trump later said Cook had made a "good case" that tariffs would put Apple at a disadvantage against competitors.

US trade regulators then approved 10 out of 15 tariff exemption requests, easing pressure on Apple's China-based supply chain. In 2025, Apple's smartphones and other electronics were also spared from tariffs.

At the same time, Cook worked to maintain strong ties in China, even as US-China tensions escalated during the 2018 trade war.

He regularly met Chinese regulators and senior officials, and attended high-level forums such as the China Development Forum to reinforce Apple's position in the country.

Cook didn't just rely on China to build Apple's products — he invested in the ecosystem to make that possible.

In 2016, Apple invested $1 billion in Didi Chuxing, then the country's dominant ride-hailing platform.

Cook said the deal would help the company better understand China, its second-biggest market. The firm said Apple's investment was the largest ever investment in its history.

"We'll learn a lot about the business and the Chinese market beyond what we currently know," Cook said in 2016.

Over the years, Apple has poured significant resources into China. In 2021, Tim Cook signed an agreement with Chinese officials worth about $275 billion, aimed at easing regulatory pressure on the company's operations.

The deal included commitments to invest in retail expansion, research and development centers, and renewable energy projects, according to a report by The Information.

In 2025, Cook told China's industry minister that Apple would keep investing in the country. Cook also unveiled plans for a $101 million new energy fund during a visit to China in March 2025.