Exclusive: Foxconn to shift some Apple production to Vietnam to minimise China risk:
Foxconn is moving some iPad and MacBook assembly to Vietnam from China at the request of Apple Inc, said a person with knowledge of the plan, as the U.S. firm diversifies production to minimise the impact of a Sino-U.S. trade war.
The development comes as the outgoing administration of U.S. President Donald Trump encourages U.S. firms to shift production out of China. During Trump's tenure, the United States has targeted made-in-China electronics for higher import tariffs, and restricted supplies of components produced using U.S. technology to Chinese firms it deems a national security risk.
[...] Foxconn is building assembly lines for Apple's iPad tablet and MacBook laptop at its plant in Vietnam's northeastern Bac Giang province, to come online in the first half of 2021, the person said, declining to be identified as the plan was private.
[...] "The move was requested by Apple," the person said. "It wants to diversify production following the trade war."
Foxconn said in statement: "As a matter of company policy, and for reasons of commercial sensitivity, we do not comment on any aspect of our work for any customer or their products".
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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'This trend looks irreversible,' supplier exec says of tech industry's production shift:
Dell plans to cease using chips produced in China in its products by 2024 amid concerns over tensions between the U.S. and China, reports Nikkei citing sources familiar with the PC maker's plans.
It is unclear whether Dell can indeed replace all chips made by companies like SMIC and Hua Hong by next year from all of its designs and how this affects its costs.
[...] There are several reasons why Dell wants to stop using chips produced in China in its products. First up, the company will diversify its supply chain. Secondly, U.S. lawmakers late in 2021 considered banning devices that feature chips made in China from using by government organizations due to national security concerns. The government did not proceed with the idea, but certainly Dell wants to ensure that its gear does not get banned by U.S. legislators even if they prohibit usage of hardware featuring China-made chips by government agencies, which are among its major clients.
[...] All large U.S.-based PC makers transferred their production to China in the recent couple of decades, which helped to create a fully-fledged supply chain in the country. But rising labor costs in China and growing tensions between the People's Republic and the U.S. have urged PC makers to diversify their supply chains.
Apple reportedly plans to produce some of its MacBooks in Vietnam starting 2023, whereas numerous server makers are transferring their production to Taiwan. Even Foxconn, the world's largest contract maker of electronics, has been establishing presence in India and Vietnam for a while, which is not easy as Vietnam still lacks sufficient engineering talent.
Related:
- China's Government, State-Backed Firms to Scrap Foreign PCs Within Two Years
- Foxconn to Shift Some Apple Production to Vietnam to Minimize China Risk
- China Trade War Could Push iPhone Contractor Foxconn to Build in Mexico
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Mykl on Friday November 27 2020, @04:22AM (12 children)
It's interesting to see China flex it's trade muscle in all directions at once. Currently they are trying to strong-arm the US, UK, Australia, India and Russia, among others.
Foreign companies are not only pulling their manufacturing out of the country - many vendors have stopped shipping to China for fear that their product will be 'held' at port for months on a trumped-up excuse.
Have China bitten off more than they can chew?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 27 2020, @04:42AM (1 child)
> Have China bitten off more than they can chew?
Possibly, but they have at least one ace up their sleeve -- their own domestic market is growing, and there are still many Chinese people that have yet to make enough money to join consumer society. So the local manufacturers can sell to the local market now, and growth will come as the poor fraction of the population has increased income. Chinese companies are not so reliant on sales to USA (etc) for growth anymore.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by RandomFactor on Friday November 27 2020, @05:18AM
True, but it's still going to slow things down quite a bit.
As if those good times aren't sufficient the Chinese fishing fleet in its thousands is trawling the waters of every country that China can safely bully (including South American and African countries) and collapsing local fish populations those countries rely on.
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday November 27 2020, @09:25AM
Looks like so Column: China's crackdown on Australian coking coal hurts its steel industry [reuters.com]
Stupidly so, by keeping ships in the queue [theguardian.com]
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday November 27 2020, @09:31AM (2 children)
Have some links for Russia?
