Why the United States Will Never, Ever Build the iPhone
It's not just cheap wages. China has more skilled factory workers and sits at the center of the global supply chain.
It's not just cheap wages. China has more skilled factory workers and sits at the center of the global supply chain.
This weekend, The New York Times published a long exploration of the many reasons why Apple chooses to build its iPhones in China. The piece is indispensable reading for anybody who wants to understand why the United States has seen certain types of manufacturing all but disappear from its shores. But the article's core lesson might be tough to swallow: Apple doesn't only choose China because work is cheaper. Apple also chooses China because the factories and the workers do a better job.
What does it mean to "scale up" faster? For Foxconn, the global manufacturing behemoth Apple pays to assemble its products, it's the ability to hire thousands of new workers in. But how many Americans in the 21st century can you see under any circumstances agreeing to live in, say, a General Motors dorm?
