The origin story of Apple’s long-running relationship with FoxConn
In 2025, Patrick McGee published Apple in China: The Capture of the World's Greatest Company, a deeply-reported look at the tech giant's investment in - and growing reliance on - China.
The following excerpt, pulled from Chapter 9 of Apple in China, examines the company's relationship with Foxconn, today the infamous builder of iPhones. Foxconn wasn't always a formidable company, though. As McGee's reporting illustrates, its exponential growth was thanks in large part to founder Terry Gou's cultivation of a relationship with Apple. That relationship played a huge role in taking the company from a supply outlet for affordable components to, …