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Informative) by Mykl on Sunday November 29 2020, @10:29PM (1 child)
https://thediplomat.com/2020/08/is-putins-russia-seeking-a-new-balance-between-china-and-the-west/ [thediplomat.com]
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Sunday November 29 2020, @10:45PM
Yeap, makes sense [oilprice.com].
Thank you.
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Friday November 27 2020, @12:12PM
> US, UK, Australia, India and Russia
Not sure on your sources, and of course "strong arming" is a normal part of international negotiations - so not clear to what extent it is business as usual. I didn't see Canada, Japan or EU incl Germany, France on your list. Is that intentional? They would be the G8 missing nations.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Thexalon on Friday November 27 2020, @06:56PM (3 children)
If you look at it from China's point of view: They're now by far the manufacturing center of the world. They have the knowledge and tools and industrial capacity to make absolutely everything they really need, from microchips to plastic gadgets to agriculture. That means they hold all the leverage they need in a trade war: They might lose the revenue they're making from the US and other trade partners, but that only matters domestically because they've tied the value of the yuan to the US dollar. Uncouple the currency, and disconnect the supply chain pipeline, and China would do far better than the US.
This is further evidence that the "free trade" policies of the US started almost 30 years ago and maintained quite consistently by both major parties have been great for rich people in the US and great for China's development, but lousy for both US security and the US middle and working classes. Which is something we already knew if we had been paying the slightest bit of attention.
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday November 29 2020, @04:31PM (2 children)
If it's that easy to get ahead, then why aren't they doing that? Answer: because export-focused economies don't work that way.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Thexalon on Monday November 30 2020, @06:45PM (1 child)
China gains something from their export-heavy economy, namely the ability to buy more equipment from foreign companies. Where the situations differ is what happens if all the trade stopped. Under the current trade, China gives the US stuff, and the US gives China financial instruments (which amount to numbers in a database somewhere). If that relationship were to be completely severed, the Chinese can do far better without those financial instruments (which the government could just create out of thin air if they had to) than the US can do without the stuff. And that's what gives the Chinese more power than the US in any negotiation between them - in any negotiation, the advantage is held by the party that has fewer negative consequences for walking away from the negotiation and/or the wider relationship.
As an example of the dynamic in my last sentence in negotiations: When are you in a better position when negotiating a higher payment for your services (either salary or contract) - when you have plenty of offers to choose from and lots of money in the bank, or when you have no other offers and no money to pay the rent due in 2 weeks? And sure, if you're in the second situation, you can try to pretend you're in the first position, but you also know in the back of your mind that you're taking whatever offer they're making that will cover the rent and will ultimately accept a lower offer than you're asking for. And likewise, an employer or client who has 5 well-qualified candidates in the space of a week of starting their search is going to be less likely to haggle over salary than if they'd been searching for months and you were the first good option they'd found. And like you, they can try to pretend otherwise, but ultimately they are much more likely to give in if they're in the second situation.
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday December 01 2020, @05:07AM
"Equipment from foreign companies" doesn't sound like "financial instruments" to me. And Chinese government financial instruments created out of thin air are going to buy vastly less equipment than US financial instruments will. China has needs too like a vast number of poor people.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 27 2020, @11:14PM
Step 1 was to use the threat of losing access to China against US media companies. That intensified their anti-Trump bias, helping to get Biden into power.
Step 2 is to negotiate with Hunter Biden. As long as China isn't too stingy, it'll work. Hunter needs crack, prostitutes, and at least a few million dollars. The price may have just gone up, so that could turn into a few hundred million dollars. In any case, China can afford it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 27 2020, @02:05PM (12 children)
The root problem the US company was supposedly fixing is the loss of manufacturing base in the US.
But instead they are bootstrapping yet another country to compete with?
Instead of making things worse, can we figure out how to make the average US worker world class again?
To compete, the cost to the company of US labor needs to be low while the worker gets a living wage.
There is a big gap there.
Too bad welfare pays folks not to work instead of paying to work.
Didn't Churchill say something applicable here?
"Trust the Americans to do the right thing after they have tried all the alternatives."
(Score: 3, Insightful) by oumuamua on Friday November 27 2020, @03:31PM (7 children)
too late, watch American Factory, they tried really hard to bring back jobs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m36QeKOJ2Fc [youtube.com]
however, all hope is not lost, albeit Foxconn is moving to Vietnam because China is going 1st world and as a side effect: more expensive in each and every area and workers are demanding more.
