Apple's supply chain turns to Southeast Asia. Who will be abandoned by Apple?

A iPhone mobile phone has touched dozens of Chinese companies. In the Apple supply chain, these companies have made a lot of money, but outsiders do not know how much bitterness and costs they pay. Now, with the rise in labor prices and the impact of the epidemic, Apple has put attention to Southeast Asia. Where should the Chinese companies on the fruit chain go?

Wen | Gao Yue

Edit | Zhao Lei

Operation | Yue Mi

Follow Cook to Vietnam

Zhengzhou Foxconn Airlines Hong Kong Factory District, outside the recruitment center that employees must pass by every day, a bus car is transported to a new batch of factory brothers and factories, and the connection point is also built at the highway intersection. For 90 days, you can get a fee of 9,500 yuan. In previous years, this is a number that only appears when it is rushing to make new products.

This time, they will be sent to the production line of the iPhone 13 Pro to assemble 10 million mobile phones in the production increase plan. They are also subsequent iPhone 14 post -production reserve for production.

A Foxconn employee has been in the night shift for a week. Every day from 8 pm to 7:30 the next morning, there are only three things in life: dry, eat, sleep, and sleep. Her workshop has been running at full load for more than 2 months.

The rushing work of the axis is for the normal operation of the fruit chain, and the "Science and Technology Spring Festival Gala" in September this year -Apple's new product launch will come as scheduled. Holding multiple chains in hand, Cook, who is so loose and easy to control, does not think of the most proud of the Apple supply chain that he is most proud of in the inventory cycle. He tripped.

Under the Shanghai epidemic, the fruit chain was stuck. Among the top 200 suppliers in Apple, half of the Jiangsu Provinces in Shanghai and next to Jiangsu Province have a factory. In a humble county in Kunshan, Jiangsu, factories of well -known fruit chains such as He Shuo, Foxconn, and Lixun are brought together. Once a large area was discontinued.

After eating the loss, Cook wants to hold the chain in his hand to make Apple more proactive and have more choices. The lower price and the numbness of hands and feet appear in Vietnam.

Vietnam's fruit chain has gradually plump, with only 14 suppliers in 2018 and 23 by 2021. Recent Essence At this moment, 160,000 workers are working for Apple in 31 factories in Vietnam.

▲ At the Global Developer Conference of Apple in 2022, Cook talked to participants from all over the world. Photo / Visual China

Today, Vietnam's fruit chain has continued to extend from simple assembly and manufacturing, and a new supply chain network is expanding slowly.

India is also another object of Cook. Two years ago, on Apple's supply map, the number of factories in India accounted for only 1.3%, which was only a zero compared to the 48%of the Chinese factory. This number became 3.1%last year, and by 2022, it is about to become 5%to 7%.

Compared with China, Vietnam and India are still a little trouble. The number of Chinese fruit chain workers is 2 million, which is ten times that of Vietnamese workers; 90%of Apple products were actually produced in China last year, and most of them produced in India are old models. In addition to local fruit chain companies, many overseas companies also put on many overseas companies. The factory is located in China and has invested hugely and will not evacuate in a short time.

Although it is unable to shake the status of the Chinese fruit chain, these news is still nervous in the eyes of suppliers that rely on Apple, long -term bargaining power, and fear of losing this big customer. In order not to be squeezed out of the apple supply chain, the suppliers moved the wind, and they pressed new nails in India and Vietnam.

Apple's largest foundry Foxconn responded the fastest and has established a huge legion of 60,000 people in Vietnam. However, the opponent did not idle. On June 11, Liu Yangwei, the chairman of Foxconn, who had always been low -key, publicly complained: "Where these factories saw Foxconn's factories, they ran to the factory area to buy a land. The car, and the talents of Foxconn are quickly entered the market by high salaries. "This is a new round of wars grabbing and sitting.

