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Vietnam to make Apple Watch and MacBook

asia.nikkei.com

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Re: Vietnam to make Apple Watch and MacBook

#151
post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

China was literally able to lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty with all the manufacturing that was moved there. I think most people don't understand anything about economics. Vietnam absolutely wants and will benefit from an increasingly industrialized economy. edit: I'm seeing a number of comments pointing out how these are companies owned by Koreans. Which maybe isn't optimal, but the potential for…

How long before Vietnam pulls a move from China's playbook where they start to manufacture things based on the plans foreign companies brought them and sell the product under Vietnamese company brands?

They've already pulled this on Samsung but it has nowhere to go. Where else can it find tens of millions of young workers?

Re: Vietnam to make Apple Watch and MacBook

#153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well thats the issue. The whole suite of dependencies needs to be moved back, except where impossible - i.e. minerals etc. Having moved all of this outside the free world we slowed down progress in our own countries. Imagine being forced to come up with cheaper alternatives at home where we’d be with robotics, automation and space mining today. Instead we finance countries that seek to challenge us.

What good does it do to move all of the dependencies except for the most important foundational dependencies ?

Because we have no option. Such resources are limited. We either destroy our own environment - assuming it holds such resources - suck up or expand outwards. I’d choose the latter but it seems our collective culture is weak and unable to sustain radical positive transformation. The industrial revolution couldn't take place today even if we wanted, let alone ambitious resource extraction projects.

Re: Vietnam to make Apple Watch and MacBook

#154
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

International trade dependency is one of the biggest deterrents to war and often helps countries become allies.

Ukraine’s #1 trading partner was Russia, and Russia’s #3 trading partner was Ukraine. I remember reading the same argument in the 90s, and it seemed to have a lot of merit. But, experience shows us that it’s not correct.

No deterrent is effective against a regime sufficiently detached from reality.

Putin called it a "special military operation" for a reason. It was supposed to be like Czechoslovakia in 1968. The troops go in, reach Kyiv in a few days, and take over without any real fighting. Ukraine was not supposed to be able and willing to resist. Russian military didn't even know there was going to be a war, which is why it failed so catastrophically in the first days.

The outcome of this war is going to determine whether international trade is still an effective deterrent. If Russian economy depends so much on Western technology that they will lose in the long term regardless of the oucome of the war, this was just the exception that tests the rule. If the West gives up and resumes trading with Russia, the deterrent will be gone.

Re: Vietnam to make Apple Watch and MacBook

#155
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There is a lot of dishonesty around Westerners complaining about foreign cheap labor. This is a strawman. You're conflating different groups of people with different interests. Some people complain about labor conditions, some people complain that jobs are leaving the country. Almost nobody is "dishonest" about this.

There are plenty of people who are extremely selective with regards to their outrage on each issue, though.

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Re: Vietnam to make Apple Watch and MacBook

#156
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There is a lot of dishonesty around Westerners complaining about foreign cheap labor. This is a strawman. You're conflating different groups of people with different interests. Some people complain about labor conditions, some people complain that jobs are leaving the country. Almost nobody is "dishonest" about this.

There are plenty of people who are extremely selective with regards to their outrage on each issue, though.

So? Most people's entire existence is predicated on unsustainable consumerism. There is literally too much to care about. If you require that people must care about all issues to care about any issue, then progress won't be made. Maybe that's your intention.

Re: Vietnam to make Apple Watch and MacBook

#157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And good luck with that with China holding so much of our debt. Military leaders in the US for decades has been warning politicians that our debt is one of our biggest threats.

Do you mind sharing an example of military leaders in the US warning about our foreign debt being one of our biggest threats?

https://brooks.house.gov/media-center/news-releases/after-mo...

Re: Vietnam to make Apple Watch and MacBook

#158

I wonder how long it will be until Apple is running their own fabs, or at least diversifies away from heavily relying on TSMC. Has anyone seen news to this effect?

I think it's the last thing they would do themselves. Setting up and operating their own TSMC-level fabs would cost Apple:

* tens of billions of dollars

* at least 5 years of time

* most of all: immense effort and focus that could be used elsewhere

Re: Vietnam to make Apple Watch and MacBook

#160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What good does it do to move all of the dependencies except for the most important foundational dependencies ?

Is your assumption here that all minerals are distributed equally, or equally accessible?

I am saying just the opposite. Most of the easily accessible “rare minerals” are in countries that aren’t our allies.
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