Asus outsources itself
Made in China
ACCORDING TO the Chinese-language Economic Daily News, Taiwanese manufacturing monolith Asustek Computer is outsourcing itself like there's no tomorrow.
The report has it that half of Asustek motherboards will be built by third-party factories by the end of the year. These factories are mainly in China, just across the way from the rebel island of Taiwan.
Taiwanese brands have gone outsourcing bananas, having built up maufacturing expertise to bring smog and prosperity to their island. Now the trend is to focus on branding and design and let other folk worry about running the factories. Acer has pioneered this approach amongst the Taiwanese.
Mainland Chinese labour is as cheap as soggy chips and brands can exploit this while keeping an arm's length from the sharp end and avoiding accusations of being ungreen or exploitative.
Asustek president, Jerry Shen said the firm will begin by outsourcing non-notebook products, Digitimes reports. µ
Comments
Uh-oh
There's been a lot of recalls here in the US this past year of products made in PRC. Seems their factories have very low QA standards. Seeing this article makes me feel that it might be a good idea now to stay away from Asus products in the future.Chinese boards
Like if enough of Asus's boards didn't suck enough and have all sorts of problems. Most of the times its only the hugely expensive boards are good with the lower end and midrange having all sorts of problems. I will get an MSI