Dell to buy $52 billion components from China

Yahoo ^ | 3/20/2008 | Kirby Chien

[Red in Blue PA]

BEIJING (Reuters) - Dell Inc (NasdaqGS:DELL - News) plans to buy $23 billion of components from China this year and $29 billion in 2009, helping it reduce costs while the company's main market, the United States, is facing recession.

The commoditization of computer hardware means competition is more a function of price and efficiency than quality and branding, making China a favorite place to source a broad range of goods, including electronic components.

[Slapshot68]

The Genesis song, “Throwing It All Away” just popped into my head.

[chatham]

Time to avoid Dell, let them sell their wares in China!!

[TheBattman]

Our school recently purchased a mobile lab from Dell. The laptops were all made in Malaysia. The Dell desktops that were purchased last year (many of which failed in the first 6 months) had many components including the power supplies (#1 failed component) that were marked made in China.

I don’t know that the “news” posted is all that new.

What bothers me - at a time when national security should be a top priority in all aspects of our lives, our own corporations continue to outsource parts and labor to manufacture such a wide variety of our products, including those that we REALLY should be making ourselves.

From our military hardware, to our computers, to even our food... we are importing from all over the world with a disproportionate part coming from COMMUNIST CHINA. All the while, our current administration is trying to feed us a line of bull about China being such a great place with friendly people who truly respect human rights... While our own few remaining factories are dying.

[Red in Blue PA]

My last Dell had a drive which didn’t work out of the box. Cannot see how moving ALL components to China will help matters one bit.

Apparently Dell isn’t too worried about Quality Control.

[NautiNurse]

[BikerJoe]

Apparently Dell isn’t too worried about Quality Control.

Which is why I recommend HP to everyone.

[deuteronlmy232]

With the dollar at just about an all time low, how dump does one have to be to buy over seas? Really, really, really dumb. And from china at that, the single most hated trading partner the US has, is even dumber.

[Wolfie]

helping it reduce costs while the company's main market, the United States, is facing recession.

Oh, the irony.

[TSgt]

HP’s quality is superior thanks to their extensive R&D.

[Neidermeyer]

Apparently Dell isn’t too worried about Quality Control.

Which is why I recommend HP to everyone.
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I bought a HP desktop model 6110 last summer ,, everything inside , MB, HDD, DVD-RW, PS was marked made in China... The only thing that this will accomplish is give the local shops that build better PC’s with quality components some time to make sales before price competition kills them too... Just look what “made in China” did to the IBM Lenovo brand , they’re dead...

[Mister Da]

“...competition is more a function of price and efficiency than quality and branding,...”

Sounds like low priced, low quality goods to me.

That might be fine for my TV or radio, but not my computer, which has essentially become my main filing cabinet.

Furthermore, I doubt anyone can afford to frequently put their PC in the shop for any length of time.

[Arkinsaw]

With the dollar at just about an all time low, how dump does one have to be to buy over seas? Really, really, really dumb. And from china at that, the single most hated trading partner the US has, is even dumber.

The Chinese have their currency pegged with the dollar. In normal situations like this imports would cost more and our own manufacturing would start to be worthwhile again. But with what China is doing they are preventing our manufacturing coming back even as the dollar tanks.

I suspect they will de-link only when they are fully ready and it will do us the most damage.

[Neidermeyer]

HP’s quality is superior thanks to their extensive R&D.
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Not quite enough R&D , the built in ethernet on my 6110 (and all other HP/AMD motherboard machines) causes Vista to crash at irregular intervals with no warning,,, 9 months since the first reports to Mister-Softie and still no resolution.

[BikerJoe]

The only thing that this will accomplish is give the local shops that build better PC’s with quality components some time to make sales before price competition kills them too

And where are those quality components made?

For the record, I bought a locally-built server for a client last year. After spec'ing it out and talking to CDW (who, despite multiple calls, never called back!), HP, IBM and Gateway, the locally-built machine was a much better option.

[TSgt]

You are confusing a hardware issue with a software issue.

Your problem is Vista.

[Neidermeyer]

I’m going to buy a handful of small footprint (Dell GX series or equivalent) P4 machines that have mostly US/Taiwan components.

[mkjessup]

I’m just waiting for the day when I get to hear an enraged Communist Chinese end user trying to get technical assistance from some script-reading ignoramus in New Delhi and hearing the words ‘I theenk what you neeed at this time is to reeeinstall Windows!’

[CrazyJoeDivola]

Items manufactured in China will not be cheaper much longer, the exchange rate with a weakening dollar vs. the RMB, transportation costs, and a booming middle class in China demanding higher wages will continue to drive up the cost of goods imported from China.

Raw materials cost the same in China as in the US for the most part, the labor costs have been the saving grace for those manufacturing in China.

These coupled with the headaches and hidden costs of poor quality from China will drive business either back to the US or to some other 3rd world country.

[Realism]

My wife just talked to Dell customer support last night. Couldn't understand a word. After a long conversation of what, huh and could you repeat that, she asked to talk to a manager (english speaking preferably). Apparently the don't staff managers in the far east, so we wait, they'll get back to us..... maybe.