HP shifts production back to China as costs soar - Semafor

Leading PC makers are shifting some production back to China as costs bite. Firms including US-based HP — which had planned to shift more than half of its production out of the country in a “China+1” strategy — are moving some manufacturing back to offset surging memory and storage chip prices fueled by AI demand.

Despite the risk of rising Western protectionism, experts believe more companies will return: “China’s supply chain retains a distinct advantage,” an analyst said.

Tech giants like Apple have sought to create alternative supply chains in India, which has spent billions to attract high-tech manufacturing. But “paying its suppliers ever-larger subsidies in the hope of recreating China is unlikely to be a winning trade,” a Bloomberg columnist argued.