Pair of Apple suppliers seek funding to expand AirPods production in Vietnam

AppleInsider

Suppliers Goertek and Luxshare are looking for financial support to expand AirPods assembly in Vietnam, potentially allowing for more Apple products to be sourced from outside China.

L-R: AirPods, AirPods 2, AirPods Pro

Goertek and Luxshare are reportedly seeking hundreds of millions of dollars to grow AirPods and AirPods Pro production in Vietnam, according to sources familiar with the matter. The move is being made in part to diversify Apple's supply chain, but also to continue to shift manufacturing outside of China, in case the "phase one" trade deal collapses and tariffs are reinstated.

After years of assembly and manufacture of wired EarPods and Lightning cables in Vietnam, Goertek began manufacturing of Apple's AirPods began on a trial basis in July. At the time, sources familiar with the situation claimed that Apple asked components suppliers to support Goertek's efforts, even though initial production runs were small.

Thursday's report by The Information is the first suggesting that assembly of the AirPods would increase following the trial run. The report also notes that components sourced in China are easy to ship to Vietnam, and Vietnam's labor costs are about one-third of China's.

AirPods launched in 2016 as Apple's first foray into the truly wireless headphone market. An instant success, the company followed up on the original in early 2019 with a second-generation device that boasts the efficient H1 processor with "Hey Siri" functionality.

AirPods Pro saw a comparatively muted announcement in October, though the product delivered long-requested active noise cancellation capabilities, a completely redesigned chassis, new audio technology and more. Reviews have been nearly unanimous in their praise of the AirPods Pro, lauding higher-quality audio, a better fit and increased functionality as compared to older variants.

wizard69

Good news!   Apple and its partners need to leave China completely but of course that can’t happen instantly.   

seanismorris

This is just assembly, so most of the parts will likely still be made in China.  This move is just to get around tariffs...

I do wonder... Vietnam vs India. My guess is India is less stable politically...and has more interference with businesses.

seanismorris

wizard69 said:

Good news!   Apple and its partners need to leave China completely but of course that can’t happen instantly.   

Apple isn’t leaving China.  Assembly is easy to move around, but no one has the manufacturing capabilities of China.  

SpamSandwich

FYI, outsourcing work to Vietnam from China has been going on for a long time because of the savings in labor costs. More than a decade, from my experience.

GeorgeBMac

That's kind of silly.   Not only has Trump already surrendered in his unwinnable war but he'll be gone before any plants can be built.

GG1

SpamSandwich said:

FYI, outsourcing work to Vietnam from China has been going on for a long time because of the savings in labor costs. More than a decade, from my experience.

And no matter how the tariff kerfuffle ends up, any manufacturing that leaves China most likely won't be coming back (due to labor costs and the realization that being primarily dependent upon one country for manufacturing is not a good idea).

X00

GG1 said:

SpamSandwich said:

FYI, outsourcing work to Vietnam from China has been going on for a long time because of the savings in labor costs. More than a decade, from my experience.

And no matter how the tariff kerfuffle ends up, any manufacturing that leaves China most likely won't be coming back (due to labor costs and the realization that being primarily dependent upon one country for manufacturing is not a good idea).

Both Goertek and Luxshare are Chinese companies   So really Apple, like almost every other tech company, is still outsourcing to China who is then out sourcing the labor to other less expensive countries.  Most likely all of the IP issues still exist because China is still in the middle of it.  As stated above, just trying to get around the tariffs.

mwhite

GeorgeBMac said:

That's kind of silly.   Not only has Trump already surrendered in his unwinnable war but he'll be gone before any plants can be built.

4 more years.......

DAalseth

mwhite said:

GeorgeBMac said:

That's kind of silly.   Not only has Trump already surrendered in his unwinnable war but he'll be gone before any plants can be built.

4 more years.......

Sadly, I think you are correct. 

mwhite

DAalseth said:

mwhite said:

GeorgeBMac said:

That's kind of silly.   Not only has Trump already surrendered in his unwinnable war but he'll be gone before any plants can be built.

4 more years.......

Sadly, I think you are correct. 

Happily, I am correct.

StrangeDays

GeorgeBMac said:

That's kind of silly.   Not only has Trump already surrendered in his unwinnable war but he'll be gone before any plants can be built.

Just stop. Your TDS has made you myopic to the hundred other reasons to dislike doing business in China, a single-party, authoritarian, murderous regime state and grinds up human rights. I don’t know what your deal is, but I guarantee you would not wish to live in China by choice. 

