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Patrick McGee
Journalist | Author | Keynote Speaker
Features Writer: Financial Times
Columnist: The Free Press
On-Air Expert: CBS News
Covering the intersection of tech and geopolitics; US-China relations; the future of manufacturing.
Patrick has reported from Hong Kong, Germany, New York, and California. Now based in San Francisco, he writes a twice-monthly column for The Free Press, a quarterly feature for The Financial Times, and plans to write a second book.
His debut, Apple in China, received the SABEW Award for Best Business Book and was named the year's best China book in Semafor's poll of Sinologists. It was widely recognized as a Best Book of 2025 and is being translated into 10+ languages. The book draws on 200+ interviews to reveal how Apple’s supply chain in China has created an existential vulnerability, offering an insider’s historical account and a cautionary tale.
Patrick's expertise focuses on US-China tech relations, global supply chains, Apple, and manufacturing. His writing has appeared in numerous publications including The New York Times, the Sunday Times of London, The Wall Street Journal, China Books Review, and the Toronto Star.
As a keynote speaker Patrick has spoken at McKinsey, Greenmantle, KPMG, Flexport, the American Enterprise Institute, and the US-Mexico Foundation. He’s also held talks with students at Georgetown, Army War College, and George Washington University.
EXCLUSIVE DOUBLE FEATURE
New, for Apple's 50th anniversary, a double-feature in the Financial Times:
Part One: How a little-known yet highly influential management course in postwar Japan paved the way for Steve Jobs’ obsession with quality
Part Two: Japanese industry and Chinese manufacturing prowess played roles in the tech giant’s success, with consequences for both
Apple in China: The Definitive 21st-Century History
The untold story of how Apple tied its fortunes to America's biggest rival—transforming both company and country.
Recognized as One of the Best Books of 2025
Globe & Mail
"The Best Books of 2025"
Foreign Affairs
"The Best Books of 2025"
New York Times
"100 Notable Books of 2025”
The New Yorker
"Best Books We've Read in 2025"
Washington Post
"50 notable works of nonfiction from 2025”
Prospect
“Books of the Year 2025”
China Books Review
"Best China Books of 2025"
Bloomberg
"Books That Top Business Leaders Couldn't Put Down"
Semafor
“The best China book of 2025”
Business Post
“Business Books of 2025”
Purchase the book
Latest writing:

www.thefp.com

The Surveillance Economy Is Apple’s Legacy, Too

Now 50 years old, Apple has been central to tech’s greatest advances, and its worst misuses, writes Patrick McGee.

www.thefp.com

Taiwan Can Rescue the World from China

Taiwanese companies ignited China’s economic miracle. Now they can do it for the rest of the world, writes Patrick McGee.

www.thefp.com

The Drone Age Is Already Here

The drone age is already here, writes Patrick McGee. They’re doing serious work, from catching criminals to delivering rotisserie chickens.

www.thefp.com

Tesla’s Robotaxi Bait and Switch

Elon Musk called self-driving cars a ‘solved problem’ 10 years ago, writes Patrick McGee. So how come he’s still working on it?

www.thefp.com

China’s Robots vs. America’s Chatbots

The U.S. could spend a trillion dollars on data centers, and still lose the real AI war to China, writes Patrick McGee.

The New York Times

Opinion | You Should Think About Replacing Your iPhone — Now

You will probably have to pay a lot more for your next iPhone. That’s bad news for Apple, for our markets and for our economy.

