Why Are So Many Electronics Made In China?
Techquickie
·Techquickie
·2019-05-06
·
946 words · ~4 min read
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Wherever you are in the world, you won't have to look hard for somebody using an iPhone
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So you might think then that because the iPhone is just about everywhere Apple has facilities
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Turning out iPhones all over the world
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But the truth is that most of them are assembled in just one country China
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And this isn't just true for Apple gadgets
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I can virtually guarantee that if you take a closer look at any of the mass-produced gizmos in your home
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You'll find at least some parts of it that were made or assembled in China
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But why is China such a powerhouse for electronics manufacturing?
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many people assume that it's because China has a huge and inexpensive labor force and
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There's definitely some truth to this
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Not only is China the world's most populated country
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But it has lower minimum wages than much of the Western world in Shenzhen one of the world's largest high-tech
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Manufacturing hubs the minimum wage is less than three US dollars per hour
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But a large pool of cheap labor is far from the only reason that China is attractive to tech companies back in the
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1970s the Chinese government became interested in moving away from strict central planning and
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Toward opening up its economy to outside investment
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One part of this was designating the aforementioned Shenzhen as a special economic zone which encouraged
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foreign private businesses to set up shop in the area through tax breaks and
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relative freedom from Beijing's regulations China was especially interested in having these companies manufacture exports
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This strategy ended up proving very attractive for foreign firms and today Shenzhen is one of the world's busiest
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As many of the companies who put down roots there ended up building
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massive factories that can very quickly scale production if there's a huge contract to be fulfilled like right before a new iPhone would hit the
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market and remember that in addition to factories and laborers to work the assembly line you also need
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Engineers to oversee them and China has a massive number of engineers that can provide middle management way more than countries like the u.s.
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furthermore because of the sheer
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Scope of these facilities China can offer supply chain advantages lots of these factories focus on custom fabrication
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So everything from plastic injection for keyboards to making sure that a screw is the right shape and the right size
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This means that because they don't have to wait around for a part to arrive from the other side of the world
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China's manufacturers can respond quickly to customer demands or 11th hour design changes to top it all off
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Many Chinese manufacturers aren't focusing just on the export market anymore
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Folks who live in China are spending more on consumer goods than they ever have before
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Including electronics and with 1.4 billion potential customers right in their backyard
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Many of these companies are trying to expand their capacity even more to tap into the wallets of Chinese citizens
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Of course, this model is largely built on maximum efficiency
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which has led to a lot of controversy over the years about things like
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environmental standards and pollution wages company policies regarding attendance and interactions with co-workers
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forced relocation to often cramped on-campus living quarters a need to be available at a moment's notice and even
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Accusations of forced labor and these have led many observers to call out companies who they perceive to be using something akin to
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sweatshop labor
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but
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The fact that demand is so high for electronics makes this a problem with no immediately obvious answers
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Especially since consumers seem to be finding it very difficult to vote with their wallets so to speak
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Many things that might have been considered
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Frivolous gadgets ten years ago like smartphones are quickly becoming necessities of modern life and last time I checked
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none of those are made in the USA by middle-class workers making
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union wages
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So sound off in the comments with your opinions and let us know your ideas
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