Commentary
The history of Apple’s success is so inextricably linked to China that we should start thinking of it as a Chinese rather than an American company.
Apple’s leading design engineers, marketing gurus, and what could be called addiction specialists (who impede Apple users from using other brands through hardware and software incompatibilities) rule from Cupertino, California.
But Apple’s most important physical assets, worth billions of dollars, are its factories, machinery, specialist employees, and supply chain ecosystem. They are almost entirely in one totalitarian country: China.
That physical plant doesn’t come cheaply. In 2016, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook reportedly made a secret agreement to invest $275 billion over five years to advance China’s workforce and economy….