Apple’s Deep Ties to China Leave Company—and U.S.—Vulnerable, Author Warns

A new book paints a dramatic picture of Apple Inc.’s relationship with China, describing the world’s most valuable tech company as effectively “captured” by the very country that helped fuel its success. In Apple in China: The Capture of the World’s Greatest Company, author Patrick McGee reveals how decades of investment and deep industrial ties have made Apple both a global leader—and a prisoner of its own supply chain.

Since 2015, Apple has poured more than $55 billion per year into China, McGee says. That investment helped train an estimated 28 million workers—more than California’s entire labor force—and enabled China to build a massive tech manufacturing machine. The iPhone, Apple’s flagship product, owes its existence to this system. “The iPhone literally can’t be built in America or anywhere else,” McGee told Honestly, a podcast from The Free Press.

According to the book, China’s unique labor force—known as the “floating workforce”—is a key reason. Numbering between 300 and 500 million, this group consists largely of rural workers who temporarily migrate to urban factories. There, they endure 12- to 14-hour shifts for months at a time before returning to their hometowns. This system allows for rapid scaling of production, McGee says, and helps manufacture an estimated 230 million iPhones a year, including 155 million sold to American consumers.

Although Apple has recently begun assembling some iPhones in India, McGee dismisses that as mostly a “tariff dodge.” The depth of Apple’s reliance on Chinese labor, logistics, and expertise is so profound, he argues, that meaningful relocation is virtually impossible.

But that reliance comes with serious risks—not just for Apple, but for the United States.

McGee describes trade with China as a “one-way street.” Once a foreign company enters the Chinese market, he says, the Chinese government and domestic industries often learn the technology, duplicate the processes, and eventually push out the foreign firms. “Apple has avoided this fate so far,” McGee notes, “but it literally can’t move its operations, even if it wanted to.”

He believes this dependency places the U.S. economy in a fragile position. If China were to halt exports for even a month, the supply chain crisis could quickly spin out of control. “There would be chaos in the streets,” McGee warns. “Our dependency could be crazily exposed.”

Apple has long defended its work in China, pointing to high standards for labor practices and the benefits of global manufacturing. The company also emphasizes its efforts to diversify suppliers and expand production in places like India and Vietnam. Still, McGee says those steps are modest compared to the scale of Apple’s existing operations in China.

Beyond the economics, McGee’s book suggests this relationship has geopolitical implications as well. With U.S.–China tensions rising, especially around trade and technology, Apple’s position becomes even more delicate. The company generates about a fifth of its revenue from China, and its executives have made regular visits to Beijing to maintain close ties.

As Apple continues to be a symbol of American innovation, Apple in China raises uncomfortable questions about how much of that innovation now depends on a system beyond U.S. control. McGee argues that Apple’s future—and, by extension, America’s tech dominance—may rest on a foundation more fragile than many realize.