The most dissatisfied opponent of Foxconn should be the production of AirPods's Lixun Precision, Goer's shares, and BYD who produced iPad. With the movement of Foxconn, Yu Tong also expanded the production line of electronic product packaging boxes in Vietnam, and Lan Si Technology could not fall, and lost the business of the production glass cover protection cover. They were bitter, but there was no way. "If you don't pass, you will lose your customers."

However, the factory running with people is also a tossing thing. Whether it is foundry such as Foxconn and Lixun Precision, or component suppliers such as Lan Si Technology, they have invested huge resources for the Apple production line in China. Now to disperse production capacity to Vietnam and India, although the cost of labor will decline, it is a big expense to buy a plant, the training of workers, and the optimization process in the early stage. On average, the cost does not necessarily fall, and short -term profits will be affected.

But they couldn't help, Apple said this game. They are afraid that you do n’t go to your own. If Apple supports Southeast Asia, you will not take you to play in the future. This is the crackdown that most fruit chain companies cannot bear at this stage.

▲ In the area of ​​Zhengzhou Fuji Factory, hundreds of thousands of workers took get off work here. Figure / Vision China grab stool game

Foxconn's hard work is not easy to make. Some people in the industry estimated that a iPhone 12 with a cost of more than $ 370. The value of parts and components of mainland China suppliers is only $ 17, accounting for only 5%.

The reality is so cruel: through the clever supply chain management technology, Apple has taken most of the profits, and at the same time pass the risk to the suppliers.

In 1997, when Jobs returned to Apple's power, the technology company was on the verge of bankruptcy. Inventory was the biggest problem. At that time, it had been stamped for two months, but the goods could not be sold, and the supplier's accounts were not yet on, which made Apple's cash flow overwhelmed.

Jobs helped Apple find a "savior". In 1998, after Cook joined Apple, as soon as he took office, he listed the efficiency of the supply chain as the primary work. It took 9 months to reduce Apple's original 1 month inventory period to 6 days. Once there is a demand, more than 1,000 suppliers from more than 40 countries and regions will form a mature and huge machine to start operation to ensure supply.

Cook has two tips, one is to simplify the product line and reduce the complexity of the supply chain. Every year, Apple will produce a few new products, unlike other PC manufacturers and mobile phone manufacturers to play "machine -sea tactics". The positioning has always been clear. In recent years, it is "squeezing toothpaste" innovation, and the supply chain is more stable and controllable.

Another trick is "the technique of checks and balances". Cook reduced the number of suppliers, and only made the order to a few suppliers to let the suppliers "grab the stools" themselves. For suppliers, sitting on a stool is not the end, but the starting point. While grabbing the stool No. 1, Cook will also show No. 2 and No. 3, and see how they look at them to squeeze the upper position of No. 1.

A typical story is the rise of BOE. On the stool on the screen panel, two old -fashioned companies -Samsung and LG have been sitting. They accounted for a high proportion of Apple screen orders, which once made Cook sleepy, for fear that they would be controlled by them. At this moment, the "popular candidate" BOE, which was burned to buy technology and the production volume, had entered Apple's attention after waving his arm for 4 years, becoming Cook's opponents used to suppress the other two. BOE as expected, Apple also placed a new weight on the balance.

▲ 2018 International Touch and New Display Technology Exhibition, BOE BOE booth. Photo / Visual China

In the fruit chain, the story of jumping into the clouds and falling into the valley overnight is often staged. Every new face appears, the old partners behind them are "abandoned".

This checks and balances are sometimes extremely extreme.力 The first generation of touch screen was developed, but Apple began to worry about the unique family of Xi Honghui. The core technology is arranged to share the cakes for others, and it has also laid hidden dangers for the abandoned in the later period.

