chinacat
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AAPL Long since 2006
Posts: 4,425
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Post by chinacat on Aug 14, 2019 4:59:58 GMT -8
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Post by longsince98 on Aug 14, 2019 5:22:41 GMT -8
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4aapl
Moderator
Posts: 3,598
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Post by 4aapl on Aug 14, 2019 5:56:19 GMT -8
So what do companies end up choosing to do to minimize the unknown but chaotic effects of possible tariffs, the wall of worry? This morning an article spoke of some companies like HP moving their US-bound laptop production to Taiwan. Another place was moving it's laptop production. And the company Apple uses for one of it's lines said that while Apple hasn't asked such, they could move US-bound production to a different country. I believe in all cases the production wasn't coming to the US, and it mentioned that parts and production were worldwide, even if some/most/all engineering was in the US. Much like t-shirt production, is it likely to ever come back to the US, or just move? And is there any reason to push to have it come to the US? I'd like to see production via automation come to the US, which also requires a lot of backend support just as in a semiconductor Fab, but I don't really see a human based production coming back. I think this is spot on ! ! Thanks hledgard The advantage that I didn't get to mentioning is that even if production doesn't come back to the US, it's likely to at least be segmented into other countries. Instead of whole production lines being run in India (i.e. all of the iPhone 7's and 8's), maybe they at least have the capability to run a current line, if not some percentage of the overall production needs. This allows Apple to both hedge it's bets against myriad issues (natural or unnatural disasters, etc) but assuming the end product is fungible then Apple can switch things up as needed, such as to avoid or minimize tariffs, both here and elsewhere. It's tough. Intel duplicates fabs, including putting extra pipe twists that were needed in the first building, but not in the 2nd. A 2011 toyota Rav4 of a friend's that I helped fix a few panels had a specific door wiring harness and powered mirror depending on if it was made in Japan or Canada. Not what I would have expected! But if Apple does manage it, the diversification can help them in multiple ways. Then it comes down to the economics, if the extra cost and complexity is worth it for this extra flexibility. It may or may not be, though with how Apple tries to always have multiple suppliers for specific parts (screens, memory, chip fabrication), I'm surprised the assembly hasn't been more multi sourced.
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