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I can finally buy a new computer that isn't made in Tiongland.
*****
Apple to shift some Mac production from China to US: CEO Cook
Updated 10:00 AM Dec 07, 2012
NEW YORK - Apple CEO Tim Cook says the company will move production of one of its existing lines of Mac computers to the United States next year.
Industry watchers said the announcement is both a cunning public-relations move and a harbinger of more manufacturing jobs moving back to the US as wages rise in China.
Mr Cook made the comments in part of an interview that aired yesterday morning, posted on the NBC network's website.
In a separate interview, Mr Cook told Bloomberg the company would spend US$100 million (S$120 million) next year to move production of the line to the US from China.
"This doesn't mean that Apple will do it ourselves but we'll be working with people and we'll be investing our money," Mr Cook told Bloomberg.
That suggests the company could be helping one of its Taiwanese manufacturing partners, which run factories in China, to set up production lines in the US devoted to Apple products. Research firm IHS iSuppli noted that both Foxconn Technology, which assembles iPhones, and Quanta Computer, which does the same for MacBooks, already have small operations in the US.
Apple representatives had no comment yesterday beyond Mr Cook's remarks.
Like most consumer electronics companies, Apple forges agreements with contract manufacturers to assemble its products overseas. However, the assembly accounts for a fraction of the cost of making a PC or smartphone. Most of the cost lies in buying chips and many of those are made in the US, Mr Cook noted in his interview with NBC.
The company and Foxconn have faced significant criticism this year over working conditions at the Chinese facilities where Apple products are assembled. The attention prompted Foxconn to raise salaries.
Mr Cook did not say which line of computers would be produced in the US or where in the country they would be made. AP
*****
Apple to shift some Mac production from China to US: CEO Cook
Updated 10:00 AM Dec 07, 2012
NEW YORK - Apple CEO Tim Cook says the company will move production of one of its existing lines of Mac computers to the United States next year.
Industry watchers said the announcement is both a cunning public-relations move and a harbinger of more manufacturing jobs moving back to the US as wages rise in China.
Mr Cook made the comments in part of an interview that aired yesterday morning, posted on the NBC network's website.
In a separate interview, Mr Cook told Bloomberg the company would spend US$100 million (S$120 million) next year to move production of the line to the US from China.
"This doesn't mean that Apple will do it ourselves but we'll be working with people and we'll be investing our money," Mr Cook told Bloomberg.
That suggests the company could be helping one of its Taiwanese manufacturing partners, which run factories in China, to set up production lines in the US devoted to Apple products. Research firm IHS iSuppli noted that both Foxconn Technology, which assembles iPhones, and Quanta Computer, which does the same for MacBooks, already have small operations in the US.
Apple representatives had no comment yesterday beyond Mr Cook's remarks.
Like most consumer electronics companies, Apple forges agreements with contract manufacturers to assemble its products overseas. However, the assembly accounts for a fraction of the cost of making a PC or smartphone. Most of the cost lies in buying chips and many of those are made in the US, Mr Cook noted in his interview with NBC.
The company and Foxconn have faced significant criticism this year over working conditions at the Chinese facilities where Apple products are assembled. The attention prompted Foxconn to raise salaries.
Mr Cook did not say which line of computers would be produced in the US or where in the country they would be made. AP