StrangeDays

mwhite said:

DAalseth said:

mwhite said:

GeorgeBMac said:

That's kind of silly.   Not only has Trump already surrendered in his unwinnable war but he'll be gone before any plants can be built.

4 more years.......

Sadly, I think you are correct. 

Happily, I am correct.

Unless you’re among the multi-millionaire executive class that benefits from corporate welfare and tax policy benefitting those with capital gains income vs honest payroll income, which is unlikely if you’re commenting here, I see little reason for your supposed joy other than mindless dogmatic tribalism. But you do you. 

mwhite

StrangeDays said:

mwhite said:

DAalseth said:

mwhite said:

GeorgeBMac said:

That's kind of silly.   Not only has Trump already surrendered in his unwinnable war but he'll be gone before any plants can be built.

4 more years.......

Sadly, I think you are correct. 

Happily, I am correct.

Unless you’re among the multi-millionaire executive class that benefits from corporate welfare and tax policy benefitting those with capital gains income vs honest payroll income, which is unlikely if you’re commenting here, I see little reason for your supposed joy other than mindless dogmatic tribalism. But you do you. 

No I'm not a multi-millionaire I'm retired with a small pension but I do know that the un-employment is better than it has been in years, my son is in the union and before Trump the hall was full of un-employed workers but now there is hardly any in the hall needing a job. Open your eyes and look around .....

seanismorris

mwhite said:

StrangeDays said:

mwhite said:

DAalseth said:

mwhite said:

GeorgeBMac said:

That's kind of silly.   Not only has Trump already surrendered in his unwinnable war but he'll be gone before any plants can be built.

4 more years.......

Sadly, I think you are correct. 

Happily, I am correct.

Unless you’re among the multi-millionaire executive class that benefits from corporate welfare and tax policy benefitting those with capital gains income vs honest payroll income, which is unlikely if you’re commenting here, I see little reason for your supposed joy other than mindless dogmatic tribalism. But you do you. 

No I'm not a multi-millionaire I'm retired with a small pension but I do know that the un-employment is better than it has been in years, my son is in the union and before Trump the hall was full of un-employed workers but now there is hardly any in the hall needing a job. Open your eyes and look around .....

Unemployment is not a good indicator of the health of the economy/society.  Unemployment often happens when people are out looking for better jobs (a good thing) etc. It also doesn’t account for the people that want jobs but have given up looking.

Unemployment is incredibly complicated, and can’t be broken down to something like just “jobs added” etc. that is govt PR.  I’d suggest looking at stats on people’s savings. 

tzeshan

StrangeDays said:

GeorgeBMac said:

That's kind of silly.   Not only has Trump already surrendered in his unwinnable war but he'll be gone before any plants can be built.

Just stop. Your TDS has made you myopic to the hundred other reasons to dislike doing business in China, a single-party, authoritarian, murderous regime state and grinds up human rights. I don’t know what your deal is, but I guarantee you would not wish to live in China by choice. 

America is more murderous than China. The homicide rate in US is seven times higher than China. 

mwhite

seanismorris said:

mwhite said:

StrangeDays said:

mwhite said:

DAalseth said:

mwhite said:

GeorgeBMac said:

That's kind of silly.   Not only has Trump already surrendered in his unwinnable war but he'll be gone before any plants can be built.

4 more years.......

Sadly, I think you are correct. 

Happily, I am correct.

Unless you’re among the multi-millionaire executive class that benefits from corporate welfare and tax policy benefitting those with capital gains income vs honest payroll income, which is unlikely if you’re commenting here, I see little reason for your supposed joy other than mindless dogmatic tribalism. But you do you. 

No I'm not a multi-millionaire I'm retired with a small pension but I do know that the un-employment is better than it has been in years, my son is in the union and before Trump the hall was full of un-employed workers but now there is hardly any in the hall needing a job. Open your eyes and look around .....

Unemployment is not a good indicator of the health of the economy/society.  Unemployment often happens when people are out looking for better jobs (a good thing) etc. It also doesn’t account for the people that want jobs but have given up looking.

Unemployment is incredibly complicated, and can’t be broken down to something like just “jobs added” etc. that is govt PR.  I’d suggest looking at stats on people’s savings. 

