manufacturing
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Apple warns of iPhone 'supply shortages' due to coronavirus outbreak
The consequences of the coronavirus outbreak will be worse than expected for Apple. The tech firm has warned that global iPhone supply will be "temporarily constrained" while it resumes production. Although its factory partners have reopened, those facilities are restoring their output "more slowly than [Apple] had anticipated." If it's hard to find an iPhone 11 in the near future, you'll know why.
GM spends $2.2 billion to set up an EV-only plant in Detroit
GM just demonstrated that electric vehicles can create jobs in addition to taking them away. The automaker has revealed plans for a $2.2 billion investment that will turn its Detroit-Hamtramck facility into its first assembly plant completely devoted to EVs. When it's fully ready, it'll create over 2,200 "good-paying" jobs, GM claimed. The factory will produce a "variety" of electric trucks and SUVs. While GM didn't outline the full product mix, it noted that production on its first electric pickup truck will start at the plant in late 2021. The Cruise Origin self-driving shuttle should start production soon afterward.
Sonos hikes prices on the Amp and Port as it moves production out of China
Sonos is moving production of some of its products from China to Malaysia, and at the same time the company is increasing the price of the Sonos Amp and Sonos Port by $50. Sonos told The Verge that its decision to move production is less of a response to tariffs, which it reportedly called a "one-time hit," and more about diversifying production for the future.
Tesla will deliver its first Chinese-made Model 3 on December 30th
After weeks of waiting on approval from the Chinese government, Tesla will deliver the first Model 3 cars made at its Gigafactory 3 plant in Shanghai on December 30th. The 15 customers who are slated to get their Model 3s first are Tesla employees. The company says it hopes to begin making public deliveries before the start of the Chinese New Year on January 25th.
President Trump will visit Apple's Mac Pro factory on November 20th
Apple is determined to win as as many tariff exemptions as it can, it seems. The White House has confirmed that President Trump will visit Apple's Mac Pro factory in Austin, Texas on November 20th, backing up rumors of an impending tour. It's not clear if Tim Cook or other Apple executives will be present (we've asked Apple for details), but it wouldn't be surprising given the optics. Apple wants to be seen as having the Trump administration's support, while Trump wants to be seen supporting American jobs.
Elon Musk: Berlin 'gigafactory' will build Teslas starting with the Model Y
After launching manufacturing facilities in the US and China, Tesla's next location is apparently in Europe. Reuters and CNBC report that while speaking at an awards ceremony in Germany, Elon Musk announced the company's 'Gigafactory 4' will be located in the Berlin area. Musk later tweeted out "Giga Berlin," and said that the location "Will build batteries, powertrains & vehicles, starting with Model Y." This follows its current facilities in Nevada, Buffalo and its newest addition in Shanghai, China. Apparently this one will also include an engineering and design center. Tesla bought a German engineering firm in 2016 to help build the Model 3, and it appears those efforts will grow as it launches production of the Model Y, and, presumably, the electric "cybertruck" that's supposed to be revealed next week.
Volkswagen begins pre-production of its ID.3 EV in China
Just days after Volkswagen showed off the first all-electric ID.3 produced at its Zwickau plant in Germany, the company announced that it has entered pre-production in China, too. Like the Zwickau factory, the new plant in Anti, Shanghai, will produce all-electric vehicles on Volkswagen's MEB platform, a modular design that's built for battery packs of varying sizes.
Samsung is done building smartphones in China
Samsung has made phones in China for ages, but competitive realities are apparently forcing it out. The company has closed its last local phone factory, located in Huizhou, in an attempt to improve efficiency. It's still selling phones in the country, but they'll be made elsewhere in the world. While the company didn't elaborate on its reasoning, it didn't have much reason to stick around -- it was being squeezed out by rivals and economic challenges.
Honda will offset 60 percent of its US electricity use with wind and solar
Honda plans to cover 60 percent of the electricity used at its North American manufacturing plants with renewable energy. Beginning next fall, Honda will purchase 530,000 MWh per year from the Boiling Spring Wind Farm in Oklahoma. In fall 2021, it will begin receiving 482,000 MWh per year from a Texas solar facility. According to Honda, this deal is the largest single purchase of solar and wind power by any automaker.
