Apple to move key iPad engineering resources to Vietnam
Apple’s plan to shift key iPad engineering resources to Vietnam is seen as part of a broader effort to reduce reliance on China, manage “country risk,” and diversify supply chains amid geopolitical tensions and COVID-era disruptions. Commenters compare Vietnam with China and India on factors like political stability, regulation, labor cost, and openness to foreign investment, noting that Vietnam is politically authoritarian but economically pragmatic and closely aligned with Western business interests. The thread also touches on why high-value engineering work often remains in the US or other tech hubs despite cheaper labor elsewhere, citing talent concentration, time zones, and coordination complexity.
High US Engineer Compensation & Offshoring
- Several comments ask why US tech firms pay $300k–$1M when cheaper engineers exist elsewhere.
- Many argue high-end engineers are rare and clustered in specific hubs; firms optimize for ROI and speed, not lowest wage.
- Offshoring often suffers from time zone gaps, slower feedback, accountability issues, and rework that erodes savings.
- Some report better outcomes with Latin America due to overlapping hours and English, but quality and English level still vary.
Global Labor Markets & Clustering
- Talent tends to migrate to high-paying, high–cost-of-living hubs; this self-reinforces local salary and skill concentrations.
- Immigration is seen as a US “superpower”: many top engineers in US offices are foreign-born, attracted by pay.
- There’s debate over whether salary gaps will narrow as developing countries become richer; housing and cost data are mixed.
AI and Future of Developer Work
- One view: AI will eventually handle much “indirect programming,” reducing need for lower-end offshoring.
- Counterview: current models are unreliable even for simple workflows; extrapolations about rapid disruption are seen as over-optimistic.
Why Vietnam (vs China, India, Others)
- Vietnam is portrayed as politically communist but highly entrepreneurial, deregulated, and attractive for foreign manufacturing, with tax breaks and supply-chain depth.
- Posters differentiate Vietnam from China: similar political structure on paper but far less powerful, less threatening geopolitically, and more aligned with US concerns about China.
- India is described as having red tape, slower “ease of doing business,” and protective labor laws that can frustrate manufacturers, though Apple is expanding there too.
De-risking from China & “Country Risk”
- Many see Apple’s move as diversification against overdependence on China, highlighted by COVID disruptions, political tensions, and actions like audits, detentions, and nationalizations in China/Russia.
- “Country risk” is discussed as increasingly salient beyond oil, especially for strategic supply chains.
Manufacturing as Core Engineering
- Some argue manufacturing and process engineering were wrongly treated as low-value and offshored (e.g., semiconductors), creating strategic vulnerability.
- Others note environmental harms from chip fabs, with claims that pollution controls pushed some of this industry to countries with looser regulation.