Re:"Laptop Leader"?? (Score 1)

Taiwan's current political leadership is basing its future on the fact Taiwan will design while the mainland will manufacture. The truth is that many ODMs and OEMs are moving design facilities to the mainland as well. Cost is not the only reason for this, but is a driving factor. A large supply of Engineers are produced each year in China, keeping supply very plentiful in the entry level. But being close to the manufacturing center is very important to improve time-to-market for products. Being there, has much more value than a two-hour conference / video conference twice a day. It is only a matter of time before you see the design leadership in the mainland as well, albeit for now Western, Japanese, Korean or Taiwanese owned. The solution for the mainland will be the reunification of Taiwan, which will give China ownership and control over the majority of design and manufacturing. If you think this only will be limited to laptops, you are wrong. With the low costs of labor, components and shorter supply chain, most of the computers purchased will be heading to China, including laptops, desktops, servers limited only by a country's export compliance code and tariffs. Since most of these countries are in the WTO, export compliance will be the tool for countries to manage this growth. A bigger issue is the fact that all of this is based on a partial false economy. As China's markets and economy grow, the valuation of the RMB should be growing as well, but it is currently fixed or "managed" floated by the Chinese government at lower levels than would be supported on a true float. China can do this because of large foreign investment's infusion of cash. This artificial peg keeps Chinese goods/labor priced 2 - 3 times lower than it probably should. Although don't look for the peg to move anytime soon. As many Chinese bank are insolvent, commercial real estate is overbuilt, the country is running a massive deficit/GDP and if foreign investment dries up, so does China's growth. China must grow its economy to solve those issues easier. So expect this trend to continue- more design and manufacturing will move to China in the foreseeable future.