Tesla workers say they used electrical tape in Model 3 production
Tesla may have broken its own records, manufacturing 72,531 Model 3 sedans in the three months that ended June 30th. But employees say in the push to ramp up Model 3 production, they were forced to cut corners and work in difficult, unsafe conditions. A handful of employees who work in Tesla's open-air GA4 production tent told CNBC that they used electrical tape to quickly repair cracks on plastic brackets and housings and worked through extreme heat, cold and wild-fire smoke.
Foxconn's Wisconsin plant opens next May with fewer jobs than promised
Foxconn's long-promised factory in Wisconsin will finally begin production in May 2020, but to start, it's only creating 1,500 jobs. That's far fewer than the 13,000 jobs it once said it would add. At this rate, Foxconn will likely lose out on hundreds of millions of dollars in state subsidies, many of which were meant to reward job creation.
Apple will reportedly manufacture its $6,000 Mac Pro in China
Apple will manufacture its new $6,000 Mac Pro in China, The Wall Street Journal reports. That's not entirely surprising given that most of Apple's products are made there, but the Mac Pro was Apple's last major product manufactured in the US. The decision is an about-face from 2013, when Apple bragged about its plans to keep Mac Pro production domestic.
Tariffs are forcing Big Tech to move production out of China
In response to the Trump administration's trade war with China, major tech companies are preparing to relocate key manufacturing operations. According to Bloomberg, Google is moving production of its US-bound Nest thermostats and motherboards to Taiwan. The Wall Street Journal reports that Nintendo is shifting at least some production of its Switch console to Southeast Asia. At the same time, China has allegedly warned companies that they will face permanent consequences if they cooperate with Trump administration trade restrictions.
Apple can make US-bound iPhones outside of China if necessary
If the trade war between the US and China spirals out of control and leads to Chinese retaliation against American tech production, is Apple hosed? Not necessarily. Senior Foxconn exec Young Liu told investors that his manufacturing company has "enough capacity" to make US-bound iPhones outside of China if necessary. About a quarter of that capacity is elsewhere, Liu said, including growing Indian production. While Apple hasn't made any moves on that front, Foxconn can shift its lines elsewhere if things go south.
NASA opens the International Space Station to commercial ventures
The International Space Station (ISS) is open for business. NASA announced today that it plans to commercialize the ISS, so that "U.S. industry innovation and ingenuity can accelerate a thriving commercial economy in low-Earth orbit." According to a press release, NASA will open the space station to private astronauts, as well as commercial product development, testing and manufacturing.
Samsung is primed for power-saving 5-nanometer chips
Samsung only just started manufacturing 7-nanometer chips recently, but it's already taken another big step in the race to keep up with Moore's Law. The company announced that it has started sampling 5-nanometer chips, and will start building them for smartphones and other gadgets in the second quarter of 2020. The benefits won't be enormous, but they will be significant: You'll get about a 20 percent savings in power, or a 10 percent boost in speed.
Faraday Future gets another lifeline to build EVs in China
Electric vehicle startup Faraday Future, which has been on life support for the past couple of years, has received a surprise cash injection from a mobile gaming company called The9 Limited. The9 will inject up to $600 million into Faraday, which it will use to build a new car called the V9 (based on its FF91 pre-production car) in China. The joint venture said it will build up to 300,000 EVs, with the first pre-production model scheduled to be arrive by 2020. It will also try to launch the FF91 into production in the US this year, Faraday said.
GM will build a new Chevrolet EV at its Orion plant
GM has confirmed plans to build another electric vehicle at the same Orion Township, MI factory where it currently manufactures the Bolt, as well as test autonomous vehicles for Cruise. We don't have a name or potential release date for this next EV, but it will use the same BEV3 platform underpinning the recently announced electric Cadillac on the way. We visited GM's Orion factory back in 2016 as it ramped up Bolt production, and now the plan is to invest some $300 million and add 400 jobs there. This week Ford also announced an expansion at one of its Michigan plants to build more electric and autonomous vehicles, so now all that's left is waiting to hear about a battery-powered Mustang or Camaro.
MIT developed a new system to help robots track objects
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a new system that will either improve the quality and accuracy of robotics or lead to humanity's inevitable demise at the hands of mechanical overlords. Using RFID tags, the researchers were able to make robots more efficient and accurate when tracking moving objects. The development carries major implications for the future of drones, manufacturing robots and many other applications.
Foxconn pledges to still build Wisconsin factory after Trump talks
Following talks with President Trump, Foxconn says it is indeed building a factory at its Wisconsin campus. Earlier this week, the company caused a furor when it said it's shifting plans away from manufacturing to focus on a research and engineering center. Now it seems it's doing both.
