XPost: talk.politics.guns, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, misc.phone.mobile.iphone   
   XPost: sac.politics   
   From: bjm@alt.net   
      
   In article    
    wrote:   
   >   
   > Apple uses slaves to build toys for stupid people.   
   >   
   In recent weeks, Apple Inc. has accelerated plans to shift some   
   of its production outside China, long the dominant country in   
   the supply chain that built the world’s most valuable company,   
   say people involved in the discussions. It is telling suppliers   
   to plan more actively for assembling Apple products elsewhere in   
   Asia, particularly India and Vietnam, they say, and looking to   
   reduce dependence on Taiwanese assemblers led by Foxconn   
   Technology Group.   
      
   Turmoil at a place called iPhone City helped propel Apple’s   
   shift. At the giant city-within-a-city in Zhengzhou, China, as   
   many as 300,000 workers work at a factory run by Foxconn to make   
   iPhones and other Apple products. At one point, it alone made   
   about 85% of the Pro lineup of iPhones, according to market-   
   research firm Counterpoint Research.   
      
   The Zhengzhou factory was convulsed in late November by violent   
   protests. In videos posted online, workers upset about wages and   
   Covid-19 restrictions could be seen throwing items and shouting   
   “Stand up for your rights!” Riot police were present, the videos   
   show. The location of one of the videos was verified by the news   
   agency and video-verification service Storyful. The Wall Street   
   Journal corroborated events shown in the videos with workers at   
   the site.   
      
   Coming after a year of events that weakened China’s status as a   
   stable manufacturing center, the upheaval means Apple no longer   
   feels comfortable having so much of its business tied up in one   
   place, according to analysts and people in the Apple supply   
   chain.   
      
   “In the past, people didn’t pay attention to concentration   
   risks,” said Alan Yeung, a former U.S. executive for Foxconn.   
   “Free trade was the norm and things were very predictable. Now   
   we’ve entered a new world.”   
      
   One response, say the people involved in Apple’s supply chain,   
   is to draw from a bigger pool of assemblers—even if those   
   companies are themselves based in China. Two Chinese companies   
   that are in line to get more Apple business, they say, are   
   Luxshare Precision Industry Co. and Wingtech Technology Co.   
      
   On calls with investors earlier this year, Luxshare executives   
   said some consumer-electronics clients, which they didn’t name,   
   were worried about Chinese supply-chain snafus caused by Covid-   
   prevention measures, power shortages and other issues. They said   
   these clients wanted Luxshare to help them do more work outside   
   China.   
      
   The executives referred to what is known as new product   
   introduction, or NPI, when Apple assigns teams to work with   
   contractors in translating its product blueprints and prototypes   
   into a detailed manufacturing plan.   
      
   It is the guts of what it takes to actually build hundreds of   
   millions of gadgets, and an area where China, with its   
   concentration of production engineers and suppliers, has   
   excelled.   
      
   Apple has told its manufacturing partners that it wants them to   
   start trying to do more of this work outside of China, according   
   to people involved in the discussions. Unless places like India   
   and Vietnam can do NPI too, they will remain stuck playing   
   second fiddle, say supply-chain specialists. However, the   
   slowing global economy and slowing hiring at Apple have made it   
   hard for the tech giant to allocate personnel for NPI work with   
   new suppliers and new countries, said some of the people in the   
   discussions.   
      
   Apple and China have spent decades tying themselves together in   
   a relationship that, until now, has mostly been mutually   
   beneficial. Change won’t come overnight. Apple still puts out   
   new iPhone models every year, alongside steady updates of its   
   iPads, laptops and other products. It must keep flying the plane   
   while replacing an engine.   
      
   “Finding all the pieces to build at the scale Apple needs is not   
   easy,” said Kate Whitehead, a former Apple operations manager   
   who now owns her own supply-chain consulting firm.   
      
   Yet the transition is under way, driven by two causes that are   
   feeding on each other to threaten China’s historic economic   
   strength. Some Chinese youth are no longer eager to work for   
   modest wages assembling electronics for the affluent. They are   
      
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