In front of Apple, suppliers have no bargaining power, but they must gain the favor of Apple at lower prices and better quality. In the first quarter of fiscal year in fiscal 2022, Apple ushered in the highest quarterly revenue in history, $ 124 billion, and the gross profit margin was as high as 43.8%. However, Lan Si Technology, which provides glass panels for Apple, has only 11.24%in the first quarter, and its net profit is 400 million yuan. Another Changying Precision, which provided metal cases for MacBook, lost 600 million yuan last year, with a gross profit margin of only 14.45%. In the final analysis, the cost of raw material price increases last year made suppliers share. Everyone dared not increase the price of Apple, and Apple's profits were completely unsolved.

The abandoned end was miserable. A few days ago, Ophi Guang received an inquiry letter asking Ophi Guang to explain that except for specific foreign customers to terminate the procurement relationship, the reasons for the significant decline in foreign sales revenue were declining. Customers are related to explain the reasons for the impairment of the relevant assets in detail.

Ophei was a little sad, and was abandoned by Apple for more than a year, and his life was not good. At the beginning, Ophi Guang was responsible for providing Camera module for Apple. It was the first domestic manufacturer to win the order of Apple Optical Components. However, I did not expect that the next day after the "breakup" with specific customers — Apple Co., Ltd., it fell from the altar. It did not fall on the ground, but fell to the ground. The stock price fell all the way, and the market value of more than 30 billion yuan evaporated instantly. After being severely damaged, Ophei can only endure the production of the seller. First, the device worth 2.4 billion yuan was transferred at half of the price, and then the meat was cut to sell 4 subsidiaries to abandon one -quarter assets. After a year, Ophelong changed from Ying to losses at a loss of 2.7 billion yuan in annual losses.

According to statistics, almost 30%of the suppliers will be kicked out of the fruit chain each year.

There are also some companies that are abandoned and used sometimes by Apple, and their lives are trembling and like a thin ice. As the first -generation supplier that was thrown away by Apple, Xinwangda had always supplied mobile phone batteries for Apple until the launch of the iPhone 4, Delsi battery entered the game strongly, and Xinwangda was eliminated cruelly. The scenery and glory of the iPhone 4, Xinwangda can only watch crying silently. Later, Xinwangda was invited again, and he couldn't say a rejection. He could only enter the game.

After all, with the big customer of Apple, you don't have to worry about not doing it. Even if the gross profit margin is low, but after the output comes up, the profit is also considerable. Who does not want to make this stable money? ▲ Apple headquarters in California is the source of Apple's supply chain. Photo / Visual China

Sweet first and then sweet

In order to squeeze into the Apple supply chain, electronic manufacturers often get a layer of skin and press their half -life.

Back to 2004, sitting on the plane flying to the Apple headquarters in the United States, the technical leader of Xunhong Technology did not feel real. It was a colorful transparent plastic paper to help Xun Hong enter the threshold of Apple's supply chain.

At that time, Apple was ready to make a mobile phone and invited the Honghong to introduce the product to introduce the product. Their thoughts conquered the people from Apple and let them fly to the United States to "talk about it again." In the following two years, the two sides developed the touch screen of the original iPhone together. This is a 4 -layer composite glass screen that requires a vacuum fit. There must be no bubbles and misalignment. The coating should be extremely thin and uniform. During the development process, the person in charge of the technical technical in charge of the technology collapsed many times. Just "let's give up", he told the boss 9 times.

In the end, a glass screen was divided into 90 processes, but the larger difficulty was to achieve large -scale mass production. On the first day of starting the construction, Xunhong produced 200 touch screens, and the yield rate was only 8%, and only 16 pieces could be delivered to Apple.宵 宵 can only meet multiple overnight meetings, and study improvement methods. It was not until one month that the yield rate was increased to 80%, and they passed the level in a hurry.

At that time, when Jobs held the iPhone to plan the Apple Empire, the bosses of Ji Hong and Sun Daming cried in the audience. It took 6 years to burn NT $ 1.2 billion and overcome hundreds of precision craftsmanship. No one is more than them. Understand how difficult it is.

Apple suppliers are usually required to produce customized parts, and Apple's mobile phone component quality standards exceed more than five times the industry. According to industry news, Apple usually dispatches a large number of mobile phone engineers to component factories and develops together. Even if it is only a assembly factory, Apple still dispatches nearly 2,000 engineers to Foxconn in the factory.

