When he launched a Kickstarter project in 2012 to develop a virtual reality headset, Palmer Luckey is far from knowing what goal will buy his company Oculus for $ 2 billion just two years later. A bet he had made at that time with John Carmack, the creator of Condemn.
But the man, who since then has founded his new company dedicated to military drones that use AI to analyze their objectives, today has a new project in mind: to create a laptop manufactured in the United States.
A PC “made in the US.” Ilusory
In X, the businessman who became a Trump and follower of Elon Musk, asked his subscribers if a computer “would cost 20% more than an Apple device designed in China” would find customers. Currently, the survey shows that 63.5% of the more than 76,000 voters are ready to do so.
If the project was created, it would be observed if all components are also “designed in the United States”, which is far from being the case. In the US market, there are computers “assembled in the United States”, such as Mac Pro of Apple, but its components were manufactured in Asia.
To hope to benefit from the sacrosanct “made in the US.”, The US law is very clear: “The product must have been manufactured totally or practically in the United States,” specifies the Federal Commerce of Commerce.
But the possibility of such a computer faces an industrial wall. Pressing by Donald Trump to design his iPhone on the American floor, Tim Cook, Apple’s chief, explained that there was simply the necessary industrial fabric. In a world where trade and manufacturing are globalized, it seems difficult to imagine a price increase of only 20%. For example, in the apogee of the import tax crisis by Donald Trump, Wedbush Securities Analyst, Dan IVES, indicated that an iPhone manufactured in the United States would cost no less than $ 3,000, admitting that a production chain and supply can be created, of course.
If by chance, Palmer Luckey wanted to embark on this adventure, I should find existing partners or then create factories, train and recruit engineers, build a complete chain and ecosystem … and, above all, compose, for imported components, with customs tariffs that come and come to the good reduction of US president.
At this time, and despite the many investments of Nvidia, AMD or Apple and Microsoft in the United States to attract the favors of Donald Trump, the arrival of a large volume made in the site seems very illusory.
Source: BFM TV
