Recently, Apple announced that it would abandon its car manufacturing project, which has attracted widespread attention. Although it may not seem like much to us for ordinary people, it is actually worth going deeper**. Because behind this incident may involve the dark line of superpowers and industrial competition.
Apple previously announced the termination of the car-building project, and some of the employees responsible for the project will be redeployed to work in the artificial intelligence department, while others may face layoffs. The news caused a stir throughout the industry, and even Musk commented on social **, reminiscent of the scenario when he considered selling Tesla to Apple a few years ago. Li Xiang also quickly published a long opinion and seems to have become an industry mentor. And Lei Jun is the most shocked, because Xiaomi was inspired by Apple to some extent, and now Apple has given up its plan to build a car, does this mean that a hole has been dug?
Although ordinary people may not feel much influence on this, because the Chinese have changed a lot from ten years ago. Few people would expect anything from an Apple car. However, this event was indeed a big deal. According to the New York Times, Apple has spent more than $10 billion in research and development of cars over the past decade. Back in the day, Apple's ambition was to name the car building plan "Titan". In English, "Titan" means a huge super behemoth, but now this "Titan" has become "Titanic".
So, why did this giant endure the pain of cutting his flesh and resolutely give up? Some say they are focused on devoting their energies to the more important field of artificial intelligence, but this statement may not be accurate. First of all, Apple has enough money to work on multiple projects at the same time. In 2023, Apple will account for 50% of the global mobile phone market's revenue and 90% of its profits. It is said that they have more than $160 billion in cash reserves, so a loss of $10 billion is just a small fight. Therefore, the abandonment of car building is not because of money and energy.
Moreover, AI is not in conflict with car building. Today, autonomous driving, the core technology of electric vehicles, is closely linked to artificial intelligence. To train this large AI model, the car is indispensable as a carrier for data acquisition. In addition, the future of new energy vehicles will become a space that integrates office, entertainment and life, which is the best application scenario of artificial intelligence.
Let's take a look at Cook's repeated interviews with ** mentioned that Apple has been in the field of artificial intelligence, autonomous driving and augmented reality for many years. This shows that the automotive business is strategic for them. Now giving up the new energy vehicles that have been sharpening a sword for ten years undoubtedly means that they have lost their right to speak in the key battlefields in the future.
So, why is Apple abandoning its plans to build a car? The answer may be unbelievable, because they can't build a car. You may not believe it, but there's a good chance it's true. As early as 2021, Apple was looking for car manufacturers around the world, and at that time, there were voices saying that Apple wanted to build cars, but several core systems such as intelligent driving, intelligent cockpit, and intelligent electric could not get rid of China's ** chain. For example, the lithium iron phosphate technology route, the world's best ** business CATL, while BYD may not provide its own battery technology to Apple, but it can find the best business through the upstream, and even cooperate with Tesla. Among Tesla's first-class suppliers, there are Xinzhongbang that provides electrolyte additives, Changying Precision, which provides battery connectors, and Continuation Cars, which provides battery protective cases and transmission cases. At that time, the Apple car was conceived as a passenger-to-passenger mode, without the traditional structure to store airbags, and applied for a patent for this. But for mass production, in addition to the distant Sweden Otoliv, China's Junsheng Electronics has become the best partner. As the most important component of a smart car, automotive glass is likely to be a large screen for passenger interaction, and Fuyao glass cannot be bypassed in this field.
China's electric vehicle industry chain is very mature, with 700,000 supporting enterprises. As Musk said, if there are no ** barriers, Chinese car companies can beat most of the world's car companies. In the Chinese market, if Apple Auto does not rely on the Chinese industrial chain, it cannot compete with Tesla, and it will also be suppressed by Chinese car companies represented by BYD in other markets. Therefore, it has become an inevitable choice to abandon the car manufacturing plan. While we welcome Apple to make cars in China, they probably won't.
Recently, the White House issued a statement on addressing the risks of the U.S. automotive industry, which mentions China's new energy vehicles. This shows that the United States, as a global superpower and a leader in the automotive industry, cannot accept China's rise in the field of new energy vehicles. Apple has been trying to de-China in recent years, requiring supporting factories such as Foxconn to relocate to India, Vietnam and other countries. However, if you put *** in non-Chinese regions, whether in the European and American markets or other markets, Apple will not be able to compete with Tesla, and may even be held down by Chinese car companies such as BYD, which is almost doomed. What's more, China has a huge consumer market, so we say that Apple is welcome to come and make cars in China, and we really welcome it, but they may not come.
Finally, let's think about a few questions. The U.S. informatization and services sector has developed too far for financial giants to be uninterested in the investment cycle in manufacturing. The industry is prosperous, and we are not late. Artificial intelligence does attract attention, but it cannot stand on its own and must rely on specific products. Competition between great powers requires both sides to seek balance at their limits, rather than complaining and feeling sorry for themselves, as some do. Finally, there is the problem that AI requires a huge amount of computing power, which means that it consumes a lot of energy. One solution is to deliver PV power directly to the data center, combined with energy storage technology to reduce operating costs. However, at the same time that Apple abandoned its plans to build a car, Meyerberg announced the closure of Germany's largest PV factory because China's PV industry was too cheap and below their cost line. Therefore, the virtual and the real are back to the original point.