TAIPEI -- In early December, Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook toured a Shanghai factory owned by Luxshare ICT, a Chinese company that has risen from obscurity in the last decade to become a key supplier to the U.S. tech giant. Reflecting later on what he saw, Cook praised Luxshare founder Grace Wang, who started out as a factory worker on a Foxconn production line and ended up the leader of a tech company with more than 20 locations around the world. "This is an extraordinary example of a Chinese dream being realized," Cook said.
Besides being an example of the Chinese dream, Luxshare is also a great demonstration of just how transformative a contract with Apple can be. The company began supplying connector cables for the iMac in 2009, five years after Luxshare was founded in Shenzhen. Since then, it has grown into a tech component empire, supplying cables, connectors, wireless chargers and the new wireless earbuds. This success has been amply rewarded by investors: Its shares in Shenzhen have surged more than 530% over the past five years, and more than 70% so far this year. If its growth continues, Luxshare could rival Taiwanese powerhouses Foxconn -- also known as Hon Hai Precision Industry -- Pegatron, Quanta Computer and Inventec as an assembler.
