Chinese consumers could boycott Apple Inc if the US bans WeChat, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, as the clock ticks down on a US order to block the popular social app.
US President Donald Trump this month announced a ban from the middle of next month on WeChat and another Chinese-owned app, TikTok, accusing them of threatening national security, further stoking tensions between Beijing and Washington.
However, ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian (趙立堅) tweeted yesterday: “If WeChat is banned, then there will be no reason why Chinese shall keep iPhone and apple products.”
Photo: AP
Zhao had already on Thursday said “many Chinese people are saying they may stop using iPhones if WeChat is banned in the US,” and accused Washington of “systematic economic bullying of non-US companies” by targeting the Chinese app.
The comments mark a rare direct reference by Beijing to boycotting a US product and come as the superpowers spar on multiple fronts, including military activity in the South China Sea, Hong Kong and blame for COVID-19.
Chinese social media users yesterday responded with mixed feelings to Zhao’s warning on Twitter, which is blocked in China, but accessible through virtual private network software.
“I use Apple, but I also love my country,” one user on Sina Weibo said. “It’s not a conflict.”
“No matter how good Apple is, it’s just a phone. It can be replaced, but WeChat is different,” another user said. “Modern Chinese people will lose their soul if they leave WeChat, especially businesspeople.”
Wechat, known in China as Weixin (微信), has more than 1.2 billion active users.
Trump’s executive order against WeChat forces the platform to end all operations in the US and bans Americans doing business with it.
Apple accounted for 8 percent of China’s smartphone market in the second quarter of this year, according to Counterpoint Research, far behind domestic leader Huawei Technologies Co (華為).
Shares of contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) came under pressure yesterday after a report that Apple Inc is looking to shift some orders from the Taiwanese company to Intel Corp. TSMC shares fell NT$55, or 2.4 percent, to close at NT$2,235 on the local main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. Despite the losses, TSMC is expected to continue to benefit from sound fundamentals, as it maintains a lead over its peers in high-end process development, analysts said. “The selling was a knee-jerk reaction to an Intel-Apple report over the weekend,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投顧) analyst Alex Huang
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to remain Apple Inc’s primary chip manufacturing partner despite reports that Apple could shift some orders to Intel Corp, industry experts said yesterday. The comments came after The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Apple and Intel had reached a preliminary agreement following more than a year of negotiations for Intel to manufacture some chips for Apple devices. Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (台灣經濟研究院) economist Arisa Liu (劉佩真) said TSMC’s advanced packaging technologies, including integrated fan-out and chip-on-wafer-on-substrate, remain critical to the performance of Apple’s A-series and M-series chips. She said Intel and Samsung
TRANSITION: With the closure, the company would reorganize its Taiwanese unit to a sales and service-focused model, Bridgestone said Bridgestone Corp yesterday announced it would cease manufacturing operations at its tire plant in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), affecting more than 500 workers. Bridgestone Taiwan Co (台灣普利司通) said in a statement that the decision was based on the Tokyo-based tire maker’s adjustments to its global operational strategy and long-term market development considerations. The Taiwanese unit would be reorganized as part of the closure, effective yesterday, and all related production activities would be concluded, the statement said. Under the plan, Bridgestone would continue to deepen its presence in the Taiwanese market, while transitioning to a sales and service-focused business model, it added. The Hsinchu
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has approved a capital budget of US$31.28 billion for production expansion to meet long-term development needs during the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. The company’s board meeting yesterday approved the capital appropriation plan for purposes such as the installation of advanced technology capacity and fab construction, the world’s largest contract chipmaker said in a statement. At an earnings conference last month, TSMC forecast that its capital expenditure for this year would be at the higher end of the US$52 billion to US$56 billion range it forecast in January in response to robust demand for 5G, AI and
RSS