Industrial chain sharpens China's edge

"China has great advantages in the global consumer electronics chain for its efficient cooperation of multiple manufacturing steps, including raw material supply and mold design to final assembly," he said.

Recent years have witnessed market rumors that several tech and manufacturing companies are gauging the feasibility of moving production and assembly away from China to other markets like Vietnam and India.

"For many multinationals, it seems that their acts belie their words, as many of their current production largely relies on China's supply chain. It would be very difficult for any company to find an alternative in the short term," said Xiang Ligang, director-general of the Information Consumption Alliance, a telecom industry association.

Xiang said that electronic products like PCs do not generate a big profit margin, thus production costs matter, especially when semiconductors made in China are generally cheaper.

"Forcing these foreign companies to find an alternative is very likely to injure their own production. If supply becomes insufficient, it will be unfavorable for a company's development and lead to damage to companies' competitiveness on the global stage," he said.

Agreed Wu Dongmei, global senior vice-president of Dell, who said in an earlier interview with China Daily that "Dell doesn't just have a sales office in China" and the company's development in the country is based on "long-term consideration".

"Dell has a full value chain here (in China) from design, research and development, production, manufacturing, to supply chain management, sales and services that supports the development of the company's business in China and globally," Wu said.

"We've become very focused in China since Dell decided to operate in the country. In fact, we have done assessments and many conditions in the Chinese market are basically better than in other places."

According to a report by market consultancy Canalys, Dell was the second-largest PC vendor in China in the third quarter last year with a market share of 11.7 percent, behind Lenovo Group's 38.2 percent.

Craig Allen, president of the US-China Business Council, said in an interview that "China is an attractive location for supply chain integration".

Most US companies investing in China are "in China, for China", and they hope to serve Chinese markets through highly global supply chains that involve imports and localized production, Allen said.

He also said China's scale motivates US companies, while the nation's ecosystem is strengthened greatly by investments in infrastructure and talent.

As the country optimized its COVID-19 response and border control measures, top executives from prominent MNCs have disclosed their plans to visit China this month.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple CEO Tim Cook and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla are expected to visit China this year. France's L'Oreal Group also confirmed its executives will visit China shortly.

"The decisions of consumers and businesses so far have been more powerful than governments," said Ed Gresser, former assistant of US Trade Representative for Trade Policy and Economics, in an interview.