Apple increasingly relies on China-based Luxshare for manufacturing amid U.S. tensions with Beijing
虽说苹果公司希望减少对中国的整体依赖，但对一家中国公司的依赖有增无减，事实证明，这家公司在组装苹果产品方面的技术价值非常高，不可或缺。
苹果公司CEO库克在中国的一家旗舰店。大多数iPhone仍在中国制造。图片来源：VISUAL CHINA GROUP/REUTERS
Yang Jie 2023年10月23日16:50 CST 更新
At a time when Apple is generally trying to depend less on China, the company is relying more on one Chinese firm whose skill at assembling the tech giant’s products has proven too valuable to dismiss.
虽说科技巨头苹果公司(Apple)希望减少对中国的整体依赖，但对一家中国公司的依赖有增无减，事实证明，这家公司在组装苹果产品方面的技术价值非常高，不可或缺。
Many Apple customers may not be familiar with Luxshare Precision or its leader Grace Wang, but they likely own its handiwork. Along with other Apple contractors, Luxshare manufactures AirPods, the Apple Watch and the recently released iPhone 15, including the top-of-the-line iPhone Pro Max. Luxshare is also the assembler of Apple’s first mixed-reality headset, due to reach consumers next year.
许多苹果公司的客户可能并不熟悉立讯精密(Luxshare Precision)或者该公司的董事长王来春(Grace Wang)，但他们可能拥有含有立讯精密技术的产品。立讯精密与其他苹果承包商一道，生产AirPods、Apple Watch和最近发布的iPhone 15，包括高端系列iPhone Pro Max。立讯精密还是苹果首款混合现实头戴式设备的组装商，这款头戴式设备将于明年与消费者见面。
That list of products shows the challenges facing Apple chief Tim Cook in trying to ease back from producing in a U.S. adversary and lean more on nations such as India and Vietnam.
上述列出的产品显示出，在如何减少在一个美国的对手国家的生产、更多地依靠印度和越南等国家方面，苹果公司首席执行官库克(Tim Cook) 面临的挑战。
On Wednesday, Cook made a surprise visit to Luxshare’s Apple Watch factory near Shanghai and praised the assembler’s work in making Apple’s most advanced products. In a video posted on social media, Cook smiled and nodded as he spoke to Wang, Luxshare’s chairwoman, and viewed solar panels powering the factory.
上周三，库克突然造访了立讯精密在上海附近的Apple Watch工厂，并称赞了这家组装厂在制造苹果最先进产品方面所做的工作。在社交媒体上发布的一段视频中，库克与立讯精密董事长王来春交谈时点头微笑，他还参观了为工厂供电的太阳能装置。
“Thank you, Grace and team, for sharing our commitment to protecting the planet,” he wrote on social media.
“谢谢你们，Grace和立讯精密团队，感谢你们与我们共担保护地球的承诺，”他在社交媒体上写道。
立讯精密最初是确立了在线缆和连接器方面的领先地位。现在正在蚕食富士康在苹果公司的份额。图片来源：VCG/GETTY IMAGES
It was a follow-up to a visit Cook paid to another Luxshare factory in 2017 when the relationship was beginning to take off. Cook then praised the supplier’s “phenomenal precision and care” and said, “Chairman Grace Wang has built a culture of excellence.”
2017年库克曾访问另一家立讯精密工厂，当时双方的合作关系刚刚起步。库克当时称赞了这家供应商“非凡的精准度和严谨性”，并说：“董事长Grace Wang创建了一种追求卓越的文化。”
Apple has been hitting headwinds in China recently as the government orders officials not to use the iPhone or other foreign devices at work and cracks down on foreign apps. Yet most iPhones are still made in the country and it would likely take years to change that.
最近，苹果公司在中国遇到了一些阻力，中国政府命令官员不得在工作中使用iPhone或其他外国设备，并整顿外国应用程序。但大多数iPhone仍在中国制造，要改变这种状况可能需要数年时间。
One reason: Chinese CEOs such as Wang are experts at doing what Apple wants.
其中的一个原因是，像王来春这样的中国CEO是能够满足苹果公司需求的专家。
Her story is intertwined with that of Taiwan-based Foxconn Technology, which long dominated iPhone assembly at its “iPhone city” in central China. Luxshare started by taking orders that Foxconn couldn’t fulfill and now is eating into Foxconn’s Apple share, according to analysts.
王来春的经历与台湾富士康科技集团(Foxconn Technology)不可分割，富士康长期主导着位于中国中部地区“iPhone城”郑州的iPhone手机组装业务。据分析师，从承接富士康无法完成的订单“下手”，立讯精密现在正在蚕食富士康在苹果公司的份额。
Wang Laichun, who goes by Grace Wang among Westerners, was born in 1967 in a part of southern Guangdong province famous for nurturing entrepreneurs, including Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing. She didn’t attend college, instead going to work in factories as a teenager.