A "Apple Supplier Responsibility Letter" is a "entry chain guide". The stepping stalls of the fruit chain, one depends on exquisite technology, and the two depends on scale output. In addition, Apple also has strict requirements for standardized management, including a series of segments such as water resource utilization, waste treatment, and clean energy use.

Anyone who has a headache for suppliers, there is no fine confidentiality agreement. Hyundai Group has revealed that early communication with Apple's car -related business has caused Apple's anger to announce the cancellation of cooperation. Apple has also modified the security guide of foundry companies to prevent leakage information. In the cooperation with Apple, the glass screen manufacturer GTAT was required to not sell its own technology and products to a third party. As a result, Apple did not use GTAT's sapphire glass screen, which caused GTAT technology to put into water drift and missed it. Cooperation opportunities with other companies will eventually go bankrupt.

It can be said that confidentiality is a kind of protection for Apple's technological innovation, and it is also part of Apple's marketing strategy for consumers. However, the risks in it are also borne by suppliers. Once they do not do well, they will be relentlessly abandoned.

It is very difficult to squeeze into the fruit chain, but once it is selected, you can taste the sweetness of this apple.

When entering Foxconn's marine electronics factory in Shenzhen, Wang Laichun was just an ordinary female worker. She was not afraid of upside down day and night, management high pressure, year after year, finally promoted to the "class leader" to achieve employees' management in the mainland management. The highest level of the layer.

Later, the story was that more than ten years after entering the factory, the female workers finally walked out of the factory and started entrepreneurial roads. Wang Laichun first became the "rich second generation", fully cooperated with Foxconn's production, and then went up to seize Foxconn's business. With dozens of production lines to completely break the iPhone monopoly of Foxconn and Taiwan for 10 years.

Apple's sweetness, on the surface, has a big customer and gains a big list. After Wang Laichun's Lixun Precision undertook the foundry of AirPods, sales continued to rise, the money accumulated, and the performance and stock price flew up. At the highest point, the stock price increased by 60 times. The sweetness of the deep "sandwich" is the popularity and glory brought by the apple aura. From the Dongguan factories that provide connectors to the production of half of the AIRPODS share, Lixun Precision has soared more than 90 times the revenue in 10 years, known as the "Fruit Chain Myth". Sitting on the "King of Fruit Chain" Lixun has become a "new giant" on the e -consumption that has risen by Apple.

This sweetness is the sum of wealth, technology and development opportunities. Lan Si Technology occupies half of the revenue by providing glass cover for Apple, and the increase in just 5 years has doubled; BOE joined the fruit chain to get more than 25 billion yuan in 1 year, earning a full bowel Full. Apple is also the largest customers of many domestic electronic manufacturers such as Lan Si, Yiyi Zhifang, and Dongshan Precision. They have continued to grow with them. The A -share market has even named a new name for fruit chain companies- With Apple endorsement, the road is much better, and more and more new customers have been harvested.

Multiple friends, multiple ways. Ophiguang has now turned to new fields such as domestic mobile phone brands, new energy vehicles and VR/AR. BOE, which is still in the fruit chain, did not dare to put eggs in a basket, layout new business and expand new customers. Foxconn, the number one housekeeper, also thought of multiple transformation directions for himself, including the Industrial Internet, 5G, Internet of Vehicle and New Energy. But in a short period of time, they were still inseparable from Apple. Of course, transforming new energy vehicles can also be regarded as a resume for the Apple car supply chain in advance.

▲ Jiangxi Yingtan, Oufei Guanghua supply chain communication module production line. Photo / Visual China

Fruit Chain Survival Guide

Entering Apple games, suppliers have never had the power to formulate rules, and they can only face the fate of being faced. On one side is "under the fence", suffering from "Apple Dependence", and on the other side, it also draws nutrients here and grows up. They made each other and balance each other, and became a close -up community of survival.

