HANGZHOU, March 26 (Xinhua) -- U.S. tech giant Apple on Wednesday announced it is accelerating its support for the next generation of developers in China with a new 30 million yuan (about 4.18 million U.S. dollars) donation to Zhejiang University.
"We believe coding is a powerful tool that empowers people to create, communicate, and solve problems in entirely new ways," said Apple CEO Tim Cook while visiting the university in east China on the same day.
"We are proud to expand our decade-long partnership with Zhejiang University to support the next generation of coders with the skills to create innovative apps and build dynamic businesses," he said.
The fund will connect students with industry leaders and investors through workshops, internships, and mentorships, providing more business-related training for students to succeed in the growing iOS app economy and beyond, the company said in a statement.
In collaboration with Apple, Zhejiang University will establish the Apple App Incubation Fund to offer training in the latest technologies, with specialized curricula in app development, product design, marketing, and business operations.
The new donation follows Apple's decade of support for the Mobile Application Innovation Contest organized by Zhejiang University, which has benefited some 30,000 participants from nearly 1,000 universities across the country.
The donation followed a new clean energy fund worth 720 million yuan set up in China by Apple on Monday, amid Cook's latest visit to China, during which he attended the opening ceremony of the China Development Forum in Beijing.
The investment fund seeks to create an additional annual wind and solar energy generation capacity of approximately 550,000 megawatt-hours for China's power grid, with the figure expected to increase as more investors join, the tech firm said in a statement.
Apple's Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams visited the company's suppliers in east China's Jiangsu and Shandong provinces on Monday and Tuesday.
"China is a central part of our critical supply chain and we've been investing here for 30 years," said Williams. "We will continue to invest in China in a big way."
"What I consistently see here in China is this attitude of trying to figure out how to do what's next. It really is inspiring to me," Williams said.
During his visit, he also paid close attention to the impact of technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) on smart manufacturing.
Whether it's something as simple as glue dispensing or cosmetic inspection, it can now be done with AI in a way that is much more efficient and also much more effective than what a human can do, Williams said. "We're seeing the growth of AI and its importance in our supply chain."
Apple began business operations in China in 1993. Currently, over 80 percent of its top 200 global suppliers maintain manufacturing facilities in China. The company said that over the past five years, it has invested 20 billion U.S. dollars in China, focusing on smart manufacturing and green initiatives.
Some 59,000 new foreign-invested enterprises were established in China last year, reflecting an increase of 9.9 percent. Over the past five years, the rate of return on foreign direct investment in China has averaged approximately 9 percent, ranking among the highest globally.
While meeting with Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao in Beijing on Monday, Cook reaffirmed Apple's commitment to increasing investments in sectors such as supply chains, research and development, and social responsibility in China. He also emphasized the company's readiness to play an active role in promoting the stable, healthy development of China-U.S. economic and trade relations.
A single purchase
