Are there any good laptop options out there not manufactured in China? Even brands like System 76 fail this test. Looking for suggestions for devices made in the EU, USA, Canada, Japan, etc.
One challenge with importing Japanese laptops is not being able to order them with a US keyboard layout, many ship exclusively with a JIS keyboard layout.
Intel factories are around the world (US, Europe, Israel, Malaysia), but none in China. See ([1]).
AMD uses TSMC (Taiwan) and GlobalFoundries (USA, Europe, Singapore [2]).
So, answering your narrow question: yes, these chips are manufactured outside of China.
But the answer to your wider question is more complex: supply chain is so globalized that there will always be some components or subassemblies manufactured in China in any laptop, unless it's a state-sponsored multi-year effort to not have any.
Right, but my point is they’re likely the least worst option, since they have a pretty tightly-controlled supply chain and I can’t think of any viable laptops fully manufactured and assembled outside of China. I don’t think that even Fujitsu laptops meet this criteria.
There's also a government shopping site for approved "MAS IT Schedule 70" desktops and laptops: https://www.gsaadvantage.gov/advantage/ws/search/gss_search and some of those say "Made in the USA", but I'm not sure of the extent of vetting they do of those component parts. They're mostly Dell and HP machines, but those vendors might have special pipelines for getting those special USA machines...? Not sure.
Surely there's still subcomponents made in China, even if device manufacture happens in Taiwan.
Granted, it doesn't really matter from a security standpoint unless those subcomponents are ICs of some sort. Then again, there's probably some really clever ways to backdoor stuff even using "dumb" components.
It'd be nice if consumers had options for end-to-end supply chain assurances though.
Yeah I’m 99,9% sure that a non-negligible part of the subcomponents are made in China. I would be extremely surprised if it was possible to find a modern personal computer with zero parts made in China. (Might be possible for embedded devices?)
“Proudly Made In Japan. VAIO, and authentically Japanese manufacturer, can boast of in-house design, manufacturing and support teams. Our level of commitment to Japanese technology and aesthetics that is a hallmark of VAIO’s craftsmanship.”
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[ 3.3 ms ] story [ 60.9 ms ] threadAMD uses TSMC (Taiwan) and GlobalFoundries (USA, Europe, Singapore [2]).
So, answering your narrow question: yes, these chips are manufactured outside of China.
But the answer to your wider question is more complex: supply chain is so globalized that there will always be some components or subassemblies manufactured in China in any laptop, unless it's a state-sponsored multi-year effort to not have any.
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_manufacturing_si...
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GlobalFoundries
A potential downside might be that you're limited to macOS or Linux only.
There's also a government shopping site for approved "MAS IT Schedule 70" desktops and laptops: https://www.gsaadvantage.gov/advantage/ws/search/gss_search and some of those say "Made in the USA", but I'm not sure of the extent of vetting they do of those component parts. They're mostly Dell and HP machines, but those vendors might have special pipelines for getting those special USA machines...? Not sure.
Translation: they attach the laptop display and hard drive in Texas, and charge 50% more.
Though they seem old and overpriced. Not much left of Toshibas former glory. (For some models only anyway)
edit: https://us.dynabook.com/
I don’t know for sure, but if I read that comment correctly, those six companies are turnkey suppliers for the large computer brands.
Granted, it doesn't really matter from a security standpoint unless those subcomponents are ICs of some sort. Then again, there's probably some really clever ways to backdoor stuff even using "dumb" components.
It'd be nice if consumers had options for end-to-end supply chain assurances though.
“Proudly Made In Japan. VAIO, and authentically Japanese manufacturer, can boast of in-house design, manufacturing and support teams. Our level of commitment to Japanese technology and aesthetics that is a hallmark of VAIO’s craftsmanship.”
https://us.vaio.com/pages/why-vaio