In an article a few weeks back, titled “U.S. Electronics Manufacturers Grappling With Higher Costs from U.S. and Chinese Tariffs” the IPC provided some horrifying statistics. After surveying IPC members between September and October of this year,

The average survey respondent had tariffs on at least 31% of the total dollar value of goods they import. 69 percent of the companies surveyed by the IPC had taken a profit hit because of the increased tariffs, with a substantial amount dropping their US based investment including new hires and employee retention. Over 33% of the companies feel they can’t pass the increased cost imposed by the tariffs on to their [...]

According to the Orange County Register, Expert-EMS in Tustin, CA is expanding their electronics assembly capacity. Details are sparse describing what that increase in capacity is, mentioning only a move from a 9,000 sqft facility to a new 26,000 sqft location. The cost associated with expanding to a facility that large represents a huge investment, provided they are taking up all twenty six thousand square feet. According to officespace.com, industrial property in Tustin leases at prices in excess of $1/sqft, which is comparable to what I’ve seen this year looking for space north of Los Angeles.

Considering that a move to a less expensive location outside of Orange or [...]

News reports from Taiwan (here, here and here) are reporting on a huge layoff at Dynamic Electronics, based in Taoyuan Taiwan. Dynamic announced that it is going to layoff the majority of its manufacturing staff at it’s Taiwan fab. Of the 490 staff members located in the Taoyuan facility somewhere around 400 to 420 are going to be given their pink slips on October 15th.

According the corporate website, Dynamic ranked 15th in Taiwan for PCB manufacturing capability, 42nd in the world, and 13th in automotive PCB fabrication in 2018. That represents slightly more than $430MM in revenue, with 7,000 employees, so they’re not a small organization by any stretch. Cutting [...]