Gurley argues US should build semiconductor plants in Mexico or Vietnam rather than onshore them given labor model realities.
“Like I, you know, I'm not- Provocative. Like, yeah, it's provocative because it says that if America is really worried about the concentration in Taiwan, they should probably be trying to help build semiconductor plants in Mexico or Vietnam or that kind of thing versus bringing them here”
Gurley cites Morris Chang arguing Taiwan's chip competitiveness stems from labor model incompatible with US norms.
“Morris makes the point that the reason Taiwan is competitive has to do with the labor model that exists there and the type of work people are willing to do and your ability to retain them. And he walks through his history of hiring in Texas and other parts of”
Gurley says Morris Chang identifies Vietnam or India as likely disruptors, not advanced economies like the US.
“And his says the country must more likely to disrupt Taiwan would be Vietnam or India, Not an advanced culture.”
Gurley notes US car production requires six employees per car daily compared to projected one in China.
“That number is like at six in The US. And that's super interesting for a number of things. Like, if you wanna bring the jobs back”
Gurley reports Xiaomi factory produces thousand cars daily with 2,000 employees versus six per car in US.
“The factory makes a thousand cars a day with 2,000 employees. It was highly automated, like really highly automated.”
Gurley says Xiaomi uses one-third the employees per car; predicts one-sixth in ten years.
“The Xiaomi factory was a third, based on some numbers I was able to acquire, a third the number of employees per car output.”
Gurley predicts reshored manufacturing will bring hundreds of thousands of jobs, not millions, due to automation.
“And so you could calculate the total number of jobs you'd be bringing back if you brought back all this car production and it'd be hundreds of thousands. It's not millions and millions of jobs.”