One stone stirred up a thousand waves.

Recently, after the price increase of Apple MacBook and iPad, investors are concerned that the soaring cost of storage and other semiconductors will suppress consumer demand, and their concerns have quickly reflected in the stock prices of Apple and its supply chain related companies: Apple's stock price is under pressure, while SK Hynix, Samsung Electronics, Luxshare Precision TDK、 The stock prices of companies such as Murata have fallen.

The market concern is very direct: if the hardware cycle is under pressure, suppliers exposed to the Apple ecosystem will also be looked down upon together.

But short-term stock price fluctuations do not necessarily mean a decrease in the value of the fruit chain. What the market sees is cost and demand pressure; What companies really need to answer is whether they are just a cost item in Apple's hardware cycle or have already opened up the second or even Nth growth curve.

The just concluded Chain Expo may provide another opportunity for observation.

On June 22nd, the 4th China International Supply Chain Promotion Expo opened in Beijing. Apple, which has participated in the exhibition for the fourth consecutive year, remains the focus of attention on site. Accompanying Apple on the exhibition stand are three supply chain companies: AAC Technologies, Sunny Optics, and Corian.

The joint exhibition list adjusted by Apple every year, from Lansi Technology and Changying Precision, to GoerTek and Xinwangda, and then to this year's Ruisheng Technology, Sunny Optics, and Corian, is itself a dynamic indicator of the "fruit chain". But what is truly worth noting is not who has arrived, but what they have brought and where these supply chain capabilities, which have been trained by Apple for a long time, are heading.

If you pause briefly in front of the Apple booth, you will discover an interesting phenomenon. Ruisheng Technology has set up a tactile engine maglev automated production line, Sunny Optics has showcased an AI intelligent visual inspection system, and Corian has brought an Apple Watch crown automatic assembly line. The exhibits of the three companies are different, but none of them can avoid a high-frequency word: AI.

This raises several questions worth questioning.

1、 Are fruit chain enterprises' adoption of AI to build new exhibition narratives, or is AI the path to continue moving forward once precision manufacturing reaches a critical point?

2、 Is Apple selecting the best performing suppliers for joint exhibitions every year, or is it selecting the "fastest evolving" suppliers in the new era?

3、 As a company that has been producing mobile phone parts for over a decade, they have started using AI to real-time closed-loop correct production lines, optimize process parameters, and use natural language for structural component selection. Are they still so-called "parts factories"? Will the fruit chain be replaced?

These questions are key entry points for understanding the current situation of fruit chain enterprises.

In fact, if you want to answer these questions, you need to step out of Apple and turn your focus to the fruit chain enterprises themselves. In the past, Apple defined products and Fruit Chain Enterprises were responsible for implementing them. Now, changes are happening: Apple is still defining products, and Fruit Chain companies are still working with Apple to achieve these definitions, but at the same time, Fruit Chain companies themselves are also beginning to "define capabilities".

And these 'capabilities' are no longer only serving a certain generation of iPhone, Mac, or Apple Watch, but are also beginning to flow towards new hardware scenarios in the AI era such as AI phones, XR devices, robots, AI servers, and smart cars.

Guolian has not left Apple, but it is applying the abilities it has honed for Apple in the past to a larger 'new world'.

'Going to AI' is not about following the trend

At the Chain Expo, fruit chain companies' adoption of AI is not to keep up with the trend.

As manufacturing precision enters the micrometer level, the detection object becomes a defect invisible to the human eye, and the assembly space is so small that it cannot be operated by human hands. The traditional "human eye machine" mode has become ineffective. If AI only replaces manual repetitive testing, it is at best an efficiency tool. But from the presentations of the three companies, it can be seen that what AI does is far more complex than substitution.

Ruisheng Technology has been cooperating with Apple for 18 years, supplying a full range of products including smartphones, computers, watches, and wireless headphones, with a cumulative supply of over 8.6 billion pieces. This year's Chain Expo, the core exhibit of Ruisheng Technology is the tactile engine maglev intelligent assembly closed-loop line.

The tactile engine may seem like a small component in consumer electronics, but behind it lies the comprehensive ability of micro motors, precision structures, tactile feedback, and automation control. Public information shows that Ruisheng Technology can control assembly deviation within 15 microns, equivalent to 1/4 of a human hair, and complete performance testing, anomaly tracing, and parameter correction in real time through AI systems.

In the past, manufacturing systems mostly discovered problems after production; Now, AI closed-loop systems are beginning to establish real-time feedback between assembly, inspection, traceability, and correction.

Sunny Optics has been collaborating with Apple on lens projects since 2019, gradually extending its products to imaging and perception lenses for iPhone and iPad, as well as MacBook camera modules. The core of this year's Sunny Optics exhibition is the extremely small module used for the MacBook Neo camera, as well as the accompanying AI intelligent visual inspection system.