西方人士称王来春为Grace Wang，她于1967年出生在广东省南部一个以孕育企业家闻名的地区，这些知名企业家中包括香港大亨李嘉诚(Li Ka-shing)。她没有上过大学，十几岁的时候就去工厂打工。
Wang was among the first cohort of workers hired when Foxconn opened a factory in the southern boomtown of Shenzhen in 1988. Starting with rote production work such as manually inserting parts onto circuit boards, Wang spent 10 years at Foxconn and rose to be a team leader.
1988年富士康在南方城市深圳开设了一家工厂，王来春是首批受雇的工人之一。她在富士康工作了10年，从手工将零件装入电路板等机械性生产工作做起，一直做到了团队负责人。
In 1998, she struck out on her own. With her brother, she set up a factory to make products such as electric cords and the cases of television sets.
1998年她开始独立创业。她和哥哥一起创办了一家工厂，生产电线和电视机外壳等产品。
Wang admired Foxconn founder Terry Gou and tended to quote him when speaking to employees, especially in the early years, according to Luxshare employees. Foxconn was also Luxshare’s biggest customer, standing one notch above it on the electronics food chain. A Luxshare prospectus in 2010, when it went public, said about half its operating revenue in the previous three years came from Foxconn.
据立讯精密员工称，王来春非常钦佩富士康创始人郭台铭(Terry Gou)，在与员工交谈时往往会引用他的话，尤其是在公司早年期间。富士康也是立讯精密最大的客户，在电子产品食物链中比立讯精密高一级。2010年上市时，立讯精密在募股说明书中称，之前三年约有一半的营业收入来自富士康。
Soon after going public, Wang and her brother, Wang Laisheng, went on an acquisition spree, earning the company the nickname “octopus” due to its many arms grasping for new business lines. One of its new purchases made cables for Apple’s iPad.
立讯精密上市后不久，王来春和她的哥哥王来胜就开始了大举并购，该公司因为对各种新业务线敢于并购，因此被冠以“八爪鱼”的名号。其中一项收购的业务是为苹果公司的iPad生产连接线。
According to Luxshare, Wang used her favorite motto to describe the Apple relationship: “Flying with phoenixes will nurture outstanding birds.”
据立讯精密描述，王来春用她最喜欢的名言来形容与苹果公司的关系：“与凤同飞，必出俊鸟”。
After establishing itself as a leader in cables and connectors, Luxshare moved into adjacent products including earphones and camera modules. A 2016 acquisition brought in expertise that helped Luxshare secure orders for AirPods, a product that requires intricate manufacturing skills to pack hundreds of components into a tiny space.
在确立了在线缆和连接器方面的领先地位后，立讯精密转而涉足包括耳机和摄像头模组在内的邻近产品。通过2016年的一次收购获得的专业技术，立讯精密获得了AirPods的订单，这种产品需要复杂的制造技术，才能把数百个零件组装进一个狭小的空间。
Apple sent engineers to help Luxshare and found that the contractor could make AirPods without losing many to defects. Wang showed her intimate knowledge of Apple products, effortlessly reciting details about MacBook models and their charging interfaces, according to a company account.
苹果公司派出了工程师来帮助立讯精密，发现这家承包商可以做到以高良率生产AirPods产品。据该公司介绍，王来春对苹果产品的了解非常深入，对于MacBook型号及其充电接口的细节了如指掌。
“Apple’s stringent requirements have profoundly impacted Luxshare,” Wang said during Cook’s 2017 visit. “Over the years, we have closely followed Apple, and this alignment has propelled Luxshare towards growth and prosperity.”
王来春在库克2017年访问期间说，苹果的要求非常严谨，给立讯带来非常好的影响。她说，这么多年来跟着苹果的脚步，立讯也一路发展壮大。
Wang is the type of person to pore over the latest proposed specs for USB ports and make sure Luxshare masters them, say people familiar with her approach. Unlike her flamboyant mentor, Foxconn founder Gou, who is currently running for president of Taiwan and built ties with former President Donald Trump, Wang keeps a low public profile.
熟悉王来春的人说，她的性格是会仔细研究最新提出的USB端口规格，并确保立讯率先掌握这些规格标准。王来春和她职业道路上的明灯、富士康(Foxconn)的创始人郭台铭不同，她的公众形象一直比较低调。郭台铭为人高调，目前正在竞选台湾总统，还与美国前总统特朗普(Donald J. Trump)建立了联系。
立讯精密位于越南越安县的工厂。该公司正在越南和印度投资增加产能。图片来源：LINH PHAM/BLOOMBERG NEWS
On Sunday, Foxconn said it was cooperating with Chinese authorities after Chinese state media said the company was subject to tax and land-use investigations.
