Apple looks to move away from China for its new products, says Kuo

Plans to move away from over-reliance on China have been affected by COVID

Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says that Apple's previous desire to reduce its reliance on China has become "an action plan" since the country's recent lockdowns.

The coronavirus was one of the first prompts for Apple, and other technology firms, to reassess their reliance on any one country as a source. However, the coronavirus was then also a reason why plans to make major moves were delayed, and the result was that Apple continued to be reliant on China.

Now analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says that the recent COVID lockdowns in the country have made Apple step up its thinking about diversifying production.

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Apple's new product introduction (NPI) sites are almost in China. It was the first time for Apple to evaluate building NPI sites in non-China seriously when the COVID-19 outbreak first occurred about two years ago, but internally it only proceeded to the proposal stage.
— (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) April 21, 2022

"However, after the recent lockdowns in China," continues Kuo in his tweets, "to diversify supply chain management risks, building NPI sites in non-China is no longer a proposal but an action plan."

"New Product Introduction" sites does not necessarily mean completely new categories of device, although Tim Cook is said to hope to introduce one such brand-new venture before he retires.

Previously, Kuo has used NPI when reporting on expectations for the forthcoming Apple Watch Series 8.

Kuo has no further details, and it's also not clear whether this tweet is based on information from the supply chain, or is more supposition like most of his tweets since becoming active on Twitter in March, 2022.

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35 Comments

JWSC

said about 1 year ago

Assuming this is true, the recent Shanghai lockdowns have provided Apple with a politically acceptable excuse (from a CCP perspective) for Apple to move a large percentage of its supply chain outside China. Apple can point to 'supply chain instability' as a business reason, rather than the more concerning aspect of being reliant on business entities within a totalitarian regime that thinks little of human rights. Apple doesn't want to talk about that with China for fear that it would put them in bad standing with CCP officials. But the supply chain excuse can be viewed as non-political.

rob53

said about 1 year ago

JWSC said:

Assuming this is true, the recent Shanghai lockdowns have provided Apple with a politically acceptable excuse (from a CCP perspective) for Apple to move a large percentage of its supply chain outside China. Apple can point to 'supply chain instability' as a business reason, rather than the more concerning aspect of being reliant on business entities within a totalitarian regime that thinks little of human rights. Apple doesn't want to talk about that with China for fear that it would put them in bad standing with CCP officials. But the supply chain excuse can be viewed as non-political.

And where would they go? India? Definitely not the USA because no company would be able to find enough Americans willing to do the type of work needed. All the USA produces are lawyers and MBAs, not people who can actually use their hands and brains in combination.

tmay

said about 1 year ago

rob53 said:

JWSC said:

Assuming this is true, the recent Shanghai lockdowns have provided Apple with a politically acceptable excuse (from a CCP perspective) for Apple to move a large percentage of its supply chain outside China. Apple can point to 'supply chain instability' as a business reason, rather than the more concerning aspect of being reliant on business entities within a totalitarian regime that thinks little of human rights. Apple doesn't want to talk about that with China for fear that it would put them in bad standing with CCP officials. But the supply chain excuse can be viewed as non-political.

And where would they go? India? Definitely not the USA because no company would be able to find enough Americans willing to do the type of work needed. All the USA produces are lawyers and MBAs, not people who can actually use their hands and brains in combination.

Oh for fucks sake.

The U.S. is globally dominant in a substantial number of industries, so your statement is complete bullshit.

This coming from a guy with a degree in Mechanical Engineering that makes shit every day, so yeah, using my hands and brain in combination.

williamh

said about 1 year ago

waveparticle said:

JWSC said:

Assuming this is true, the recent Shanghai lockdowns have provided Apple with a politically acceptable excuse (from a CCP perspective) for Apple to move a large percentage of its supply chain outside China. Apple can point to 'supply chain instability' as a business reason, rather than the more concerning aspect of being reliant on business entities within a totalitarian regime that thinks little of human rights. Apple doesn't want to talk about that with China for fear that it would put them in bad standing with CCP officials. But the supply chain excuse can be viewed as non-political.

As defined by western culture. China fighting hard to combat covid is not regarded as human rights by western culture. The western culture regards freedom far supersedes human life. Because Christianity thinks our life is given by God. Death is not regarded termination of life.

I don't think the OP is referring to combating COVID when they wrote of human rights. Perhaps they were referring to the ~~slavery and the genocide~~ - the care for the Uyghurs. There will surely be other supply chain disruptions such as when China decides to conduct a "special operation" in the "renegade province."

waveparticle

said about 1 year ago

williamh said:

waveparticle said:

JWSC said:

Assuming this is true, the recent Shanghai lockdowns have provided Apple with a politically acceptable excuse (from a CCP perspective) for Apple to move a large percentage of its supply chain outside China. Apple can point to 'supply chain instability' as a business reason, rather than the more concerning aspect of being reliant on business entities within a totalitarian regime that thinks little of human rights. Apple doesn't want to talk about that with China for fear that it would put them in bad standing with CCP officials. But the supply chain excuse can be viewed as non-political.

As defined by western culture. China fighting hard to combat covid is not regarded as human rights by western culture. The western culture regards freedom far supersedes human life. Because Christianity thinks our life is given by God. Death is not regarded termination of life.

I don't think the OP is referring to combating COVID when they wrote of human rights. Perhaps they were referring to the ~~slavery and the genocide~~ - the care for the Uyghurs. There will surely be other supply chain disruptions such as when China decides to conduct a "special operation" in the "renegade province."

This is Bloomberg news. LOL

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-20/china-to-sign-forced-labor-treaties-as-xinjiang-scrutiny-grows?utm_source=google&utm_medium=bd&cmpId=google