After Vietnam goes through the same process there are not many countries left.
Then comes automation to take over and bring everyone to a post-industrial paradise where no one has to work if they don't want to (but you need to vote for this or you won't get it)
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 27 2020, @04:19PM (2 children)
> automation ... where no one has to work if they don't want to
Nah. Automation will create "excess workers". You already can see what the rich parasite class has in mind for these "excess" human beings by looking at the US which already imprisons more people per capita and per absolute numbers than any other country.
Of the nearly 2.3 million people incarcerated in the US, 74% have not been convicted of any crime.
https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2020.html [prisonpolicy.org]
And, evil companies like Microsoft employ prison slave labor, in the US, which can handle the tasks that cannot be easily automated. Its a win win! /s
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/u-s-prisoners-strike-is-reminder-how-commonplace-inmate-labor-is/ [cbsnews.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 27 2020, @06:40PM
Umm, that prisonpolicy link of yours says it's 74% of the jail population, not the total incarcerated population, that haven't been convicted. The jail population figure it gives is 746,000. And the unconvicted folks in jail are mostly those that have been arrested and on/awaiting trial but couldn't manage bail.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday December 01 2020, @05:17AM
Sorry, that narrative hasn't worked for centuries. Workers are more in demand now than before the industrial revolution started. And automation is a huge part of why that is so.
(Score: 2) by Mykl on Sunday November 29 2020, @10:23PM (3 children)
This could've gone two ways. One was the paradise you speak of, where the state provides for the 90% of people who "don't work". The other is where the US is headed toward - a handful of multi-billionaires living in gated communities and armored compounds, and millions of people starving to death.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday December 01 2020, @05:20AM (2 children)
(Score: 2) by Mykl on Tuesday December 01 2020, @06:46AM (1 child)
Are you serious?
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/02/07/6-facts-about-economic-inequality-in-the-u-s/ [pewresearch.org]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_inequality_in_the_United_States [wikipedia.org]
https://www.forbes.com/sites/tommybeer/2020/10/08/top-1-of-us-households-hold-15-times-more-wealth-than-bottom-50-combined/?sh=6cfcd1185179 [forbes.com]
This problem is becoming worse in the US, not better.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday December 01 2020, @02:33PM
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Friday November 27 2020, @07:14PM (3 children)
You're right: We would convince the manufacturers to move back to the US if we lowered the real wages of US workers to approximately $5 per day, with 17-hour shifts with no breaks, 7 days a week, and also eliminated *all* environmental regulations. Oh, and they'd probably also like it to be illegal to form a union, and legal to sexually and physically abuse employees.
Do you want to live in that country? I sure wouldn't.
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 28 2020, @12:01AM
What are you talking about? That's essentially the whole MAGA platform! Grab 'em by the pussy!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 29 2020, @09:59PM
Sounds like India
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday December 01 2020, @05:29AM
Better to have all that wonderful masochistic stuff without the manufacturing base, amirite? Manufacturing isn't the be-all of economies, but it's remarkable how eagerly some people are to throw all that away. If we keep doing the "we didn't need those jobs anyway" thing all the time, then eventually we'll create the very scenarios we claim to be trying to avoid. Here, creating an economy where only a few very large, very pathological businesses can thrive while simultaneously destroying the rest of the employers isn't going to create a healthy environment for US (or any other country's) workers.
(Score: 2) by istartedi on Friday November 27 2020, @05:27PM
What a lot of people don't know about Vietnam is that there's a history of tension with China [wikipedia.org]. That makes this move all the more spicy.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 27 2020, @06:22PM (1 child)
They should open up a factory in the US. I hear that there is some nice real estate up in Wisconsin they could use.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 28 2020, @12:23AM
If this is correct, sounds like they may actually use it to build servers.
https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.techradar.com/news/foxconns-wisconsin-plant-wins-google-server-contract&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwjo8NWS_KPtAhWRwVkKHUAVBU8QxfQBMAB6BAgEEAE&usg=AOvVaw0_kTjenochCDjgby51r4gn [google.com]