China Scrambles to stem manufacturing exodus as 50 companies leave

I had been curious that this could be an issue. During the ASM trade tensions with China was an issue mentioned and discussed.

This is one possibility of why a 1 quarter delay could be extended. 

One of the many things to watch, I see it as a long-term positive, short term disruptive event.

Thanks Mike

Asia.nikkei.com


TOKYO/SHANGHAI -- China is racing to keep foreign enterprises in-country, dangling special benefits so that the advantages of staying outweigh the heavy tariffs imposed by the U.S.

A year into the trade war with Washington, more than 50 global companies, including Apple and Nintendo, have announced or are considering plans to move production out of China, Nikkei research has found.

And not just foreign companies. Chinese manufacturers, as well as those from the U.S., Japan and Taiwan, are part of the drain, including makers of personal computers, smartphones and other electronics.

Financial Times
Foxconn will start mass production of displays, car electronics and servers for the US market at its new plant in Wisconsin by the end of next year, Mr Liu said, and plans to invest $1.5bn and employ up to 2,000 people by the end of 2020. At the first investor conference Foxconn hosted in its 45-year history, the world’s largest electronics manufacturer and largest assembler of Apple’s iPhone presented a new management structure designed to deal with the exit of Terry Gou, its founder, from day-to-day business as he runs for president of Taiwan.

Profound Emerging Technology

Microvision has the display piece. (meaning, Microvision has the best near eye display.... I've tried everything I could get my hands on at CES three times, nothing is comparable to the old thing that Microvision had.)

Things done in "AR" are eventually going to be delivered on near eye displays. Microvision's near eye display is the best.

Financial Times
Apple ARKit

Apple CEO Tim Cook took in a demonstration of Canadian e-commerce platform Shopify’s augmented reality capabilities during a visit to Toronto, while touting his company’s investment in the emerging technology.

“I believe that AR is the most profound technology of the future,” Cook said in an interview. “It amplifies human performance. It amplifies humans, not substitutes, and doesn’t isolate. I’m a huge believer in it.”

*****

Shopify chief executive Tobias Lütke said that his company is planning to use Apple’s ARKit to become the largest AR-enabled ecommerce platform. The goal is to offer small businesses the latest in technology, something that is usually reserved for large, well-resourced companies.

“What Shopify then can do is that we know this is going to happen, we can establish some patterns, and we can get this productized to the point where it’s going to be a single clink for every store,”Lütke said.

“The internet ought to be a force for democratization, but yet we see the story over and over again that it actually is placed into the hands of the companies already at scale and often one of the forces that puts the smaller businesses out of business.”

Cook’s visit coincides with an announcement that Apple’s delayed entry into the smart speaker market will be available for sale in parts of the world starting Feb. 9. The HomePod is available for pre-order in the United States, Britain and Australia on Friday. No word yet on when it will arrive in Canada.

Apple has allowed Amazon and Google a head start when it comes to smart speakers, which has led some industry watchers to warn that it’ll be an uphill battle to catch up.

“They already are late to the game and know that, so they want to put their best foot forward at this point,” said Manish Nargas, a consumer and moble research analyst for IDC Canada.