An iPhone is designed in California. Its main chip is made in Taiwan, its screen mostly in South Korea. It is put together in China or, more and more, in India. Then it travels to a shop near you.
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Each country does the part it does best or cheapest. That keeps prices low. But every stop is a link, and if one link stops, everything after it waits.
In 2021 car makers ran short of computer chips. AlixPartners estimated that 7.7 million cars would not be built that year, and $210 billion of sales would be lost.
“Assembled in China” on the back is not the whole story. The costliest parts, like the chip and the screen, mostly come from Taiwan, South Korea and Japan.
Pick one thing you own: a phone, a shirt, a bike. Read its label, then look up where its main parts come from. Count the borders.
Things are made across many countries. When one stop on the chain halts, everything after it waits.
Do it today
Trace where one thing you own came from.
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