Research has been one of the driving forces behind all that Apple is and all that it has managed to achieve. Which is why the company is not shy of spending huge sums into driving innovation. Continuing the tradition, Apple has announced a couple of new research centers in China.
There haven’t been any formal announcements accompanied by fanfare as such, however, the company took note of its plans two build two new R&D centers in Shanghai and Suzhou through its Chinese website. Apparently, the company plans to spend as much as 3.5 billion yuan ($500 million) into setting up the centers.
Apple has already announced a couple of research facilities in Beijing and Shenzhen. Along with those, these newly announced facilities will take the total number of research centers up to 4. The company already has centers in France, Israel, the U.K., Japan and Sweden. However, the Chinese centers are likely to prove even more important because of a couple of reasons.
First of all, so of the engineers deployed in its Chinese R&d centers will be working upon supply chain improvements. Which is real important considering that a large part of Apple’s supply chain exists in China. Also, considering how close mouthed the Chinese are about everything and the size of the Chinese market, Apple will find it easier to wirk with proprietary protocols while ensuring that its devices work across all networks.
Plus, all these investments in China also serve to show the government your friendly intentions and are the right way to proceed forward if you are seeking to wheedle out some favors from it. The company has also announced a brand new retail store in China a few days ago, clearly implying that the country will continue to remain an important market for the Cupertino based electronic giant.