This system faces the challenge of detection in precision optical modules. When solder joint abnormalities, gold wire deviations, and minor defects enter the micrometer range, it is difficult for human eyes and traditional rule detection to stably identify them. The value of AI visual inspection is not just to replace manual vision for faster viewing, but to enable machines to recognize, judge, and learn new types of defects.

Corian has been working with Apple for over 13 years, delivering over 10000 production devices and serving Apple's entire hardware product line. This time, Corian showcased the Apple Watch Crown Automatic Assembly Line. In order to ensure waterproof and dustproof performance, the equipment needs to achieve uniform oil coating on the micro O-ring, complete the assembly of the small crown under a fixed torque, and avoid surface damage.

At the same time, Corian is also developing AI engineering tools internally, allowing engineers to complete standard part selection through natural language, transforming the process of relying on experience and manual retrieval in the past into intelligent matching driven by a knowledge base.

The three paths may seem different, but they point in the same direction: Previously, the core competitiveness of the three companies was to achieve the ultimate in a certain component, such as the sensitivity of the tactile engine, the resolution of the lens, and the accuracy of the assembled equipment. Now, their core competitiveness has added an AI capability of "enabling the manufacturing process to have its own perception, judgment, and correction capabilities".

But that's not all. The Chain Expo presents changes in the manufacturing site, with even greater changes occurring outside of the manufacturing site.

The Old World and the 'New World'

Can the AI capabilities of these fruit chain enterprises only serve Apple?

The answer is clearly negative. If we examine the business maps of the three companies, we will find a trend that is happening: they are systematically transferring the precision manufacturing capabilities accumulated in the consumer electronics field to new species in the AI era, such as XR glasses, humanoid robots, AI servers, and smart cars.

This can be summarized as a form of "thick accumulation and intelligent development": through deep accumulation in the field of consumer electronics, the ability transfer of new species in the AI era is completed.

XR is one of the typical directions.

Ruisheng Technology acquired Dispelix, a Finnish AR diffractive optical waveguide technology company, because optical waveguides are one of the key links for AR glasses to truly move towards lightweight and consumer applications. In the past, AAC was more understood as a supplier of acoustics, touch, and precision structures. However, in XR equipment, the integration capabilities of acoustics, touch, optics, structure, and systems should no longer be separated and understood.

Coincidentally, Sunny Aolai and GoerTek have jointly increased their capital to GoerTek Optics, continuing to strengthen the optical track. GoerTek's business direction is focused on micro nano optical components, XR optical lenses and modules, projection machines, automotive optics, and other fields. Sunny's optical capabilities, GoerTek's acoustics, and XR manufacturing experience have formed a new intersection in this direction.

This indicates that fruit chain enterprises are not simply cutting from one part to another, but are filling in their capabilities around the new entrance of the AI era.

Humanoid robots are also one of the landing points, but not all of them.

At CES 2026, Ruisheng Technology will showcase for the first time a comprehensive humanoid robot solution covering both execution and perception systems, including dexterous hands, linear joints, inertial and torque sensing, acoustic sensing, and other modules. Its significance lies not in Ruisheng becoming a robotics company, but in the fact that the robots have re utilized Ruisheng's past accumulation in fields such as micro motors, precision transmissions, sensing control, and acoustic perception. This is an application scenario after the spillover of the Rui Sheng AI for All capability.

The AMR navigation obstacle avoidance module jointly developed by Sunny's subsidiary and Sony has achieved the first batch of mass production and shipment; Its humanoid robot vision solution was unveiled at the 2025 World Robot Conference. In the fields of in car and XR, Sunny is also extending its optical capabilities to scenarios such as LiDAR, in car sensing, AR/VR, and smart glasses.

The truly bigger change is that the hardware form of the AI era is fully unfolding.

From AI smartphones, XR devices, smart cars to robots and AI servers, the terminal experience of the AI era almost cannot be separated from the underlying capabilities of these supply chain enterprises - sound, touch, vision, sensing, execution, heat dissipation, and precision structures.

In the past, they were defined as suppliers of consumer electronics components because Apple and smartphones defined the largest application scenarios. Now, as AI enters smartphones, glasses, robots, cars, and servers, their capabilities are starting to be re priced.

Ruisheng Technology CFO Guo Dan summarizes its positioning as an "AI perception infrastructure builder", providing integrated technology solutions for perception interaction and thermal management for AI native hardware and computing terminals such as AI smartphones, robots, XR devices, and AI servers. AI has become the core cornerstone driving the continuous growth of multiple product lines of Ruisheng Technology.

If you look at the entire fruit chain, you will find that similar migrations are happening in batches.

