Apple suppliers added manufacturing operations close to the California-based tech company in fiscal 2021, a sign of how quixotic COVID-19 responses in various countries, especially China, and geopolitics are reshaping and diversifying supply chains.
Yang Jie for The Wall Street Journal:
Of Apple’s more than 180 suppliers, 48 had manufacturing sites in the U.S. as of September 2021, up from 25 a year earlier, according to a supplier list released by Apple. More than 30 sites were in California, compared with fewer than 10 a year earlier.
Many major suppliers such as chip makers Qualcomm Inc. and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., product assembler Foxconn Technology Group and image sensor provider Sony Group Corp., added production sites in the U.S. during the year, the list shows…
Travel between California and China has been difficult since early 2020 because of China’s Covid-19 restrictions. During the pandemic, Apple has relied more on local engineers in foreign countries and adopted technology such as live streaming to help staff at headquarters follow remotely what is happening on the factory floor. However, the supplier officials said there were still occasions when it was helpful to be near Apple’s headquarters, especially when tests of materials and parts for new products were involved.
The California moves by Apple’s suppliers are part of a broader transition in its supply chain. Apple has told some of its manufacturing partners it wants them to boost production outside China, with Vietnam and India among the countries getting a closer look.
MacDailyNews Take: The more than can be done to increase diversification and promote competition, the better.
Apple’s 2021 Supplier List is here.
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Why anyone would increase their business footprint in the very business unfriendly state of CA is beyond me.
And yet California continues to outperform the backward looking states by a significant margin.
One would think someone who owns a Mac could distinguish between high value and low price.
These companies should relocate to excellent business friendly place like Texas
I suppose quixotic can be seen as a polite way of saying utterly insane.
California. Well it’s not like they will need electricity or natural gas or gasoline or anything.
Love it Theloniousmac!!
They might well stay in China as be in California. The west coast is a disaster.
Gavin wants to become the president in the future. He attacked Florida Governor Ron Desantis who is very well like, could be the next political opponent for Gavin.
If you were a patriotic American, you’d know how much better California is than China.
Y’all wanted Big Tech to repatriate manufacturing to the US. Now that Apple finally gets a plan going, you amp up your uninformed thinly veiled partisan politics. Pathetic!
Apple is, always was, a liberal company in a highly dynamic and expensive Si Valley. That won’t change anytime soon. Apple will very likely unveil a cutting edge facility 100% solar powered. Deal with it.