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One troubling thing I find is that it is easy to assume Chinese=insecure/backdoored, but much harder to popularize scrutiny of “American” companies whose produc

One troubling thing I find is that it is easy to assume Chinese=insecure/backdoored, but much harder to popularize scrutiny of “American” companies whose products are entirely developed by Chinese teams with little to none domestic oversight. I saw this not out of any sympathy for China, but rather out of frustration that too many US-founded companies are now a shell with entirely foreign development and foreign manufacturing. They rest on a mighty reputation built over decades by American workers that are all now long laid off and/or dead. There are numerous examples ranging from fortune 50 companies all the way down… For example, take “Oregon Scientific” — I’d bet they haven’t employed a US engineer in 25 years! They can’t even claim their headquarters to be in the US! It’s not even about acquisitions. Look at job postings of any US tech company. Pick a WiFi router company — are there development jobs in the US or elsewhere? Or pick something more critical like Virtualization software — same story.

alephnerd 2y ago
> but much harder to popularize scrutiny of “American” companies whose products are entirely developed by Chinese teams with little to none domestic oversight That decoupling has begun happening for around a decade now in regulated industries - especially anything Defense or Defense Adjacent. That said, there are different value chains with differing levels of urgency, and there is a need to differentiate between them. For consumer and commodity products, continued R&D with China is fine nor is there an active need to rapidly decouple aside from as a negotiating tactic over anticompetitive behavior by Chinese players supported by a mix of federal and local governments. That said, there is an organic decoupling happening for around a decade now due to the 2015 recession, the SK-China Trade War (2017), the Japan-China Trade War (2014), the Taiwan-China Trade War (2013), the harshness of Zero COVID (a factory could get shut down for a month if even a single employee was found to be COVID positive! and higher operating costs that lead manufacturers and capital those countries to return to India, Indonesia, and Phillipines, and enter Vietnam (a major reason for their decade of 7% GDP growth). For the defense and regulated supply chain, there is an active need to decouple, and this already started under Obama 1 and continues under Trump and Biden. Also, the supply chain for this industry remained in the wider NATO+ due to higher margins being able to support manufacturing, development, and compliance.
quantified 2y ago
Wifi routers... are there any for home or small office use that aren't backdoored?

alephnerd 2y ago

> but much harder to popularize scrutiny of “American” companies whose products are entirely developed by Chinese teams with little to none domestic oversight That decoupling has begun happening for around a decade now in regulated industries - especially anything Defense or Defense Adjacent. That said, there are different value chains with differing levels of urgency, and there is a need to differentiate between them. For consumer and commodity products, continued R&D with China is fine nor is there an active need to rapidly decouple aside from as a negotiating tactic over anticompetitive behavior by Chinese players supported by a mix of federal and local governments. That said, there is an organic decoupling happening for around a decade now due to the 2015 recession, the SK-China Trade War (2017), the Japan-China Trade War (2014), the Taiwan-China Trade War (2013), the harshness of Zero COVID (a factory could get shut down for a month if even a single employee was found to be COVID positive! and higher operating costs that lead manufacturers and capital those countries to return to India, Indonesia, and Phillipines, and enter Vietnam (a major reason for their decade of 7% GDP growth). For the defense and regulated supply chain, there is an active need to decouple, and this already started under Obama 1 and continues under Trump and Biden. Also, the supply chain for this industry remained in the wider NATO+ due to higher margins being able to support manufacturing, development, and compliance.

quantified 2y ago

Wifi routers... are there any for home or small office use that aren't backdoored?