Apple in China: The Capture of the World’s Greatest Company

 
　　蘋果曾在三大洲努力打造其產品，但最終被中國看似取之不盡的廉價勞動力所吸引。很快地，蘋果開始每年派遣數千名工程師橫越太平洋，前往中國訓練數百萬名工人，並投入數千億美元，建立起全球最先進的供應鏈。這些付出，使蘋果能夠以驚人的產量和龐大的利潤，打造出21世紀最具代表性的產品。
 
　　這一切讓蘋果在中國建立了先進的電子產業，卻也讓蘋果發現其在技術升級方面的鉅額投資，無意間為北京帶來了可被武器化的危險力量。
 
　　在本書，記者派翠克·麥基（Patrick McGee）透過與前蘋果高層與工程師超過兩百次的訪談，並輔以史蒂夫·賈伯斯參與過的未曾曝光　　的會議紀錄、蘋果高層之間的電子郵件，以及內部備忘錄中有關中國競業威脅的詳盡資料。本書揭示了那些在蘋果崛起過程中扮演關鍵角色，卻鮮為人知的人物，包括在中國建立蘋果直營店的摩門教傳教士、專責安撫北京的「八人幫」高階主管，以及希望能改善工廠工人生活的退伍軍人——他的理想最終卻在蘋果的營運壓力與習近平對社會的打壓下夢碎。
 
　　《蘋果在中國》（Apple in China）是一部令人不安、同時發人深省的作品。它講述了一家曾經直言不諱、讚揚「反叛者」與「麻煩製造者」、鼓勵人們「打破思考框架」的企業，如何逐步淪為一個消極配合強勢政權的角色──而這個政權如今愈發掌控著蘋果的命運。(文/博客來編譯)

＂Phenomenal...a jaw-dropping book.＂ --Jon Stewart, The Daily Show

Named by both the New York Times and theEconomist as one of the best books of the year so far, this ＂scrupulously reported＂ (The New Yorker) and ＂astonishing＂ (The Daily Telegraph, London) book rivets with its portrayal of how Apple allowed itself to become dependent on China for a huge percentage of its manufacturing, making it vulnerable and unwittingly laying the groundwork for the Asian superpower to rival the US in technological expertise.

After struggling to build products on three continents, Apple turned to China’s seemingly endless supply of cheap labor. It soon deployed thousands of engineers, trained millions of workers, and invested hundreds of billions of dollars to create the most advanced global supply chain. These efforts fueled the iPhone’s dominance--but also laid the foundation for a powerful, state-supported Chinese electronics industry. What began as a business decision evolved into a cautionary tale of global trade, tech rivalry, and national security.

Without intending to, Apple helped Beijing acquire technological influence that could now be weaponized--a central concern in the ongoing US-China tech war. Drawing on over two hundred interviews, Patrick McGee exposes never-before-reported details from Silicon Valley to Shenzhen: internal emails, secretive executive meetings, and overlooked voices inside the company’s China operations.

You’ll meet the ＂Gang of Eight＂ executives tasked with appeasing Beijing, a Mormon missionary who launched Apple retail in China, and a veteran whose dreams of improving factory conditions were crushed by both Apple’s demands and Xi Jinping’s authoritarian crackdown. From Foxconn and Tim Cook to the Chinese Communist Party and Taiwan Semiconductor, this is a revelatory look at how Apple, in seeking efficiency, became entangled in the very politics it once claimed to challenge.

For readers of Chip War, American Factory, and The Big Short, Apple in China is a searing examination of corporate power, Chinese nationalism, deglobalization, and the fragile relationship between Silicon Valley and the world’s rising superpower.

Patrick McGee has been a journalist with the Financial Times since 2013, reporting from Hong Kong, Germany, and California. He led the FT’s Apple coverage from 2019 to 2023 and won a San Francisco Press Club Award for his deep dive into Apple’s HR problems. Previously, he was a bond reporter at TheWall Street Journal in New York. He has a Master’s in global diplomacy from SOAS, University of London, and a degree in religious studies from the University of Toronto. He resides in the Bay Area with his wife and two daughters.