Ford CEO traveled to China.

I read that this morning. Not even a little surprising.

Some people have the outdated and misguided view that everything from China is low quality, but the American/Japanese/European manufactures better stay on their toes to compete in the future. These vehicles are high quality and continue to improve at a rapid pace.
Of course they are high quality. Why does anyone thing differently?
If they weren't, we wouldn't have to slap 100% tariffs on them and they would not have the issues in the EU with the flood of Chinese cars over there to the point that the EU wants to impose tariffs ... I guess saving the planet is out the window now in the EU! How ironic!?!? That is what people are asking over there. Why put tariffs on affordable Chinese EVs when you promote saving the planet?
 
China is a manufacturing powerhouse. China is our enemy.
Regarding software, we need to educate more people or cede the world to China.
I get the feeling many do not understand the importance of software, in particular AI.

There is, thankfully, a current trend to being Semiconductor Manufacturing to Arizona and other US cities via the CHIPS and Science Act. Progress has been delayed; you know why? There's not enough qualified talent, among other things.
I keep reading that they're barely making money. Employees are barely making money.
 
Of course they are high quality. Why does anyone thing differently?
If they weren't, we wouldn't have to slap 100% tariffs on them and they would not have the issues in the EU with the flood of Chinese cars over there to the point that the EU wants to impose tariffs ... I guess saving the planet is out the window now in the EU! How ironic!?!? That is what people are asking over there. Why put tariffs on affordable Chinese EVs when you promote saving the planet?

I mean.. not mutually exclusive concepts. You can want people to buy domestic and still go for electric/hybrid.

But yeah, I understand the general point you're making.
 
Don't forget engineering. High Tech is all about engineering, from product design to manufacturing engineering, which is what TSMC does.
I don't know about that. TSMC doesn't design chips. A lot of their machinery comes from a lot of OEM's, like ASML and your old friends Lam :). There operationally efficient - but like most manufacturers they rely on OEM's, machine builders and integrators to build the system for them
 
I don't know about that. TSMC doesn't design chips. A lot of their machinery comes from a lot of OEM's, like ASML and your old friends Lam :). There operationally efficient - but like most manufacturers they rely on OEM's, machine builders and integrators to build the system for them
Yes, TSMC does not make end products; that's what I meant to say. TSMC is a "pure-play" foundry, that specializes in manufacturing chips. I am not sure it is 100% fair to say they don't design; but you are right. I guess I say "not 100%" because there is a lot of work between the companies to realize the circuit design production.
Apple and NVIDIA are examples of "fabless" chip companies; they design and have TSMC crank 'em out. TSMC was the 1st pure-play fab (I believe) and are the best at semiconductor manufacturing engineering.

And they make a lotta money. Nanometrics for the win, baby!
 
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Remember these "new" car manufacturers operate like Tesla, plus they have deep pocket and don't mind sell a car at huge loss. Battery is deeply subsidized by government. Policy that aggressively making trouble for owning ICEs are there for the last ten years. The whole market is twisted and guided by political goals. Ford is a company that competes in free market economy and can only do so much.

Oh and Chinese can purchase top quality components from worldwide vendors too. You cut that off and they fail apart.
 
We clearly do not. The promised onshoring did not happen. Except maybe for semicon - and that was government funded.

Were moving from China to other Southeast Asian countries.

The only reason manufacturing stays in China is the industrial plant base, which was mostly paid for by the West, is still there.

So we will now do the same thing for Viet Nam, Thailand, Indonesia, etc.

Rinse / Repeat

You built up their economy, they did not save the Soviets from collapse. I think that is the deal the US made.

However, it's not only about costs. If it was, any country where labour is cheaper would be able to replicate China's success. I don't think they will be able to. It's not only your money, but Chinese people producing the results.

China has a lot of factors that are not present in other countries like excellent STEM education, lower corruption, better infrastructure, and brutal east Asian work culture like in Korea and Japan. I don't think Indonesia and Thailand can seriously replace China.

It is not even clear if the semiconductor onshoring will work. I saw articles that the US government is debating whether they should legislate the use of Intel's foundary services.
 
We clearly do not. The promised onshoring did not happen. Except maybe for semicon - and that was government funded.

Were moving from China to other Southeast Asian countries.

The only reason manufacturing stays in China is the industrial plant base, which was mostly paid for by the West, is still there.

So we will now do the same thing for Viet Nam, Thailand, Indonesia, etc.

Rinse / Repeat
It started with Japan.
 
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