American Tech Manufacturing Moves Out of China
Source：New York Times
From：Taiwan Trade Center, Chicago
Update Time：2022/09/27
As Apple and Google approach their new product launch dates in September, one change stands out: some of these phones, are not made in China. A portion of Apple’s phones this year will be made in India while Google’s Vietnam. Apple and Google’s departure from exclusively manufacturing in China indicates lasting problems in supply chain dependency as well as growing geopolitical issues.
China, which has served as the world's factory for a better past two decades, has long been the only country able to supply a skilled labor force in the quantity required to manufacture high-tech gadgets, like smartphones. However, in recent years, domestic lockdowns and tit-for-tat tariffs between the United States and China has large tech companies looking to manufacture elsewhere. This shift, however, is graduate. China remains the largest (by far) manufacturer of consumer electronics.
However, in August of this year, China announced that factory activity has contracted for the second straight month in a row.
“The empire of manufacturing in China is being shaken,” said Lior Susan, founder of Eclipse Venture Capital, which invests in hardware and manufacturing start-ups. “More and more capital is going to pull manufacturing out of China and find an alternative.”
The pay disparity between China and neighboring Southeast Asian Countries also underscores another reason that companies are looking for new manufacturing options. Over the past decade, manufacturing workers in China have tripled their annual income to more than $9,300, according to the country’s Bureau of Statistics, meaning manufacturing in China is not as cheap as it once was.
Although the move from China is happening, it is gradual. Moving industries to new countries is not an easy endeavor.
“We have a long way to go to have the whole supply chain diversified outside of China,” said Mehdi Hosseini, a financial analyst at Susquehanna International Group who focuses on the tech supply chain.
However, over the next years, the world can expect to see fewer “Made in China” stamps on their electronics.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/section/business