APPLE: PRODUCTION IN CHINA ALSO FOR RARE EARTH
25.04.2012/XNUMX/XNUMX - US politicians like President Barack Obama are repeatedly calling on IT companies like Apple to have their products manufactured in the USA again. In addition to low wages, production in China has another advantage: the availability of rare earths.
The website Motherboard reports on the importance of rare earths, for example for the production of the iPad, iFixit takes up this article. Which materials Apple uses exactly for the iPad production, although not known. However, a Cambridge engineering professor believes that Apple could use lanthanum for the iPad battery and neodymium for the production of smart cover magnets. The display of colors through the display enabled further metal elements that are considered "rare earths".
For China now speak that the country has the largest incidents of these metals - and so far generated over 90 percent of global mining. The country cemented this competitive advantage by quoting exports - so that companies that rely on these elements have little choice but to manufacture their products in China. For Apple products, this only affects the production of the components and not the assembly of the actual device. However, it is more lucrative to produce closer to the point of manufacture of the components.
Other countries with rare earth events want to increase their support and the US wants to fight China's export quotas before the World Trade Organization. Until this has changed, however, the metals are another reason for the production in the Middle Kingdom.
(Giga)
