Back in the day, my international economics professor told me corporations will set up, and base their business out of the countries that they see as the most stable. Because of this, it scares me when I see headlines like this, even though it is only production. If anyone has a counterpoint to what he said, I am very interested in hearing it
Apple Moves Mac Pro Production to China
21–30 of 336 posts
Re: Apple Moves Mac Pro Production to China
#22Anyone have a good resource of backdoor / spy / sketchy China computer manufacturing things? I always see info about the Huawei scandal for example, and I would love to read a great write up of more specific technical details of things going on
I suspect any modified hardware would be targeted, not every single computer. You probably shouldn't order a computer online if this is your threat model, and instead pay for one off the shelf.
Was more curious to just HOW it's done / been done
Re: Apple Moves Mac Pro Production to China
#23Anyone have a good resource of backdoor / spy / sketchy China computer manufacturing things? I always see info about the Huawei scandal for example, and I would love to read a great write up of more specific technical details of things going on
I have a feeling the majority of this research is conducted by Five Eyes military counter-intelligence branches (ripping it out of the hands of whoever was on the trail before), with the resulting reports passed around in redacted form to those who need to know (e.g. the manufacturers, suppliers, investors, etc.) but not generally bubbling up to the public, except through backchannels (like my friend in the Navy who warned me ten years ago to avoid buying anything with Huawei chips in it, saying he couldn’t get into the details.)
If the current approach is more of the same, we’ll see these reports declassified in 30 years or so, when China is (in one way or another) no longer the same looming threat it is today.
Re: Apple Moves Mac Pro Production to China
#24This is not good.
Most Apple products are manufactured in China and have been for years.
Re: Apple Moves Mac Pro Production to China
#25I wonder how significant the cost differences are for Apple with this move, especially since they mention previously manufacturing in the US and that many components are sourced in the US. How high will the margins be on these devices??
Apple previously (years ago) spoke about the importance of the supply chain, not price as the reason to mfg in China. Steve Jobs gave an example that if you needed to change the design to use a different type of screw then you'd have several manufacturers nearby that you could source from. That's just not possible in the US.
Re: Apple Moves Mac Pro Production to China
#26Anyone have a good resource of backdoor / spy / sketchy China computer manufacturing things? I always see info about the Huawei scandal for example, and I would love to read a great write up of more specific technical details of things going on
I suspect any modified hardware would be targeted, not every single computer. You probably shouldn't order a computer online if this is your threat model, and instead pay for one off the shelf.
> And instead pay for one off the shelf
If a state actor is sufficiently motivated, even in a physical purchase, your computer will just get switched out for a bugged one at the cashier.
Common OPSEC practice re: buying hardware (or anything you don’t want your name associated with, really), is to pay an unaffiliated proxy to buy it for you.
Re: Apple Moves Mac Pro Production to China
#27Back in the day, my international economics professor told me corporations will set up, and base their business out of the countries that they see as the most stable. Because of this, it scares me when I see headlines like this, even though it is only production. If anyone has a counterpoint to what he said, I am very interested in hearing it
I guess it depends on how easy or hard is it for apple to move its production around. If it's easy, then stability isn't the concern here. There's probably lots of other factors too, so realistically it wouldn't boil down to "Oh, US must be less stable"
Re: Apple Moves Mac Pro Production to China
#28Back in the day, my international economics professor told me corporations will set up, and base their business out of the countries that they see as the most stable. Because of this, it scares me when I see headlines like this, even though it is only production. If anyone has a counterpoint to what he said, I am very interested in hearing it
That seems far too simplistic. At some point other factors (e.g. cost) outweigh "stability".
Re: Apple Moves Mac Pro Production to China
#29For years I've been very happy, productive, and at times stubbornly loyal on my Linux / Lenovo setup, but it seems that so many of my colleagues have embraced Mac that it's gotten harder and harder to not be on the bandwagon. I recently hit the point of deciding maybe I should just have a Mac, but I seem to have done so after Macbook Pros have passed their peak. I don't follow consumer hardware trends much, so what does HN think - is it now too late to be getting on the Macbook Pro Kool-Aid? Will other platforms make a comeback soon?
edit: I'm aware this article is about the desktops, but it seems to be part of a trend that Apple isn't that focused on the workstation-use-case anymore, and is pushing ever more into mobile.
Re: Apple Moves Mac Pro Production to China
#30Back in the day, my international economics professor told me corporations will set up, and base their business out of the countries that they see as the most stable. Because of this, it scares me when I see headlines like this, even though it is only production. If anyone has a counterpoint to what he said, I am very interested in hearing it
Far lower wages and fewer regulations seem to be much more important when it comes to production. As long as they do not want to move their headquarter I guess a little bit of instability and underdevelopment is actually desirable.