Apple to set up second China research center

Apple has decided to set up a research and development center in Shenzhen, its second facility in China after Beijing, to focus on manufacturing and software development.

The announcement was made by Apple CEO Tim Cook during a meeting with top Shenzhen officials Tuesday at the sidelines of 2016 National Mass Innovation and Entrepreneurship Week, according to sources with the municipal government Wednesday.

Around 100,000 people are developing software for Apple in Shenzhen currently, said Cook, who rated the quality of Shenzhen software developers' products as top in the world. He said Apple planned to seize the worker advantage to increase investment on research, according to the sources.

China is Apple's major overseas market. But iPhones are facing growing challenges posed by Chinese competitors like Huawei, Oppo and Vivo. During his visit to China in August, Cook unveiled Apple's first research center in Beijing.

Shenzhen is China's hi-tech hub, investing a whopping 4.05 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) into research and development, and hosting a number of top tech firms like Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., and ZTE Corp.

(APD)