There are all sorts of bs that is going on in the industry.
Item A (from country A) -> Country B and with minor change (sometimes just the face plate) but some country's law allow it to be claimed as made in Country B due to the higher labor and material cost of the face plate.
Completed parts were shipped from Country A to Country B to be assembled.
It is not where it is made but how it is made that count. Sometimes it is how it is fixed that count
. At the end of the day, it is the brand that you have to trust.
As a small firm, the reason we chose Taiwan is because everyone else is here. Ref 8 was made in California, USA back in 2005 and we went through hell. We can source anything we want in Taiwan.
Example: A Swedish firm has the best virtual surround technology (no wall is required for bouncing sound wave) I have ever heard. We are interested in making a sound bar using our own drivers. The algorithm and DSP software were developed in Sweden. The hardware implementation and application support is provided by a Taiwanese firm. You license the technology from Sweden, send the speaker driver there for DSP customization, and then the implementation partner in Taiwan takes care of everything else.
A phone call from our partner is all it takes to get two guys to show up at our factory (one of them is the chief engineer) in Taiwan, after several hours of demo and discussion, we are off to developing the prototype. Many things that we need is just a few phone calls away. Someone know somebody who know someone who can get you the stuff you need.
The entire supply chains, ODM and OEM partners are all here.
Technology has become quite complex and the entire ecosystem is there to support each other. If the leaders move, then everyone else go along. I am talking about building consumer electronics hardware.
If you want to develop the "next big thing" in software, USA (or shall we say silicon valley) is the best place. I won't go anywhere else. I ought to know, I used to be a software developer for Oracle and Netscape. And if you want to develop the next silicon chip (CPU, communication, graphics), silicone valley is the place to be. I ought to know because I used to design CPU for Sun Microsystems and Motorola
USA still leads and will continue to lead in many technologies and industries for years to come. Just that now everyone else is becoming very competitive.
Jason
