Apple, Micron leaders pay visit to China as US mulls stricter tech curbs

By Gao Yuan

Apple Inc. Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams and Micron Technology Inc. President Sanjay Mehrotra made a low-profile trip to Beijing to meet with senior Chinese officials as the US is again mulling stricter tech curbs against China.
 

The executives on Monday joined a US business delegation meeting Vice-Premier He Lifeng and Foreign Minister Wang Yi. He urged American firms to “participate aggressively in China’s further reform and modernization process,” according to state-owned media.

In a separate meeting, Wang talked about the outcomes of the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s Third Plenum, a key meeting that set the country’s economic course, and expressed a desire for members of the US-China Business Council in Beijing to help drive “a correct understanding” of China in the US. Williams and Mehrotra are directors of the group.

The readout from the Chinese foreign ministry did not name the Apple and Micron officers, though they were shown in photos of the gathering.

The gathering comes as Washington leads an international campaign tightening trade restrictions to prevent advanced technology making its way into China. US companies have had to tread a careful path, as they face pressure to decouple from China, which still provides an indispensable production base and a key market for their products. Apple relies on the country for about a fifth of its sales, while Micron has been facing an uphill battle after Beijing banned its products from critical infrastructure last year.

An Apple representative for China did not respond to a request for comment, while Micron did not respond to an email seeking comment outside of regular office hours.

Tapping the political pulse of Beijing has became a critical job for foreign tech firms operating in the world’s No.2 economy. Stricter rules on the use of foreign-made products in state-backed sectors caused concern about Apple’s long-term prospects in the country, while the rise of local manufacturers like Huawei Technologies Co. forced deep price cuts on iPhones to keep shipments steady.