How supply chains hinge on Asia

For complex products like the iPhone, any disruption in the supply of a single, tiny component can wreak havoc on the whole “tangled chain,” said David Pilling at the Financial Times.

David Pilling

Financial Times

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The barriers to entry in specialized manufacturing are high, and it has already become “very hard for U.S. or European manufacturers to claw back” that capacity from their Asian counterparts. Some major Asian suppliers clearly aspire to do more, like “invent the next breakthrough device.” By relying on Asian companies for the insides of “everything we use,” we risk today’s suppliers becoming tomorrow’s competitors.