Having worked in the semiconductor manufacturing industry for a decade, albeit a while ago now, this article seems a bit overblown. The packaging industry was

Having worked in the semiconductor manufacturing industry for a decade, albeit a while ago now, this article seems a bit overblown. The packaging industry was moved to low-cost areas long before the semiconductor fabs were; the fab is generally considered the high-tech part. Not that packaging isn't important or specialized or difficult in its own way, but it's done in lots of countries, and it is not in the slightest unusual for it to be done in a different country than the wafer fab. Usually (though by no means always), a country with lower cost of labor.