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Short answer: Foxconn. And it's a Taiwanese company. The difference in resources and capacity are so vast, businesses like Apple have depended on these differe

by unabst 9y ago

Short answer: Foxconn. And it's a Taiwanese company. The difference in resources and capacity are so vast, businesses like Apple have depended on these differences to make their huge profits. Steve Jobs has advocated US jobs and US factories and has said he would do everything he could, but the truth is, even Apple is/was too dependent on Foxconn, and there would be no Apple as we know it otherwise. 1. '"You can't find that many in America to hire," Jobs told the president, according to his biographer, Walter Isaacson. "If you could educate these engineers, we could move more manufacturing plants here."' [1] 2. When Apple needed to change the glass on their iPhones last minute, Foxconn obliged. The flexibility, speed, and sheer scale of their assembly operations are unmatched. [2] 3. Foxconn leverages Chinese work ethics and culture to its maximum. The world marveled at 2008 drummers in perfect sync at the Chinese Olympic opening of 2008 [3]. Now just imagine them building phones. It also doesn't help that costs are lower. So Apple wouldn't exist without Foxconn, and Foxconn wouldn't exist without China. Now Foxconn is outgrowing China, and is building factories elsewhere. But Foxconn city isn't going anywhere anytime soon, and arguable, whatever they do elsewhere will never match what they've build in China, nor will they ever cease to be dependent on its output. When Apple fails, you know the scale of the problem. -------- [1] http://money.cnn.com/2012/10/17/technology/apple-china-jobs/index.html http://money.cnn.com/2012/10/17/technology/apple-china-jobs/... [2] http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/business/apple-america-and-a-squeezed-middle-class.html http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/business/apple-america-and... [3] https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2008/aug/09/olympics2008.openingceremony https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2008/aug/09/olympics2008.o...

bsder 9y ago
> Now Foxconn is outgrowing China, and is building factories elsewhere. As I understand it, the problem is that China is getting too expensive for Foxconn. Wages are rising in China, so Foxconn is hunting for somewhere cheaper.
- unabst 9y ago
  I think they're just so big and have so much money now, it's only natural for them to expand everywhere they can. In the US they will build factories and do the best they can with a US based factory. And same with everywhere else. Each location will give rise to various cost and performance attributes, but at the end of the day, they will: 1. Compete regionally with factories that share those exact same constraints. and 2. Be Foxconn. All their factories belong to them, giving them unparalleled leverage and output capacity than the mere sum of their parts. US companies will flock to Foxconn's "US" factory. It will be in quotes because nothing will stop them from doing absolutely everything beyond what will qualify as Made in USA elsewhere to minimize costs and maximize performance, as do US companies do already. But no one is Foxconn.

by unabst 9y ago

bsder 9y ago

> Now Foxconn is outgrowing China, and is building factories elsewhere. As I understand it, the problem is that China is getting too expensive for Foxconn. Wages are rising in China, so Foxconn is hunting for somewhere cheaper.

unabst 9y ago
I think they're just so big and have so much money now, it's only natural for them to expand everywhere they can. In the US they will build factories and do the best they can with a US based factory. And same with everywhere else. Each location will give rise to various cost and performance attributes, but at the end of the day, they will: 1. Compete regionally with factories that share those exact same constraints. and 2. Be Foxconn. All their factories belong to them, giving them unparalleled leverage and output capacity than the mere sum of their parts. US companies will flock to Foxconn's "US" factory. It will be in quotes because nothing will stop them from doing absolutely everything beyond what will qualify as Made in USA elsewhere to minimize costs and maximize performance, as do US companies do already. But no one is Foxconn.