How modern supply chains work, from Semper Doctrina at semperdoctrina.substack.com:
GONNA NEED A SUPPLY CHAIN
Last week, Goldman Sachs hosted a “Private Tech Tour” in China. Goldman analysts visited companies in Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou: Analysts met with top management and visited the facilities of 19 companies in eight key sectors.
These eight sectors are viewed as critical to becoming (or remaining) a great power:
- Satellites
- Silicon Photonics (using light, not electricity, to move data)
- Robotaxis
- eVTOL (electric Vertical Take-Off & Landing aircraft)
- AI Software
- AI Hardware
- Semiconductors
- Smartphones
All items on the list, above, share an ecosystem of facilites and expertise, that of advanced electronics manufacturing, semiconductor integration, and software-hardware co-optimization. China dominates (or threatens dominance in) all aspects of these emerging sectors, with its robust and deeply-connected supply chains.
Government and industry leadership in the United States realize that not only do we lag behind in these emerging fields, but we are also unable to resupply our current armed forces with our existing capabilities.
“The reality is, if we got into a hot conflict with a great power, we would run out of munitions in a week… We’ve built these capabilities that are incredibly exquisite, incredibly custom, with really complicated supply chains.” – Anduril co-founder Trae Stephens, interview with Auren Hoffman
THE US OFFSHORED NOT ONLY INDIVIDUAL FACTORIES IN INDIVIDUAL INDUSTRIES BUT ALSO THE ECO-SYSTEM THAT INTERCONNECTED THEM
What really terrifies American leadership are companies like China’s BYD, the world’s largest producer of electric vehicles. The company follows its own slogan “Build Your Dreams”: BYD lays claim to the title of the most vertically-integrated company in the world.
A fourth world turd should have went on a world conquering tour before it outsourced all manufacturing in the serve ice economy.
The Land of Sun Tzu is no friend of big dumb baizuo Yankees.