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How much do you think it costs to make a pair of Nike shoes in Asia?

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689 points taubek | 2 comments | 09 Apr 25 12:58 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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rayiner ◴[09 Apr 25 14:52 UTC] No.43632822[source]▶
Americans need to get over their view of “Asia” as being about making shoes. When I was working in engineering in the early aughts, we mocked the Chinese as being able only to copy American technology. Today, China is competitive with or ahead of America in key technology areas, including nuclear power, AI, EVs, and batteries.

We need to anticipate a future where China is equal to America on a per capita basis, but four times bigger. Is that a world where “Designed by Apple in California, Made in China” still makes sense? What will be America’s competitive edge in that scenario?

What seems most likely to me in the future is that the US will find itself in the same position the UK is in now. Dominating finance and services won’t mean anything when both the IP and the physical products are being produced somewhere else.

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1. yapyap ◴[09 Apr 25 16:41 UTC] No.43634170[source]▶
> Americans need to get over their view of “Asia” as being about making shoes

I’m not sure if you’re just speaking on what you experience or because of this post but the OP is a clothing guy so it makes sense he will look at it from a clothing (including shoes) perspective.

I agree though, if Americans truly do see Asia as just the cheap clothing factory continent they’re sorely mistaken. All you have to do is to just look at TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) and realize that if you were impacting just that company alone you would get a slap in the face as a country, all (~70%) the major chips come from there.

I am aware the US is developing a Semiconductor factory in their own country but it is not done yet and it will not go as tiny in nms as TSMC already is.

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2. ◴[09 Apr 25 20:09 UTC] No.43637244[source]▶