Apple Reportedly in Talks With Suppliers to Assemble MacBooks in Thailand

[MacRumors]

Apple is said to be in talks with suppliers to make MacBooks in Thailand as the company continues to diversify its supply chain outside of China.

According to Nikkei Asia, suppliers involved in the talks already have established bases in Thailand for other clients, which has facilitated discussion surrounding the possible assembly and production of MacBook components and modules in the country.

"Ideally, Apple asked us to set up facilities in Vietnam for MacBooks, following in the footsteps of other Apple suppliers, but we offered an alternative option of building the product at our Thailand plants, which still have a massive space that can be reserved for the client," a senior executive at one of the suppliers told Nikkei Asia. "As MacBook assembly will begin in Vietnam first, we could support the components from our Thailand plants, too. ... It will only take two to three days of logistics and custom clearance."

Another supplier told Nikkei it is building new plants in Thailand for Apple, and construction of a new factory for MacBooks and other products will be completed this year. Apple has already been mass producing its Apple Watch in Thailand for more than a year, according to the outlet's sources.

Apple has expanded its supply chain beyond China over the past several years, with some production now occurring at factories in India and Vietnam. Apple industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has also said that the main production location outside of China for Apple's future MacBooks may be Thailand, as such diversification helps Apple to mitigate geopolitical tensions and avoid risks like U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports.

Article Link: Apple Reportedly in Talks With Suppliers to Assemble MacBooks in Thailand

 

[yellow8]

The big move is happening!

 

[Solomani]

Mooof over China!


Said Clarus the dogcow.

 

[oofio2461]

Good move, I don't want my Macbooks being made in china anymore. It's also bad PR as well.

 

[Leon Ze Professional]

Excellent choice! Thailand 🇹🇭 is a great country for manufacturing.

 

[dumastudetto]

Definitely a good decision to Thai up more production away from China.

 

[tomtad]

Makes me want a Thai Green Curry

 

[840quadra]

Good move as it sounds from my perspective. Hopefully pay is well for those making the toys we love and use for work and entertainment.

 

[h.gilbert]

Spicy macs, I like.

 

[Solomani]

Spicy macs, I like.

But be prepared to pay the dreaded.... Apple Peanut Sauce Tax!

 

[h.gilbert]

But be prepared to pay the dreaded.... Apple Peanut Sauce Tax!

I'm willing

 

[k1121j]

This is Tim’s strong point, supply chain. Good job Tim!

 

[Born Again]

Make it touchscreen already

 

[Solomani]

Make it touchscreen already

But the oily fingerprints from the peanut sauce will just murk up the screen.

 

[iamgalt]

Nice move for the time being, I guess. But Thailand seems to be becoming more and more "China lite". I'd prefer instead of buying a bunch of trees, Apple makes major investments in automation for assembly so they can put a factory in almost any country with minimal costs by not having to pay for so many laborers.

 

[coffeemilktea]

Moving production to different countries is a brilliant move considering geopolitical tensions.

Moving it to a country with really good cuisine though, well that's just inspired.

 

[TSE]

The people of Thailand deserve the honor of assembling Apple products. They have been through a lot and yet are still some of the kindest, politest, and hardest working people this world has to offer.

 

[Canezmd]

Apple will build products literally anywhere in the world except the USA.

 

[GuruZac]

Apple will build products literally anywhere in the world except the USA.

That’s for a variety of reasons. I think we are living through the end of globalization as we know it. More and more countries will rely on their own country or region for manufacturing. USA is already making that transition.

America Is Back in the Factory Business

Record spending on manufacturing construction heralds a made-in-the-U.S. rebound, stoked by green-energy incentives and concerns about foreign supply chains.

www.wsj.com

I am just happy to see Apple diversifying production. I think they’re doing it mostly out of necessity due to the instability of China’s politics.

 

[Born Again]

But the oily fingerprints from the peanut sauce will just murk up the screen.

My iPad Pro looks fine

I have a MacBook Pro M1 Max and love it. Mostly handles my audio and video production.

I also recently got a cheap Lenovo 3 in 1 notebook. It’s great to use touch!

The resolution is garbage but the usability is really great.

Anyways it’s time for apple to embrace touch.

 

[riverfreak]

Mid-cycle iPhone 15 colors: mango and durian.

 

[RalfTheDog]

Apple will build products literally anywhere in the world except the USA.

They have tried in the past. It was a failure due mostly to quality control issues. The United States is just not that good at making complex stuff. They are good at making big mechanical things like cars and trucks. Not so much with assembling complex electronics. The US does seem to be reasonably good at manufacturing chips. I would like to see more high technology products manufactured in Mexico and South America.

 

[TSE]

Apple will build products literally anywhere in the world except the USA.

That's because of the nation's different economies, individual quality of life expectational differences, and our values.

Highly technical manufacturing jobs don't pay enough and have a social stigma attached to it in this country that prevent people from wanting anything to do with them.

 

[h.gilbert]

Make it touchscreen already

Please don't. The fingerprints marks all over the screen would be horrible. It's fine on phone where they can go over 1000 nits, but not laptops at 500

 

[ifxf]

This is just assembly, the lowest value of the laptop. People should look at where the higher value items of the laptop are manufactured such as the screen, ssd, memory, cpu, etc.