Thursday, October 16, 2025

Question Of The Day -- October 16, 2025

Locator49409AAPL. 

AI prompt

Apple. AAPL. What are your thoughts? The president of the US wants less US manufacturing in China, and yet Tim Cook (Apple) pledges even more manufacturing in China? What's up?

Reminder: Apple was invited to White House gala / celebration last night. 

I did not see AMD, Intel, Nvidia, or TSMC on the guest list. 

AI prompt:  

On another note, still with regard to Apple. I completely agree with your assessment regarding Apple's geopolitical risks due to supply chain issues. Apple had to have known that this headline story -- more investment in China -- would cause alarm for investors and indeed, AAPL is one of the few laggards in the market (again) today. Tim Cook cannot afford to miss earnings estimates to be released October 30, 2025. Putting all this together suggests the following: short term, Tim Cook feels comfortable that AAPL will meet / beat earnings estimates and was able to take a chance on going to China now, despite risks to share price between now and October 30. Short term to medium term: Apple is having a challenging time keeping up with iPhone 17 demand and needs Chinese help. In addition, China is a huge market for Apple, and Tim Cook wanted to thank China for approving sales of the iPhone Air this past week. Longer term, Tim Cook has an intuitive feeling with regard to Apple's relationship with the White House. One needs to remember that AAPL was at the big White House party last night; AMD, Nvidia, Intel, TSMC were not. Thoughts?