Will Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) bring their assembly lines to the United States? The company’s chief executive Tim Cook would like to.
Earlier this week he expressed his desire to bring some of Apple’s workforce to the United States during an interview at the D10 conference. Cook also mentioned that some of the technologies they use to create their products are already made in the U.S.A including the custom-made ARM processors for the their tablets and smartphones are made in a factory in Austin, Texas and Corning’s Gorilla Glass is made in Kentucky.
Unfortunately, a new report indicates that Apple’s dream might not be such a good idea.
DigiTimes reported via an unnamed source that if Apple chose to move some production of their company to the United States, it would prove to be difficult for the company because right now nearly all of their technology products are assembled in Asia. If Apple was to move some of their manufacturing plants to the United States, it would cost them more to transport components and such between countries. This report further elaborates, “Since moving a supply chain from one place to another takes time, while enterprises are mainly concerned about costs, if there is no profitability in moving, the related upstream component makers are unlikely to follow Apple in moving to the U.S.”
There’s also a Foxconn factory in Brazil that makes iPhones and iPads but sell them exclusively in Brazilian Apple stores.
I like the idea of Apple bringing more jobs to the United States. Obviously, I don’t think they will or should move all operations to the U.S. but I think an influx of jobs would be a great idea for the company and our nation’s economy. I agree with Cook that it’s probably possible to move some of the company’s operations over to the United States but I don’t think that it’s going to happen overnight. If they decide to bring the jobs over, it probably won’t happen for at least four years.
