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It's way more than that. There is specialized machinery, a whole set of very specific skills, and the supply chain is considerably more than 'resistors'. Walk

It's way more than that. There is specialized machinery, a whole set of very specific skills, and the supply chain is considerably more than 'resistors'. Walking down the street in Shenzhen you see a vast array of all sorts of components, like a raspi/makers candy land. And they are all cheap. There's a layer of specialization on top of much of the assembly that requires bonafide 'know how'. We sent a factory a schema and 3D design, they basically had to redo everything for the purposes of manufacturing, and it was more than trivial. We had to work back and forth in a detailed way. Also - there is the civil infrastructure, access to capital, export friendly terms - etc. The electricity is stable in China, not so in India. etc. So yes, it's mostly volume and labour, but it's much more. I think your list of a-f applies to things like sewing shoes, but not to iPhones, for example.

bane 7y ago
> There is specialized machinery, a whole set of very specific skills This is true, but it's only as sticky as how long it takes to place the equipment and to train people in the next place. > I think your list of a-f applies to things like sewing shoes It wasn't really all that long ago when China could only manufacture things like shoes and was considered to be basically a third world country. The only special conditions that China had that made it the next Akihabara was access to a cheap and reasonably well educated labor pool (and one could argue a government that had the political will to push for rapid economic development pushed forward by Deng Xiaoping style reform). Every other thing that's happened, happened after that. Every nut, bolt, high temperature vacuum sealer...every special soldering skill and QA plant, every automated CAD driven metal milling machine. All of it came to a place that made cheap shoes. > Walking down the street in Shenzhen you see a vast array of all sorts of components, During the 80s you could walk around Akihabara in Tokyo or maybe even Ximending in Taipei and see the same thing. In the 90s it was Yongsan in Seoul. There is no special geographic, resource or economic reason why it has to be in China. And we know this because it was previously in other places. Shenzhen is simply the latest stop for global manufacturing. Foxconn, the symbol of Chinese manufacturing, after all, is Taiwanese. It's not like the change happened over night, or even that it's entirely completed today. Japan still makes some of the highest-end precision optical components on the planet, video games and robotics. South Korea still dominates in memory and display technologies. Hell, the U.S. still designs some of the best consumer electronics anywhere. Someday, people will speak in awe of the tech ecosystem in <insert city in some other country> and talk about the grand 'ol days in Shenzhen...which will be known mostly for drones and pinball machines or something. It may take a decade, but it will happen.
- sonnyblarney 7y ago
  Yes, I agree with all of that. But that kind of change is very rare. China has done more economic growth in 30 years than any nation in history. I don't see India or Vietnam moving that quickly in any direction. Vietnam does not have the scale or institutions, India has all sorts of problems. China declared Shenzhen to be a global city for this and they 'made it happen'. I'm not sure if there are going to be other candidates. But in the end, it's diffusive and I agree with you, maybe some countries are able to carve out niches. Maybe India beats China to chip fabs or something, due to their competitive position in adjacent things like software, and their relationship with American companies on that front, and the fact it may not take 'a national directive' to do it.

bane 7y ago

> There is specialized machinery, a whole set of very specific skills This is true, but it's only as sticky as how long it takes to place the equipment and to train people in the next place. > I think your list of a-f applies to things like sewing shoes It wasn't really all that long ago when China could only manufacture things like shoes and was considered to be basically a third world country. The only special conditions that China had that made it the next Akihabara was access to a cheap and reasonably well educated labor pool (and one could argue a government that had the political will to push for rapid economic development pushed forward by Deng Xiaoping style reform). Every other thing that's happened, happened after that. Every nut, bolt, high temperature vacuum sealer...every special soldering skill and QA plant, every automated CAD driven metal milling machine. All of it came to a place that made cheap shoes. > Walking down the street in Shenzhen you see a vast array of all sorts of components, During the 80s you could walk around Akihabara in Tokyo or maybe even Ximending in Taipei and see the same thing. In the 90s it was Yongsan in Seoul. There is no special geographic, resource or economic reason why it has to be in China. And we know this because it was previously in other places. Shenzhen is simply the latest stop for global manufacturing. Foxconn, the symbol of Chinese manufacturing, after all, is Taiwanese. It's not like the change happened over night, or even that it's entirely completed today. Japan still makes some of the highest-end precision optical components on the planet, video games and robotics. South Korea still dominates in memory and display technologies. Hell, the U.S. still designs some of the best consumer electronics anywhere. Someday, people will speak in awe of the tech ecosystem in <insert city in some other country> and talk about the grand 'ol days in Shenzhen...which will be known mostly for drones and pinball machines or something. It may take a decade, but it will happen.

sonnyblarney 7y ago
Yes, I agree with all of that. But that kind of change is very rare. China has done more economic growth in 30 years than any nation in history. I don't see India or Vietnam moving that quickly in any direction. Vietnam does not have the scale or institutions, India has all sorts of problems. China declared Shenzhen to be a global city for this and they 'made it happen'. I'm not sure if there are going to be other candidates. But in the end, it's diffusive and I agree with you, maybe some countries are able to carve out niches. Maybe India beats China to chip fabs or something, due to their competitive position in adjacent things like software, and their relationship with American companies on that front, and the fact it may not take 'a national directive' to do it.