Speaking Engagements
Available for keynotes on technology, US-China relations, global supply chains, and the future of tech manufacturing.
Apple & Tech Industry
Exploring Apple's market strategies, innovation, and global impact within the broader technology landscape.
US-China Tech Competition
Analyzing the geopolitical dynamics and economic implications of the rivalry between the United States and China in the tech sector.
Global Supply Chains
Dissecting vulnerabilities, resilience strategies, and future trends in international manufacturing and logistics networks.
Future of Manufacturing
Insights into automation, advanced materials, and the evolving landscape of industrial production in a globalized world.
For speaking engagements, please contact the Worldwide Speakers Group.
Contact Worldwide Speakers Group
Reviews
"Reading Apple in China, it's hard not to wonder whether Apple, in its pursuit of profit, may have inadvertently helped usher in a new world order helmed by one of America's biggest adversaries."
—Greg Rosalsky, NPR's Planet Money
“As Patrick McGee makes devastatingly clear in his smart and comprehensive Apple in China, the American company’s decision under Tim Cook, the current C.E.O., to manufacture about 90 percent of its products in China has created an existential vulnerability not just for Apple, but for the United States—nurturing the conditions for Chinese technology to outpace American innovation.…A persuasive expose.”
—Hannah Beech, New York Times
"McGee tells the tale of this Faustian bargain in bold, vivid strokes. It's a great read and an informative guide to how Apple and China truly operate—one that global leaders (and Silicon Valley bigwigs) should pay heed to … He manages to turn supply chain decisions into high drama and make injection molding seem sexy.”
—Bob Davis, Foreign Policy
The tech company Apple is famously buttoned-up. So too is the Chinese state. Which makes Patrick McGee’s Apple in China a kind of miracle of investigation: here, laid out clearly and with more detail than ever before, is how Apple rode to success on the back of cheap Chinese labour, and how Beijing may now be getting even more in return."
—Prospect (UK)
“This book is totemic … We all know that manufacturing, logistics and supply chains are important. McGee has managed to make them thrilling as well.”
—Carl Miller, Literary Review
Fascinating … McGee argues that Apple’s choices have not only created risks for the company’s future growth; they have also directly enabled the rise of China as the United States’ only peer technological competitor.”
—Elizabeth Economy, Foreign Affairs
Featured Work
The women calling out Apple’s handling of misconduct claims
Apple at $3tn: the enigma of Tim Cook
Rolling out driverless cars is ‘extraordinary grind’, says Waymo
How connected fitness became the new obsession
Why wearables could mean the doctor no longer knows best
Apple's privacy changes create windfall for its own ads business
Inside Peloton’s epic run of bungled calls and bad luck
Apple takes on the internet: the Big Tech battle over privacy
Have Google and Amazon backed the wrong technology?
Tenant buyouts: would you give up your home for $475,000?
Leaving San Francisco: will Covid-19 spark an exodus?
Can Germany survive the ‘iPhone moment’ for cars?
Electric cars’ green image blackens beneath the bonnet
Running in the clouds: a new ultra-marathon in the Alps
Danger lurks inside the bond boom
Elon Musk, Tesla’s mad genius defies US lockdown
Beyond the streets of San Francisco: three spectacular Bay Area runs
Here come the driverless taxis
Critical Acclaim for Apple in China
“Absolutely riveting. An extraordinary story, expertly told—and one that has important implications for Apple, for tech, and for global geoeconomics.”
—Peter Frankopan, Professor of Global History at Oxford; bestselling author of The Silk Roads
"Apple is more than the world's greatest company... To call this book a page-turner is almost to diminish its importance. It is a once-in-a-generation read."
—Robert D. Kaplan, author of the New York Times bestseller The Revenge of Geography
"Deeply researched, disturbing, and enlightening, Apple in China reveals how Apple enabled China's rise, seemingly at the cost of its own future. In these pages we watch as the world's most profitable company gets outmaneuvered by the world's most powerful dictator."
—Chris Miller, New York Times bestselling author of Chip War
"In this hugely important new book, Patrick McGee shows us how Apple's quest for wealth and power in China may in the end be the undoing both of the company and of America's quest for technology supremacy."
—Rana Foroohar, Financial Times Global Business Columnist
Latest Writing
Essay in The New York Times:
Can Tim Cook Save Apple from Being Crushed by Trump? Read the essay
Essay in The Free Press:
China and America Agree: Apple Is Too Big to Fail Read the essay
Get in Touch
Media Inquiries
Contact Paul Samuelson, director of publicity, Scribner.
Speaking Engagements
Literary Representation
Pease reach out to Toby Mundy at Aevitas Creative.
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Headshots: © Cayce Clifford