Tim Cook is ending his storied tenure as Apple's CEO, having turned the iPhone into a financial juggernaut and the company into a $4 trillion behemoth. By investor metrics, he's a rock star. But his legacy is complicated: much of Apple's success came from moving virtually all manufacturing to China, boosting China's middle class and technological prowess while making the U.S. dependent on a rising rival.
Cook's operational genius—outsourcing production while retaining control—made iPhones affordable and ubiquitous. Yet it also handed China economic leverage and technological know-how. As tensions rise and China threatens Taiwan, the question looms: Did Cook enable an adversary?
History may judge him harshly, much like Jack Welch, whose stock performance masked GE's hollowing out. Cook's China bet paid off financially, but its geopolitical consequences could redefine his legacy.