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Chinese Media, Government Confirm Apple Research Center in Beijing Tech Corridor (appleinsider.com)
An anonymous reader writes:According to Chinese media, Apple is launching its first research and development center in the country, located in long-time technology incubation area Zhongguancun Science Park, Beijing. While Apple has yet to comment on the matter, a statement issued by the Zhongguancun Park Management Committee to several Chinese media outlets has identified Apple's presence in the area. According to reports collated by Digitimes, the center has a budget of about $15 million, with a long-term expenditure goal of $45 million over the next few years. The center is allegedly seeking to hire around 500 workers, with no particular focus beyond Apple products and software. The move mirrors similar setups in Japan, and Israel.
I'm just barely old enough to remember the time in the 80s when everyone was scared to death that Japan was going to take over the US. They had just come into their own as a high-tech manufacturing powerhouse -- even Back to the Future had a classic line where 1950s Doc Brown scoffed at an IC made in Japan and Marty corrected him saying "All the best stuff is made in Japan!" Towards the end of the 80s, Japanese companies started making some very high profile US acquisitions, including buying lots of expensive public real estate. Everyone in high tech at the time was concerned but as soon as that started, mainstream news articles appeared predicting the end of the US economy much the same way people are saying the Chinese are going to destroy us today.
The interesting thing is that a lot of the Japanese miracle turned out to be a currency bubble and Japan entered a very long deflationary period after that. So now the question is...China has way more control over their economy than Japan ever did, a huge population, and a limitless budget to spend on infrastructure and economic development. I wonder if it actually might happen this time. Basically all high-tech manufacturing is done in China (try finding components not made there) and now US companies are starting to move R&D closer to the factories, where they can get cheap labor on both sides of the table.
I think a lot of the hype might be overblown just like last time, but the scenario is just different enough to make me think twice. If you make it so young engineers can't get R&D jobs, and young factory workers can't get factory jobs, you're basically done as a country.