“We love Europe”. In five years, the manufacturer of the iPhone and MacBooks has increased its spending with its European suppliers by 50%, including big names like the Franco-Italian STMicroelectronics or the century-old German Trumpf. “Apple has been present for forty years in Europe, it’s a long story and Apple is more and more in Europe”, summed up Cathy Kearney, vice-president in charge of operations across the Atlantic for the Californian group.
Admittedly, Apple remains fundamentally an American group whose success is based on Asia, mainly in China and recently in India. “Designed in California, embled in China”, says the slogan on the millions of high-tech devices sold each year by the brand with a turnover of 387 billion dollars. But the company headed by Tim Cook, however, claims to rely on more than 4,000 European suppliers, on their well-trained engineers and on the technologies they develop. From SMEs to multinationals.