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So I googled and saw that there's 4.8 Million apple employees in China? More than i expected when I started the Google search. With that said, is that enough f

So I googled and saw that there's 4.8 Million apple employees in China? More than i expected when I started the Google search. With that said, is that enough for China to care at all? a little? a lot? Meaning, I wouldn't be surprised if China would forgo plenty of jobs from Western companies as their economy matures. Especially if China fully boycotted Apple, I doubt many other US Companies would respond at all Many of those companies are showing themselves to be spineless right now

mey 7y ago
Is that number direct employee's or does that include MFG/Suppliers etc? Either way, 4.8 million people + friends/family, being angry is not a small number. China's population is ~1.3 billion according to CIA world fact book. So it's certainly less than 1% of the population, but not insignificant.
- d0100 7y ago
  I'd say it's significant because those are the people "awake". Most of the population are poor country-side folks who couldn't revolt in any meaningful way.
mc32 7y ago
Guess it depends on how spread out or concentrated they are geographically. If concentrated it would have greater impact on a region.
JumpCrisscross 7y ago
> if China fully boycotted Apple They'd seize the factories and continue production, at least for the medium term. It makes no sense economically, but it keeps Xi in power. To Beijing, the factories are valuable for (a) IP and (b) jobs. Apple walking deprives China of (a), but not (b), not in the short term.
- oceanplexian 7y ago
  This is an interesting thought, because most Apple products are essentially bricked without software activation. And Apple has gone to great lengths to make it impossible to circumvent. Sure, they could produce cheap clones running Android but China already does that.
  - JumpCrisscross 7y ago
    > most Apple products are essentially bricked without software activation In the near-term, expropriation would stave off job losses. (In the cities, amidst highly-skilled workers no less.) In the medium term, production lines could be adapted to make non-bricked products. Long story short, the threat of massive job losses to China is minimal--Apple has limited leverage over Beijing.
- makapuf 7y ago
  Good luck producing iPhones without the chips, which are not made in China and have at most a few weeks worth of stock, I'd guess.
  - JumpCrisscross 7y ago
    > Good luck producing iPhones without the chips They wouldn't produce iPhones without the chips. They'd just keep running the lines. Apple has limited leverage in threatening to walk away from China.
    - throwaway2048 7y ago
      The vast majority of the chips are not made in china, there are no "lines" for them to run.
  - makapuf 7y ago
    Ah you mean apple can't stop producing in China quickly. Well that's what you get for putting all your eggs in the same red basket.
Despegar 7y ago
It's easy to boycott companies that are only in China as another market to sell to. It's not easy to boycott one of the largest private employers in an industry the CCP views as strategically important.
tnolet 7y ago
Not sure what Google you use, but Apple has about 123.000 employees in total. Edit: according to Wiki, the US DoD is the largest employer in the world at 2.1M employees.https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_employers https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_employers
- prklmn 7y ago
  This figure includes the employees of Apple contractors. It’s a representation of how many jobs Apple supports in China. Of course Apple is not directly manufacturing anything in China, but the factories and parts suppliers are very much dependent on Apple’s business.
La1n 7y ago
Can you share the source for the 4.8M?

mey 7y ago

Is that number direct employee's or does that include MFG/Suppliers etc? Either way, 4.8 million people + friends/family, being angry is not a small number. China's population is ~1.3 billion according to CIA world fact book. So it's certainly less than 1% of the population, but not insignificant.

d0100 7y ago
I'd say it's significant because those are the people "awake". Most of the population are poor country-side folks who couldn't revolt in any meaningful way.

mc32 7y ago

Guess it depends on how spread out or concentrated they are geographically. If concentrated it would have greater impact on a region.

JumpCrisscross 7y ago

> if China fully boycotted Apple They'd seize the factories and continue production, at least for the medium term. It makes no sense economically, but it keeps Xi in power. To Beijing, the factories are valuable for (a) IP and (b) jobs. Apple walking deprives China of (a), but not (b), not in the short term.

oceanplexian 7y ago
This is an interesting thought, because most Apple products are essentially bricked without software activation. And Apple has gone to great lengths to make it impossible to circumvent. Sure, they could produce cheap clones running Android but China already does that.
- JumpCrisscross 7y ago
  > most Apple products are essentially bricked without software activation In the near-term, expropriation would stave off job losses. (In the cities, amidst highly-skilled workers no less.) In the medium term, production lines could be adapted to make non-bricked products. Long story short, the threat of massive job losses to China is minimal--Apple has limited leverage over Beijing.
makapuf 7y ago
Good luck producing iPhones without the chips, which are not made in China and have at most a few weeks worth of stock, I'd guess.
- JumpCrisscross 7y ago
  > Good luck producing iPhones without the chips They wouldn't produce iPhones without the chips. They'd just keep running the lines. Apple has limited leverage in threatening to walk away from China.
  - throwaway2048 7y ago
    The vast majority of the chips are not made in china, there are no "lines" for them to run.
- makapuf 7y ago
  Ah you mean apple can't stop producing in China quickly. Well that's what you get for putting all your eggs in the same red basket.

Despegar 7y ago

It's easy to boycott companies that are only in China as another market to sell to. It's not easy to boycott one of the largest private employers in an industry the CCP views as strategically important.

tnolet 7y ago

Not sure what Google you use, but Apple has about 123.000 employees in total. Edit: according to Wiki, the US DoD is the largest employer in the world at 2.1M employees.https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_employers https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_employers

prklmn 7y ago
This figure includes the employees of Apple contractors. It’s a representation of how many jobs Apple supports in China. Of course Apple is not directly manufacturing anything in China, but the factories and parts suppliers are very much dependent on Apple’s business.

La1n 7y ago

Can you share the source for the 4.8M?