Apple is tentatively stepping into more manufacturing in the US
Apple is slowly adding more manufacturing sites in the United States with a focus on California, as it tries to shift more manufacturing out of China.
Apple Park headquarters
Apple released a supplier list for the fiscal year 2021, showing that 48 of its 180 suppliers have moved some operations to the US as of September 2021. The number was up from 25 suppliers in 2020.
Over 30 manufacturing sites were in California, compared with less than 10 in 2020.
Major suppliers such as Qualcomm, Foxconn, and Sony added more production sites in 2021, although the list doesn't mention which states they are located. These companies provide Apple with critical components such as modems, image sensors, and product assembly.
However, the supplier list doesn't mention how much business Apple does with each company or describe what they do. It also contains some errors, and actual numbers may be slightly different than official data.
Supplier officials say these factories tend to be small production lines for testing new products or service-related operations. However, they still play an important role in Apple's supply chain.
China remains the dominant country for Apple's supply chain, hosting approximately 150 out of its 180 suppliers. These suppliers are responsible for making chips, screens, camera parts, and motors.
Some suppliers have already extended production outside China, such as in Vietnam and India. For example, Apple started iPhone 14 production in India a few weeks after its release.
As of August 2022, Apple has tested production of the Apple Watch and MacBook Pro in Vietnam. Foxconn is also planning to invest $300 million to expand its North Vietnamese factory.
Officials say it's helpful to be near Apple's headquarters on certain occasions. Travel has been challenging between California and China since 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions, although Apple has tried to alleviate some of the burdens through live streaming.
The move is also good for Apple to show that it's working to bring more manufacturing to the US. In August, President Biden signed a law that brings over $50 billion in aid for companies to build semiconductor plants in the country.
Read on AppleInsider
Apple Park headquarters
Apple released a supplier list for the fiscal year 2021, showing that 48 of its 180 suppliers have moved some operations to the US as of September 2021. The number was up from 25 suppliers in 2020.
Over 30 manufacturing sites were in California, compared with less than 10 in 2020.
Major suppliers such as Qualcomm, Foxconn, and Sony added more production sites in 2021, although the list doesn't mention which states they are located. These companies provide Apple with critical components such as modems, image sensors, and product assembly.
However, the supplier list doesn't mention how much business Apple does with each company or describe what they do. It also contains some errors, and actual numbers may be slightly different than official data.
Supplier officials say these factories tend to be small production lines for testing new products or service-related operations. However, they still play an important role in Apple's supply chain.
China remains the dominant country for Apple's supply chain, hosting approximately 150 out of its 180 suppliers. These suppliers are responsible for making chips, screens, camera parts, and motors.
Some suppliers have already extended production outside China, such as in Vietnam and India. For example, Apple started iPhone 14 production in India a few weeks after its release.
As of August 2022, Apple has tested production of the Apple Watch and MacBook Pro in Vietnam. Foxconn is also planning to invest $300 million to expand its North Vietnamese factory.
Officials say it's helpful to be near Apple's headquarters on certain occasions. Travel has been challenging between California and China since 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions, although Apple has tried to alleviate some of the burdens through live streaming.
The move is also good for Apple to show that it's working to bring more manufacturing to the US. In August, President Biden signed a law that brings over $50 billion in aid for companies to build semiconductor plants in the country.
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
Global warming is making a lot of places unstable and will be even worse in the future. India, Vietnam, and southern China are all part of Himalayan plateau hydrological cycle, and many of the coastal areas are low lying. They will get the trifecta of, at best, unstable water sources, crazy heat stress and sea level rise. The two big river deltas in Vietnam may not get fresh water in a few decades as it will be sucked up upstream while sea level rise will salt all that valuable rice farmland in the deltas, if not outright flood.
China isn't going to invade Taiwan until there is a someone who makes it a de facto dictatorship, like Putin and Russia, and that dictator has lost their strategic senses in a narcissistic vortex. As it is, I think the party knows that invading serves no purpose other than to sacrifice the lives of young men for nothing, while putting their economy in a existential crisis. The other scenario is the US chooses not to defend Taiwan. As long the US prevents a total blockade of Taiwan and continually supplies them, invasion isn't tenable. Meanwhile, I think Foxconn, Pegatron, and TSMC is just going to keep on going, and other companies will pick up the slack. They'll just move the assembly elsewhere.
Also, if Apple is trying to "shift more manufacturing out of China" that implies that some has already shifted, and we see from the examples given in the article that this is indeed the case. "Making an attempt" is not the same as "has already achieved."
It's a complex system, though, with many interdependent parts. I think the timeframe's about right.
We’re unfortunately deep into another political season and the TV commercials are filled with mind numbing ad after mind numbing ad about “bringing manufacturing jobs back to America” as if China “stole” them (we gave them away) and that all manufacturing jobs are interchangeable and a laid off steel mill worker is going to suddenly be assembling iPhones.
I’m just saying that it’s one thing to chase after at the “coming back to America jobs” train that politicians are imagining and quite another thing to think about what happens if we actually catch that train. Who is going to pay to build those new factories and who is going to pay to train the workers needed to run those factories? Optimus robots? Our vocational and skills based training resources in the US are pretty weak compared to just about everywhere else and has anyone noticed all the “help wanted” signs that are now permanent fixtures in front of just about every business you pass by?
It took us about 30 years to get where we are with the eradication of manufacturing capability and capacity in the US. Why do we think doing a big “undo” on that process is going to happen overnight? Is there a nuclear Ctrl-Z that I’m unaware of?
obviously nothing critical.