The Makers of iPhones and Laptops Are Prepping for a Trade War

(Bloomberg) -- From iPhones to computers, the manufacturing powerhouses behind much of the world's electronics are preparing to move chunks of production away from China and toward such locales as Eastern Europe, Mexico and Southeast Asia.

Foxconn Technology Group Chairman Terry Gou -- who became a billionaire by dint of making Apple Inc.'s gizmos -- started the ball rolling when he opened a $10 billion display plant in the heart of America, a move that now seems prescient. As tensions between the world's two largest economies escalate, a growing cohort of his Taiwanese peers have drawn up plans to shift production abroad or devising contingencies for costly new facilities.

Taiwan's largest corporations form a crucial link in the global tech supply chain, assembling devices from sprawling Chinese production bases that the likes of HP Inc. and Dell then slap their labels on. In the past week, corporate leaders, including the chief executives of Pegatron Corp. and Inventec Corp., declared on earnings calls they've come up with ways to mitigate the impact of a trade war. While Donald Trump hasn't zeroed in on consumer electronics, the fear is they'll be included among the next $200 billion of Chinese-made goods -- wiping out already razor-thin margins in the process.

“We have kicked off a mechanism to reduce our current risks stemming from trade disputes,” said Liao Syh-Jang, chief executive of iPhone maker Pegatron. In the short run, it may add capacity in the Czech Republic, Mexico and at home. Longer term, the company may set up shop in India or Southeast Asia, Chief Financial Officer Charles Lin added.

Read more: Trump's Tariffs Push Electronics From China to Southeast Asia

Taiwan's six largest contract electronics makers -- Compal Electronics Inc., Foxconn flagship Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Inventec, Pegatron, Quanta Computer Inc., and Wistron Corp. -- raked in NT$9.11 trillion ($296 billion) of revenue in 2017, or roughly the gross domestic product of Pakistan. While government data shows Taiwanese companies' investments in China peaked in 2010, they remain a formidable presence: 15 of the top 20 exporters from the Asian country to the U.S. in 2016 originated in Taiwan, according to a state-run customs data website. Every one of those 15 were subsidiaries of the six contract manufacturers.

Their impending moves echo a trend that's quickened in recent years. Rising labor costs led many to consider alternatives, including setting up smaller-scale facilities elsewhere to get closer to regional markets. Now those beach-heads serve as expansion bases.

“It will be important for Taiwanese companies to diversify their production as trade disputes between U.S. and China are not going away soon,” said Wu Chung-shu, president of Taipei's Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research.

Others preparing to take the leap include Inventec, an important Apple supplier, as well as Quanta and Compal. The latter two, which make laptops for most of the world's major brands, said they can add capacity in existing non-Chinese facilities when necessary.

Compal Vice Chairman Ray Chen said assembling notebooks outside of China could cost at least 3 percent more per unit. But the alternative is unsavory: its gross margin stood at slightly above 3 percent last quarter, wafer-thin profitability that tariffs could wipe out. It's an industrywide phenomenon: rival Quanta's was about 4.5 percent.

“We are making dynamic adjustments so even if new tariffs on the $200 billion Chinese exports hit, we will be able to minimize damage,” Inventec executive David Ho told analysts on Tuesday. Ho oversees the unit that makes AirPods and HomePods as well as smart speakers for Sonos Inc.

To be sure, many contingency plans haven't been finalized, and executives are wary about committing given the challenges in moving production permanently, both logistical and political. Many Taiwanese firms are reluctant to provoke China, which for the most part has been a welcoming host to corporations from an island it considers part of the country. And there're few signs for now of a full-scale exodus. Inventec for one is adding at least one new facility in China that'll begin production next year, Ho said.

But Trump's sabre-rattling is definitely getting them thinking. Quanta Chairman Barry Lam said his company can boost manufacturing in California and Tennessee or Germany. Compal's Chen said the same for Mexico, Poland, Taiwan or Vietnam.

“Amid the tariff rhetoric, moving investment south is a solution that makes sense for companies as Chinese incentives gradually fall, the Taiwanese government promotes its southbound investment policy and Chinese labor costs get increasingly higher,” said Angela Hsieh, regional economist for Barclays Bank in Singapore.

--With assistance from Samson Ellis, Argin Chang and James Mayger.

To contact the reporter on this story: Debby Wu in Taipei at dwu278@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Robert Fenner at rfenner@bloomberg.net, Edwin Chan

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