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> But it’s hard to deny scale: the US is a populous country. But there are more than ONE BILLION more people in China. This is true for the US alone, but US+Ca
by moring 1y ago
> But it’s hard to deny scale: the US is a populous country. But there are more than ONE BILLION more people in China.
This is true for the US alone, but US+Canada+EU is on the same order of magnitude, all of which prefer a more-than-zero-trust situation.
- dotancohen 1y agoWhich is also very spread out, with an ocean bisecting. Not exactly "skilled workers right across the street" for most of that land.
- arccy 1y agonot just an ocean, the various governments and visas make it hard to move people you need
- FirmwareBurner 1y agoVisas are a political human construct subject to change, not a immovable force of nature. The same visa keeping workers out, can always be removed or changed over night if desired to achieve the opposite effect: move masses of skilled people in. See operation paperclip.
- RobotToaster 1y agoNot just people, parts too. Importing parts from the USA to the UK often takes longer and has more paperwork than from China.
- throwaway3025 1y agoAlso don't forget tolls / tariffs. Building products that relies on parts from different countries (at least from/to USA) reduces the margins compared to a unified Chinese market.
- moring 1y agoChina is huge in area too. You don't have one billion people right across the street. Anything that is across the street is, by definition, a localized thing involving far fewer people, which you can totally have in US+CA+EU too.
- sitkack 1y agoIf you look at historic locations of hyperinnovation there are bunch of different things. One of which is density of the activity and the supply chain. Imagine needing a new gearset for a robot, you roll down to Gear Set Alley looking for a used unit, you hit 4 different robot wrecking yards, explaining to 5 people along the way. They eventually point you over to machine shop that has modified an existing part into exactly what you are looking for. You can solve in a day what might take you a day, what might take you 20 days, 3x the price and a lead time of weeks. These kinds of hyperfocused, super dense innovation zones have existed in many places across all of time.
- moring 1y agoA bit late, but I'll try... This assumes that Gear Set Alley is near you. At >3km you'd go by car and the "meet people on the way" breaks down. At >100km you'd rather call them and miss the wrecking yards and other factories nearby. In China, Gear Set Alley may easily be 1000km from you. Or it may be <3km from you, if you're lucky. The point is that China, taken as a whole, has no advantage over EU or US in geographical proximity. Certain regions may have that advantage, but that is totally possible in every country on earth (beyond a certain, very tiny minimum size).