笔记本电脑产业背后的台湾因素
Meet the Not-Foxconns
台湾的计算机承包行业有点像电影《黑客帝国》(Matrix)里描述的“母体”，如果不是有那么一点技术性小毛病的话，比如工厂内争吵或罢工，你根本感受不到它的存在。
Taiwan's computer contracting industry is kind of like the Matrix, in that you wouldn't know it exists until there is a glitch such as a factory brawl or a strike.
等你知道了它的存在之后，你就会发现其实它像母体一样一直存在，你看不见它，但它却影响着所有一切。
And then you realize the Matrix has been here all along, unseen, but affecting everything.
分析人士说，如今全球90%以上的笔记本电脑的设计和生产业务都是以某种方式外包的，这些公司的总部位于台湾这个行事低调的小岛上──虽然很多这样的公司已经大多进军中国大陆，因为那里劳动力成本更低。
Analysts say more than 90% of the world's laptops today are outsourced in some way to design and manufacturing firms headquartered on the otherwise low-key Asian island of Taiwan, although their factories have largely migrated to mainland China due to cheaper labor costs.
其中恶名最著的一家公司就是鸿海精密工业股份有限公司(Hon Hai Precision Co.)，也即富士康公司，原因即在于它是苹果最重要的供应商之一。不过更有意思的是，外包企业在也包括一些不那么有名的公司，比如广达电脑股份有限公司(Quanta Computer Inc)、仁宝电脑(Compal Electronics Inc.)、纬创资通股份有限公司(Wistron Corp Inventec Corp.)以及和硕联合科技股份有限公司(Pegatron Corp.)等公司，这些公司不仅生产富士康生产的那些产品，而且还帮助除苹果(Apple)之外的几乎所有大品牌──包括惠普(Hewlett-Packard Co.HPQ+1.96%)和戴尔(Dell Inc.DELL+0.83%)──设计电脑。
分析人士说，这些“原始设计制造商”(ODM)一直参与着世界上大多数型号电脑的设计和开发。
The one that's gained the most notoriety is Hon Hai Precision Co., known by the tradename Foxconn, due to its role as a key supplier for Apple. But arguably more interesting are the lesser-known firms ─ Quanta Computer Inc 2382.TW +0.15%Compal Electronics Inc. 2324.TW -0.81%Wistron Corp 3231.TW +0.36%Inventec Corp. 2356.TW -0.10%and Pegatron Corp. 4938.TW -4.09%─ companies that don't only manufacture devices like Hon Hai does, but also help design computers for virtually every major brand other than Apple, including Hewlett-Packard Co. HPQ -1.76%and Dell Inc. DELL -7.33%
These Taiwanese 'original design manufacturers', or ODMs, have long been involved in the design and development of most of the computer models that enter the world, analysts say.
但是，正如《华尔街日报》今天的报道，随着个人电脑产业遭遇10年以来最严重的增长放缓，一些主要的个人电脑品牌开始思考，把设计外包给台湾的成本优势能否抵得上创新方面的损失。
But as the PC industry suffers through its worst growth contraction in a decade, some major PC brands are starting to wonder if the cost advantages of outsourcing design to Taiwan are outweighed by losses in innovation, as reported today in The Wall Street Journal.
那么，ODM是什么样的？这个庞大的承包机器如何工作？
So what does an ODM look like? How does this giant contracting machine work?
广达和仁宝这两个最大的ODM谢绝了参观请求，他们说，他们不想太高调。
The two largest ODMs, Quanta and Compal, politely declined requests to tour, saying they did not want to be too high-profile.
但是这些公司普遍位于台北市郊区未来主义风格的由玻璃和金属打造的庞大建筑中。每家公司都为数家世界最大的个人电脑品牌服务，在不同的楼层有不同的工程师团队，这些工程团队之间不可以分享信息。
But these companies generally are based in futuristic yet bland monolith glass-and-metal buildings on the outskirts of Taipei. Each one serves a handful of the world's largest PC brands, with different engineering teams on different floors who are not supposed to share information.
来自这些公司的工程师说，他们大部分时间都在根据客户的要求设计和制造电脑，不过，他们有时也悄悄把一些自己想出来的设计卖给愿意购买的个人电脑品牌。他们说，他们经常花几个月的时间管理公司在中国大陆的工厂，这部分工作是他们中的许多人所不太喜欢的。
Engineers from the firms say they spend most of their time designing and building computers to their clients' specifications, although they sometimes initiate designs that they quietly shop around to PC brands willing to claim them as their own. They say it is common for them to spend several months of a year overseeing their company's factory floors in mainland China, a less-than-favorite part of the job for many of them.
WSJ
2012-11-22
WSJ
500次
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