My guess would be that it starts with the assumption that "China is cheaper", and that makes for an easy story to tell to investors "we're making XYZ in China!". The second you say "we're making it in Texas", it opens you up to questions of "isn't that expensive?"
On the face of it, I'm sure the up-front quote from a Chinese manufacturer is cheaper than something in the USA. Where costs skyrocket is when something goes wrong: the parts are wrong, the products aren't ready on time, something was done incorrectly, etc. If you don't have a manufacturer you can trust, one of those will happen, and is almost impossible to diagnose from the US.
Even if all of that works out, there are other things to consider: costs (and time) of shipping. Want it in a week? Well, get ready to pay. Even if you ship it air freight consolidated, it's still not cheap. If you want it on a boat, there's a good chunk of time to think about.
On top of THAT, there are all sorts of fun import tariffs and such to deal with (at least on the US side). Get ready to front money for an import bond, for starters! And there may already be some hidden costs of importing into the US: if you use some TI parts that have to be imported into China, you're going to be paying taxes twice.
A lot of those things are likely not looked at in the low quote from a Chinese manufacturer. They're costs that can/will show up later along the line.
On the face of it, I'm sure the up-front quote from a Chinese manufacturer is cheaper than something in the USA. Where costs skyrocket is when something goes wrong: the parts are wrong, the products aren't ready on time, something was done incorrectly, etc. If you don't have a manufacturer you can trust, one of those will happen, and is almost impossible to diagnose from the US.
Even if all of that works out, there are other things to consider: costs (and time) of shipping. Want it in a week? Well, get ready to pay. Even if you ship it air freight consolidated, it's still not cheap. If you want it on a boat, there's a good chunk of time to think about.
On top of THAT, there are all sorts of fun import tariffs and such to deal with (at least on the US side). Get ready to front money for an import bond, for starters! And there may already be some hidden costs of importing into the US: if you use some TI parts that have to be imported into China, you're going to be paying taxes twice.
A lot of those things are likely not looked at in the low quote from a Chinese manufacturer. They're costs that can/will show up later along the line.