Bull then why is the union hall empty? Also the Nasdaq is up over 9k today for the first time, looks like the economy is growing strong.

tmay

tzeshan said:

StrangeDays said:

GeorgeBMac said:

That's kind of silly.   Not only has Trump already surrendered in his unwinnable war but he'll be gone before any plants can be built.

Just stop. Your TDS has made you myopic to the hundred other reasons to dislike doing business in China, a single-party, authoritarian, murderous regime state and grinds up human rights. I don’t know what your deal is, but I guarantee you would not wish to live in China by choice. 

America is more murderous than China. The homicide rate in US is seven times higher than China. 

It would be impossible given the U.S. homicide rate, which is falling, for the U.S. to ever catch up with the 30 million plus that died under CCP rule in the past, and those that are dying under CCP rule in the present. I'm guessing that harvesting body parts from unwilling donors like political prisoners, is something that exists almost exclusively in China, that absolutely won't be found in the U.S. I would certainly consider that "homicide".

Your whataboutism does't really mitigate the Authoritarian governance of Xi Jinping and the CCP, nor China's obvious influence campaigns in the West that are in fact generating a heck of a lot of backlash.

GeorgeBMac

StrangeDays said:

GeorgeBMac said:

That's kind of silly.   Not only has Trump already surrendered in his unwinnable war but he'll be gone before any plants can be built.

Just stop. Your TDS has made you myopic to the hundred other reasons to dislike doing business in China, a single-party, authoritarian, murderous regime state and grinds up human rights. I don’t know what your deal is, but I guarantee you would not wish to live in China by choice. 

The difference is that I don't believe Trump's propaganda that ignores his own human rights violations and corruption and instead diverts attention to the country on the path to replace the U.S. as the world's leading economy.   For myself, I think our energy would be better spent fixing the problems dragging down the U.S. than attempting to drag others down.

GeorgeBMac

mwhite said:

StrangeDays said:

mwhite said:

DAalseth said:

mwhite said:

GeorgeBMac said:

That's kind of silly.   Not only has Trump already surrendered in his unwinnable war but he'll be gone before any plants can be built.

4 more years.......

Sadly, I think you are correct. 

Happily, I am correct.

Unless you’re among the multi-millionaire executive class that benefits from corporate welfare and tax policy benefitting those with capital gains income vs honest payroll income, which is unlikely if you’re commenting here, I see little reason for your supposed joy other than mindless dogmatic tribalism. But you do you. 

No I'm not a multi-millionaire I'm retired with a small pension but I do know that the un-employment is better than it has been in years, my son is in the union and before Trump the hall was full of un-employed workers but now there is hardly any in the hall needing a job. Open your eyes and look around .....

Thanks Obama!

GeorgeBMac

mwhite said:

seanismorris said:

mwhite said:

StrangeDays said:

mwhite said:

DAalseth said:

mwhite said:

GeorgeBMac said:

That's kind of silly.   Not only has Trump already surrendered in his unwinnable war but he'll be gone before any plants can be built.

4 more years.......

Sadly, I think you are correct. 

Happily, I am correct.

Unless you’re among the multi-millionaire executive class that benefits from corporate welfare and tax policy benefitting those with capital gains income vs honest payroll income, which is unlikely if you’re commenting here, I see little reason for your supposed joy other than mindless dogmatic tribalism. But you do you. 

No I'm not a multi-millionaire I'm retired with a small pension but I do know that the un-employment is better than it has been in years, my son is in the union and before Trump the hall was full of un-employed workers but now there is hardly any in the hall needing a job. Open your eyes and look around .....

Unemployment is not a good indicator of the health of the economy/society.  Unemployment often happens when people are out looking for better jobs (a good thing) etc. It also doesn’t account for the people that want jobs but have given up looking.

Unemployment is incredibly complicated, and can’t be broken down to something like just “jobs added” etc. that is govt PR.  I’d suggest looking at stats on people’s savings. 

Bull then why is the union hall empty? Also the Nasdaq is up over 9k today for the first time, looks like the economy is growing strong.

The stock market is not the economy.   Today, the stock market is propped up by unconstrained monetary stimulus, low borrowing rates and enormous deficits from unfunded tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy rather than from productivity or any fundamentals.  U.S. companies don't even invest in themselves anymore.  Instead they just give it away to stock holders.  Essentially the U.S. is like the family who mortgaged their home to fund a great vacation from reality.

Meanwhile wages, GDP, net savings, etc.,  languish down where they have been for the past 10 years.   No change.