Han media: [Understand China] Apple's 'Swarm-like' Training

At a recent seminar, he stated that "the Chinese market share once as high as 95% has now dropped to zero (0)." This means that AI chips produced by NVIDIA have been almost expelled from the Chinese market. How did this happen? Patrick McGee, a reporter for The Financial Times (FT) specializing in Apple, traced the reason back to the American company Apple itself in his recently published book "Apple in China."

In the early summer of 2003, a Taiwanese company Foxconn invited core members of Apple's design team to its factory in Shenzhen, China. They had with them Apple's popular product at the time - the MP3 player iPod. Foxconn people said, "This is what we made after reverse engineering the genuine product." Apple was shocked because, except for a slightly different appearance, all functions were identical to the genuine product. Apple then believed that "this level of technology could be entrusted to production." Thus, Apple and Foxconn began a comprehensive cooperation. According to the book, about 90% of Apple products are now produced in China.

The production of smartphones requires extremely high precision. To manage quality control, Apple sent engineers from headquarters to China step by step to guide operations. They poured into China like a swarm, teaching workers how to operate the equipment, thus giving rise to the term "Apple Swarm Effect." Since 2008, it is estimated that Apple has trained about 30 million workers in China.

Technical workers who came out of Foxconn gradually flowed into Chinese companies. Apple's smart technology and experience thus permeated the Chinese IT industry. At the same time, Apple was rapidly pushed out of the market by the growing Chinese smartphone companies after continuously providing nourishment for the rise of China's high-tech industry.

Chinese AI chips are also growing by absorbing these "nourishments." The "Ascend 920" that major Chinese tech companies are about to mass-produce can completely replace NVIDIA's H20 chips exported to China. This means that China's technological self-reliance is not far away. The Chinese policy of "trying not to use NVIDIA products" also confirms this. This is the "Apple Swarm Effect."

Analysts in the United States also believe that technological sanctions have instead accelerated China's technological self-reliance. Huang Renxun's statement of "market share dropping to zero" emphasizes this. Apple's "swarm-like" training is even changing the geopolitical landscape.

Source: JoongAng Daily

Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1847110898600988/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author himself.