Apple (AAPL+0.18%) chief executive Tim Cook met with who he called “the new generation of developers” in DeepSeek’s hometown of Hangzhou, China on Wednesday.
Cook announced the visit and the new Apple Mobile Application Incubation Fund to support developers and entrepreneurs at Hangzhou-based Zhejiang University, in a post on Chinese social media platform Weibo (WB+0.15%).
The company said it was donating RMB 30 million, or about $4.1 million, to the university, which counts DeepSeek founder Liang Wengfeng and other major Chinese tech executives as alumni.
Apple and Zhejiang University are establishing the incubator together, which will provide technical training in areas such as app development and product design for up-and-coming developers. The incubator builds on a decade-long partnership between the university and the tech giant on the Mobile App Innovation Competition, which has supported thousands of contestants from universities across China.
“We believe coding is a powerful tool that empowers people to create, communicate and solve problems in entirely new ways,” Cook said in a statement.
Ren Shaobo, party secretary of Zhejiang University, said the school is “very pleased to continue” its partnership with Apple “to cultivate new talents with all-round development of knowledge, ability, quality and personality.”
Cook’s visit to Hangzhou coincides with new U.S. trade restrictions against dozens of Chinese tech firms. The Trump administration added more entities from China and a slew of other countries to the U.S. Entity List on Wednesday, citing national security and foreign policy concerns.
Meanwhile, Apple announced earlier this week that it has committed up to 720 million yuan, or about $99.3 million, for the second phase of its China Clean Energy Fund, which it first announced in 2018 with the aim of connecting Chinese suppliers with renewable energy sources. The initial commitment aimed for almost $300 million of joint investment between Apple and Chinese suppliers over four years.
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