In direct opposition, Auto makers approach of minimizing inventory and producing "just-in-time" caused them to be vulnerable to supply chain or big market shifts
The article notes that Toyota avoided "just-in-time" supply for chips, and has benefited for a while from this. Their stockpile just ran out.
> New cars often include dozens of microchips but Toyota benefited from having built a larger stockpile of chips - also called semiconductors - as part of a revamp to its business continuity plan, developed in the wake of the Fukushima earthquake and tsunami a decade ago.
The trend IS NOT towards diversification. In the last 5 years since Trump's election, US multinationals were increasing their presence in China, not decreasing.
Google for example said to open "a small representative office" in Shenzhen 2 years ago, now it's a full giant RnD centre in the Ping An Tower where they shipped all of Pixel's development.
Apple had RnD offices in China for more than a decade, but they barely acknowledged their existence. Their people in the Kerry Plaza were prohibited by their contract to even show their employment for Apple in their LinkedIn profiles. Their Shenzhen RnD centre is where AirPods were developed, along with many other iPad, and iPhone sub-assemblies. Apple's VR goggles project had its start in Shenzhen as well.
Amazon had no presence whatsoever in China besides a failed Chinese Amazon.com launch. They left China, and then returned to move the whole of their Kindle, and Echo device development to Shenzhen. Now they are working on something rather cryptic there. Some suggest VR goggles of their own design.
Facebook... absolutely bizarrely opened their RnD centre in Shenzhen amid the COVID, just a floor below Google I heard.
Dell, Microsoft, Nvidia, Qualcomm, Intel — all conventional hardware makers were here since nineties, but I think they really doubled down on China recently as well too, to one up the dotcom upstarts in hardware.
Having your essential RnD office shut down, if something happens to/in China, would not be any much less ugly, and disruptive than having your access to microchips shut down.
In other words, the Silicon Valley is still going all in on China, despite 4 years of Trump, public scorn, trade war, rising costs etc.
In other words, they really gave up on any vision where they don't critically depend on China, and can run with critical assets in US only.
Extra points by diversifying from China/Taiwan
In direct opposition, Auto makers approach of minimizing inventory and producing "just-in-time" caused them to be vulnerable to supply chain or big market shifts