Apple recently registered a technology development company in the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone, and some believe that this is in preparation for "Apple Intelligence" in China.
Relevant information shows that Apple has registered a technology development company in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone, which is wholly owned by Apple South Asia and has a registered capital of US$3500 million. It provides software development, big data services, data processing services and storage services, becoming Apple's first company in China that focuses on technology development.
Apple previously announced that it will add Chinese and other languages to the "Apple Intelligence" service in early 2025, but did not disclose the specific corresponding markets. Therefore, it is possible that it will only add supported languages, but there are no plans to provide the "Apple Intelligence" service in China. It will only be available in Taiwan and major Chinese-speaking regions around the world.
However, Apple has recently been reported to have entered into partnerships with Chinese companies such as Baidu, Alibaba, and Baichuan Intelligence.Negotiate cooperationThere are also rumors of joining Tencent and ByteDance’s artificial intelligence technology. In addition, the registration of a technology development company in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone seems to indicate that Apple is preparing to launch a local version of the "Apple Intelligence" service in China.
When Apple previously provided iCloud services in China, it established the Apple Technology Services Company in Guizhou in September 2017. This establishment of a data center in Guizhou complied with relevant Chinese government regulations. Apple has not yet responded to inquiries about whether the establishment of this technology development company is related to the "Apple Intelligence" service.
However, some believe that Apple may still face factors such as data regulation, so it may still be difficult to provide "Apple Intelligence" services in the Chinese market in a short period of time, especially since the Chinese government currently has strict regulations on the application of artificial intelligence technology and is also relatively strict in content review.
Considering that many companies in China are already investing in the development of AI model technology applications, including brands such as Huawei, Xiaomi, vivo, and OPPO, which have already developed their own AI model application technologies, if Apple is unable to introduce its "Apple Intelligence" service in the Chinese market, it may face greater pressure in the market competition.
