So I googled and saw that there's 4.8 Million apple employees in China? More than i expected when I started the Google search.
With that said, is that enough for China to care at all? a little? a lot? Meaning, I wouldn't be surprised if China would forgo plenty of jobs from Western companies as their economy matures. Especially if China fully boycotted Apple, I doubt many other US Companies would respond at all
Many of those companies are showing themselves to be spineless right now
This figure includes the employees of Apple contractors. It’s a representation of how many jobs Apple supports in China. Of course Apple is not directly manufacturing anything in China, but the factories and parts suppliers are very much dependent on Apple’s business.
This is an interesting thought, because most Apple products are essentially bricked without software activation. And Apple has gone to great lengths to make it impossible to circumvent. Sure, they could produce cheap clones running Android but China already does that.
> most Apple products are essentially bricked without software activation
In the near-term, expropriation would stave off job losses. (In the cities, amidst highly-skilled workers no less.) In the medium term, production lines could be adapted to make non-bricked products.
Long story short, the threat of massive job losses to China is minimal--Apple has limited leverage over Beijing.
They wouldn't produce iPhones without the chips. They'd just keep running the lines. Apple has limited leverage in threatening to walk away from China.
It's easy to boycott companies that are only in China as another market to sell to. It's not easy to boycott one of the largest private employers in an industry the CCP views as strategically important.
Is that number direct employee's or does that include MFG/Suppliers etc?
Either way, 4.8 million people + friends/family, being angry is not a small number. China's population is ~1.3 billion according to CIA world fact book. So it's certainly less than 1% of the population, but not insignificant.
I'd say it's significant because those are the people "awake". Most of the population are poor country-side folks who couldn't revolt in any meaningful way.
With that said, is that enough for China to care at all? a little? a lot? Meaning, I wouldn't be surprised if China would forgo plenty of jobs from Western companies as their economy matures. Especially if China fully boycotted Apple, I doubt many other US Companies would respond at all
Many of those companies are showing themselves to be spineless right now