“Apple Inc. added Flextronics International Ltd. (FLEX) as an assembler of Mac computers last year as Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook pushes forward with plans to have more of the company’s devices made in the U.S.,” Tim Culpan and Adam Satariano report for Bloomberg.
“Flextronics assembled Macs in Austin, Texas, last year, Apple said in its annual supplier report published yesterday,” Culpan and Satariano report. “Foxconn Technology Group remains the largest manufacturer of Apple products, with seven assembly locations in China and Brazil, according to the list published on Apple’s website.”
“Flextronics, with headquarters in California and Singapore, joins Quanta Computer Inc. (2382) as Asia-based companies supplying to Apple from some of 60 facilities in the U.S.,” Culpan and Satariano report. “Taiwan-based Quanta already makes some Macs in California. In November, Apple announced it would pay $578 million to GT Advanced Technologies Inc. (GTAT) to supply equipment for an advanced glass factory to be opened in Mesa, Arizona. The U.S. is the third-biggest hub in Apple’s supply chain…”
Read more in the full article here.
“…advanced glass factory…”???
Synthetic sapphire is a single crystal solid material. Glass is an amorphous (non-crystalline) solid. So I don’t think that it is appropriate to call synthetic sapphire “advanced glass.”
Don’t know the exact process but it may be glass with a vapor deposited layer of aluminum oxide (sapphire), and the other choice is a laminate with glass.
Manufactured by drawing out a boule of sapphire in a bath of aluminium oxide (Al2O3) in a high temperature furnace (1000°C).
The temperature is 2200C and above. This is why to host the sapphire plucks Apple bought 100 tonnes of graphite which can sustain up to 3000C.
TY BLN! I <3 Tech.
Something other than iOS 7 hate. Thanks BLN!
We need Flextronics in Austin to step it up a bit.
Wow! This really gives an insightful perspective on just how financially powerful Apple has become in a mere fifteen years, or so. It also offers a much more balanced perspective on why Apple has a strong tendency to hang on to it’s cash rather than get caught up in Ichan’s apparently benevolent anti-Apple-pro-investor non-sense, or Wall Street’s neurotic, negative cash-flow cycles.
Go Apple!
No more chinese spying with their hardware sniffers!
Great!
This makes it much easier for NSA to squeeze their own into the box!
It is interesting that even in the US Apple are outsourcing manufacturing. For them it is a good move because all they need to commit to is a contract for a fixed period of time. If they want to change their manufacturing sources they can without worrying about managing the manpower.
Obviously they have to pay for the work to be done but it is easier than managing the factory.
They are not really outsourcing manufacturing. They are outsourcing manufacturing plant setup, operations and maintenance. That is an important difference. Apple owns the manufacturing facility and the either owns or leases the advanced equipment in the plant. In is an interesting middle ground that few companies seem to take.
Apple’s relationship with Foxconn is even more nuanced. Apple is mostly outsourcing assembly, but invested billions in advanced automation equipment.
In the area of ICs for iOS devices, Apple performs chip design in-house, but completely outsources manufacturing. Samsung and TSMC manufacture the A-series chips for iOS devices. For its Mac computers, Apple is completely dependent (for now) on Intel. That may change in the future because the A7 is already 64-bit and Apple will continue to enhance processing and graphics performance in balance with power efficiency. There are rumors that Intel might even work with Apple to become an A-series processor foundry to occupy some of its unused advanced manufacturing capability at 14nm and (soon) 10nm processes.
Apple is striking a good balance between outsourcing, partially outsourcing, and owning its product manufacturing lines in combination with long-term guaranteed supplier contracts and its wholly owned retail operations, both brick-and-mortar and online.
Best to stick to your areas of expertise I guess.
With all that US ca$h they had to either give a huge chunk to Uncle Sam or transfer a liquid asset into a hard one. No one should be surprised by this choice. Take note senators, if you REALY are serious about boosting the economy and creating jobs there are TRILLIONS of other US dollars out there that would love to come home and create jobs too if only Uncle Sam would get out of the way. There will be PLENTY of taxes to be paid with all the economic growth it will generate.