在中国官媒报道富士康正接受税务和企业用地方面的调查后，该公司周日表示正配合中国政府相关部门的工作。
Luxshare’s Wang, like many Chinese CEOs, concurrently holds a political post as a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, a national advisory body. Luxshare didn’t respond to requests to make Wang available for an interview.
与许多中国CEO一样，王来春同时还担任着一项政治职务，即政治协商咨询机构中国人民政治协商会议委员会委员。立讯精密没有回应让王来春接受采访的请求。
Another set of acquisitions propelled Luxshare to the top of the Apple supplier ranks. In 2020, it took over iPhone manufacturing facilities in China from Taiwan-based assembler Wistron.
另一轮收购将立讯精密推向了苹果公司供应商排行榜的榜首。2020年，立讯精密从台湾组装商纬创(Wistron)手中接管了中国的iPhone生产线。
In the past several years, Apple’s Taiwanese suppliers, including Foxconn, have grown unhappy about the low profit margins in their Apple business and the heavy capital investment required, according to people at the suppliers. And, on Apple’s side, the risks of relying too much on one company were highlighted in late 2022 when worker unrest hit Foxconn during the final days of China’s harsh Covid-19 lockdowns.
据供职于台湾供应商的一些人士表示，在过去几年里，包括富士康在内的苹果公司台湾供应商对该公司业务的低利润率和所需巨额资本投资愈加不满。除此之外，从苹果公司一方来看，过度依赖一家公司的风险也在2022年末突显了出来；当时中国严厉的新冠封控措施进入尾声，富士康爆发了工人骚乱。
The answer: more reliance on Luxshare. Last year, Luxshare’s biggest customer accounted for more than 73% of its revenue, according to the company’s annual report, which didn’t name Apple.
结果就是，苹果公司更加依赖立讯精密。根据立讯精密的年度报告，去年收入的73%以上来自该公司的第一大客户，但该报告并未提及苹果公司的名字。
That dependency has caused some concern among Luxshare investors because it, too, tends to earn low margins on its assembly business. Net profit was only about 4% of revenue last year. The company said late last week that revenue in the July-September quarter fell 8.5% compared with the same period a year earlier, although profit was up. The stock is off by nearly half from its peak three years ago.
这种依赖性引起了立讯精密投资者的担忧，因为该公司组装业务的利润率也很低。去年的净利润仅占收入的4%。该公司上周末表示，7-9月季度的收入较上年同期下降8.5%，但利润实现增长。该公司现在的股价已较三年前的最高价下跌近一半。
Wang has said Luxshare shouldn’t rely too much on a few large customers and has begun acquiring and investing in suppliers to electric-vehicle makers. She told investors in August that Luxshare aimed to be one of the top global auto-parts suppliers working directly with brand-name carmakers.
王来春已表示，立讯精密也不会过分依赖少数几家大客户，她已开始收购和投资电动汽车制造商的供应商。王来春8月份向投资者表示，立讯精密的目标是成为直接与品牌汽车制造商合作的全球顶级汽车零部件供应商之一。
Still, the Apple-Luxshare relationship is growing. Luxshare is handling what industry people call “new product introduction” for Apple’s 2024 high-end iPhones, according to Ming-Chi Kuo, an analyst at TF International Securities who follows Apple’s supply chain. The term refers to the process in which Apple works with its assembler to turn its product designs and prototypes into a detailed manufacturing plan. Until now, the role was virtually monopolized by Foxconn.
尽管如此，苹果公司与立讯精密的关系仍在增强。追踪苹果供应链的天风国际证券(TF International Securities)分析师郭明錤(Ming-Chi Kuo)表示，立讯精密正在为苹果公司2024年的高端iPhone处理业内人士所说的“新产品导入(new product introduction)”。这个术语指的是苹果公司与组装公司合作，将产品设计和原型产品转化为详细生产计划的过程。到目前为止，此类任务几乎都是由富士康垄断。
Luxshare is also helping Apple diversify away from China by investing in additional capacity in Vietnam and India, according to Luxshare documents and people involved in the supply chain. Wang said at a meeting with investors in 2020 that the company wanted Vietnam to account for 30% of its total production, without reducing its China footprint.
根据立讯精密的文件和相关供应链人士的说法，该公司还在通过在越南和印度投资增加产能，目的是帮助苹果通过实现供应多元化来增加中国以外的供应来源。王来春在2020年与投资者的一次会议上表示，该公司希望越南的产量占该公司总产量的30%，同时不减少在中国的布局。
Luxshare has also begun preparing to assemble a next-generation version of Apple’s virtual-reality headset, which Kuo estimated could go into mass production in 2027.
立讯精密也已开始准备组装苹果公司的下一代虚拟现实头戴设备，郭明錤预计该产品可能于2027年投入量产。
