An article from Chinese web portal Tencent claims that during his visit to China last week, Apple CEO Tim Cook discussed the company’s plans to establish a research and development center in Beijing.
The report includes several other items of information pointing to Apple’s continued efforts to strengthen its presence in the rapidly growing Chinese market.
BrightWire reports that according to an unnamed source, during a meeting with Beijing’s acting mayor Wang Anshun on January 8, Cook said the company plans to set up an R&D center in Beijing, and that Cook also noted that Apple will work to improve downloading speeds for App Store and iTunes users in China by moving some of its servers to the country.
“IT insiders” are also citied as saying Apple is likely to set up its Chinese data center in either Zhangjiakou, or in Inner Mongolia.
Apple has been working to open research and development facilities outside of the U.S. in order to better draw on international expertise. The company is moving forward on a center in Israel, and previous reports had Apple exploring possibilities of a research center in Russia, although no commitments have been made at this time.
