The Laptop Supply Chain

Carl Bialik from the WSJ writes "When a U.S. consumer orders a laptop from HP or other big sellers, how does the machine get made? Often via a complex supply chain in Taiwan and China, shaped by rocky cross-Strait relations, according to the Wall Street Journal: 'Outsourcing to low-cost, high-quality Taiwanese manufacturers has helped make Dell and H-P the world's top two PC companies in terms of sales...But the relationship between U.S. computer firms and their third-party manufacturers can be tricky. In the struggle to retain an element of control over their suppliers, H-P, Dell and others play contract manufacturers against each other to keep prices falling and ensure no supplier gains too much leverage.'"

Comments

Taiwan: Laptops are just the tip...

[Nova Express]

...of Taiwan's importance to the Gloval High tech economy. Even more important are the roles of Taiwan semiconductor foundry houses like TSMC and UMC. Taiwan dominates the foundry business (IBM and Singapore's Chartered have significantly lower volumes), and with more and more chip design firms going fabless, an ever-greater percentage of cutting-edge chip designs flow through Taiwan. Indeed, it would be hard to find a computer or MP3 player sold today which didn't have a part fabbed in Taiwan.

Now, imagine what would happen to America's high tech industry if Communist China invaded...