Lingzhi Manufacturing is accelerating its transformation into an AI hardware manufacturing platform, while binding with giants such as Apple to increase its AI hardware business, and exploring the "Nth growth curve" to impact the world's top 3 embodied intelligent hardware manufacturers. Lixun Precision has strategically invested in Zhongqing Robotics, while Longqi, Huaqin, Lansi Technology, and others have also participated in the embodied intelligence track through business cooperation, self-developed production lines, and supply chain support.

The actions of companies such as GoerTek, Sunny, and AAC in the XR field also indicate that the consumer electronics supply chain is reorganizing around AI glasses and spatial computing.

Become a part of the 'AI Chain'

Returning to the opening question: Will Fruit Chain be replaced?

Before answering, it is necessary to understand a fact: over 80% of Apple's 200 major global suppliers have factories in China, which supports the mass production of hardware products such as iPhone, Mac, AirPods, Apple Watch, and Apple Vision Pro.

Such a massive manufacturing network cannot be replicated or transferred overnight. The stock price volatility caused by Apple's price increase indicates that the market is re examining hardware cycle risks. But what really needs to be distinguished is: which companies are still just cost items in a single product cycle, and which companies have already migrated their capabilities to the new AI hardware cycle.

Apple's Chief Operating Officer Sabih Khan said during the Chain Expo: "Our relationship with Chinese supply chain partners is mutually beneficial, and our cooperation has exceeded 1+1>2, becoming 1+1>3, 4, 5

The relationship between Apple and suppliers such as AAC, Sunny, and Corinne has shifted from buying and selling to symbiosis. The stronger the supplier's ability, the better Apple's products will be; The higher Apple's standards, the stronger the supplier's capabilities. Once this positive cycle is established, it is not something that can be easily interrupted by substitution.

So, what is the next form of these fruit chain enterprises?

One possible answer is that they are becoming part of the 'AI chain'.

This transformation did not occur in isolation. From the 14th Five Year Plan to the 15th Five Year Plan, macro policies continue to encourage industrial upgrading and promote the transformation of manufacturing towards high-end and intelligent directions. Fruit chain enterprises are key participants in this transformation process, not only serving Apple, but also becoming an important support for the upgrading of the national industrial structure. In other words, the ability leap of fruit chain enterprises is not only a market driven result, but also resonates with national strategies.

It's not about not doing Apple business to do AI, but the ability accumulated in the process of serving Apple, which happens to be the most scarce ability in the AI era.

If we could summarize the changes happening in Guochain in just one sentence, it could be: Guochain enterprises are transforming from being defined to being able to define capabilities. Previously, they were Apple defined products and they were responsible for implementing them; Now, they are starting to define their own abilities and search for their own application scenarios.

This does not mean that fruit chain companies no longer need Apple. Apple remains an important customer, partner, and 'training ground' for them. But the survival logic of Guolian enterprises is no longer just about binding to a large customer, but mastering a set of AI capabilities that can serve multiple industries.

This is also where the 'AI for All' of fruit chains is more worthy of understanding. It is not simply expressing 'AI makes manufacturing smoother', but rather pointing to a larger strategic judgment: AI will not just stay in the cloud and models, but will enter every terminal, every device, and every interaction scenario. Whoever masters the underlying abilities of sound, touch, vision, sensing, execution, heat dissipation, and precision manufacturing has the opportunity to become the cornerstone of experience in the AI era.

Therefore, instead of asking 'will the fruit chain be replaced', it is better to ask 'what is the fruit chain becoming'. The answer is that Guochain will not be simply replaced, it is being re priced: in the short term, it is driven by hardware costs, terminal price increases, and demand expectations, and in the long term, it depends on whether it can become part of the AI hardware capability chain.

This also responds to the market volatility caused by Apple's price increase. The capital market can re evaluate the risk of the fruit chain within one day, but the value of a company is not determined solely by one day's stock price and one round of price increases. What truly determines the future of Guochain is whether it can transfer the abilities developed in the Apple system to a broader AI hardware cycle.

Apple is still defining products, but fruit chain companies are starting to define capabilities. They are no longer just the executors behind a certain generation of iPhone, Mac, or Apple Watch, but are migrating the old assets accumulated in the consumer electronics field to the new continent of the AI era.

Returning to the market volatility caused by Apple's price increase, short-term sentiment can be understood. But if we stretch our focus, the value coordinate system of some fruit chain enterprises is no longer tied to the pricing fluctuations of certain Apple products.

The price increase will pass and the cycle will rotate, but this ability system, which has been tempered by Apple standards and can be reused across industries, will not depreciate due to a price adjustment.

Therefore, fruit chain enterprises that are the first to achieve capability leap will demonstrate more imaginative commercial value in the next round of hardware wave led by AI. This is not blind optimism, but a judgment on the evolutionary logic of manufacturing: the true moat always grows deep in capabilities.