Three years ago, manufacturing gadgets in China was a given. That’s changed fundamentally in the era of trade wars and coronavirus.
Under the new reality, the world’s electronics makers are actively seeking ways to diversify their supply chains and reduce their dependence on any single country, no matter how attractive.
Never has there been so much angst among suppliers. And no wonder, because by most reckonings, the world is facing some of the biggest shocks to production since Taiwanese manufacturers — responsible for assembling the majority of the world’s gadgets — began to decamp en masse to China 30 years ago.