Stars And Stripes
Date: December 1, 2018 
By: Debby Wu, Bloomberg

One of the biggest beneficiaries of the clash between the U.S. and China may turn out to be a gritty Taiwanese town called Taoyuan.

The former Japanese enclave west of Taipei had long suffered as local companies shifted factories to the mainland to benefit from lower wages and globalizing trade. But with tensions escalating between the world’s two largest economies, Taiwan’s biggest tech firms are now moving some production back home and many are turning to this city of 2 million on the northwestern coast. The trend may have gained a boost after President Donald Trump signaled he’ll likely push ahead with increased tariffs.

Taoyuan doesn’t offer much in the way of glitz. But it does boast an hour’s drive to Taipei, hosts the island’s primary international airport, and overseers who’re aggressive supporters. That’s why it’s a hot destination as the manufacturing powerhouses behind the world’s electronics scour the globe for alternatives. The moves threaten to splinter a decades-old supply chain, in which Taiwanese giants assemble devices out of sprawling Chinese bases that the likes of HP and Dell then slap their labels on.

From iPhone assembler Pegatron Corp. to laptop maker Compal Electronics Inc., they’re now preparing for an end to an arrangement that’s served them well since the 1980s. Along with fellow Apple Inc.-supplier Inventec Corp., the trio are among those adding capacity in Taoyuan, with announcements coming as Washington and Beijing ramp up the rhetoric over trade and tariffs. Others like Quanta Computer Inc. are snapping up or seeking factory land. The city’s population is now the fastest-growing in the country even as U.S.-Chinese tensions dampen the global economy.    [FULL  STORY]