Although Apple is strong, it also depends on the fruit chain. This chain not only helps to reduce costs and risks, but also an important source of innovation, such as the retina screen of the iPhone 4, the iPhone 5s Touch ID, the 3D TOUCH, iPhone of the iPhone 6s, iPhone X's FACE ID is due to the R & D and innovation behind the supplier, which has also triggered the learning and follow -up of domestic mobile phones.

But too much emphasis on supply chain management, all the pressure on a few suppliers is also a desperate adventure for Apple. When they introduce new hardware, the question is always: Is this technology mature? Can it really be successfully mass -produced? This leads to Apple "slowly half a beat" in front of Xin Technology.

When entering 5G, Apple is the second echelon, and the trend of full -screen and folding screens has not quickly kept up. Apple, which has always rely on exclusive innovation, is often referred to as "innovative weakness". The annual "Technology Spring Festival Gala "It is also often surprised.

Once the key supplier is affected by the epidemic, the supply chain will be held and the whole body will be led, and alternatives will not be found in a short time. Apple, who has always been high, also had to bow its head, and repeatedly released a compromise of extension and price reduction.

For China's apple suppliers, if you want to survive in the fruit chain, you need to make itself irreplaceable.

Many companies' fruit chain coupons were originally "bought" -relying on the acquisition of other companies to enter the venue. The direction of Ophelia's field of camera module is concerned about Sony, which is responsible for the 50%front camera and 10%rear camera order in charge of Apple.

Lixun is a familiar hand acquired. Wang Laichun is not satisfied with the younger brother of Foxconn. He has always been a foundry. First, he acquired Kunshan Liantao Electronics Company and followed Foxconn to squeeze the fruit chain on the front and rear feet. The company undertakes half of the supply order of AirPods, and another foot enters the acoustic supply chain.

However, most of the real core technology is still in the hands of others, such as the American chip, South Korea's large components, and precision components of Japan. Chinese Taiwanese companies are well -asserted. Group and parts.

The module is like "Pindu Gao". What you want to do is to assemble small parts into large parts. The good players of Pindu Gao include Offei and Goh Scholars in the Macing module. Parts are more like "processing stores". As long as organic tools are organized, workers can produce, such as Lan Si Technology's glass lid, long -row precision case, and metal middle frame of Carson Technology.

The threshold of the module is low, and there will always be opponents who are more diligent and lower than your hands and feet. The processing store will face the fate of being eliminated in the continuous upgrade.

The general trend of industrial migration is unstoppable. Chinese fruit chain companies are bound to transform from labor -intensive enterprises to capital and technology -intensive enterprises, forming their own barriers to technology and craftsmanship, so that they can not be replaced.

There are also good doing. Goor's revenue in 2021 was 78.2 billion yuan, an increase of 35%year -on -year, and the net profit attributable to the mother was 4.3 billion yuan, an increase of 50%year -on -year. It was because it continued to increase R & D investment and formed competitiveness. BOE is no exception. With many years of continuous research and development investment, it breaks the monopoly of Korean companies on the panel in one fell swoop. Apple didn't say anything, showing the confidence of BOE.

Not all fruit chain companies have this confidence, but all fruit chains should be in peace and strive to live in the wave of industrial changes.

▲ Figure / Vision China

Reference materials:

1.21 Caiwenhui: Apple supply chain company "Vietnam Blossom"

2. Tencent News: Dangerous "Fruit Chain": Ophei was kicked out by Apple to talk about

3. Observation of the semiconductor industry: 0 to 50 billion, reveal the history of the 15 -year -old family of Ophel

4. Huajie Cai Technology: Why did the "King of Fruit Chain" be defeated by Foxconn? Unveil the Secret of Lixun Precision Strange Strike

5. Tiger Sniff: How does Apple's supply chain art become its weakness?

6. Far -pass science and technology comments: dangerous division of labor: from Apple trap, to Tesla Phantom

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