Google’s Nexus Q is made in the USA

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What a novel concept, building electronic gadgets in the good old USA. Most of our devices are manufactured in Korea or China. We all know that Apple products are made by Foxconn in China. The fact that Google has decided to manufacture it’s new home media device in the United States may be the start of an American manufacturing renaissance.


According to The New York Times, Google is manufacturing the Nexus Q at an undisclosed location in Silicon Valley just 15 minutes from its headquarters. The factory employs hundreds of people working in three shifts to turn out the new device. That means hundreds of jobs for US workers. Google is using US sourced parts wherever possible which means even more US jobs.


While the device will initially cost more than similar devices by Apple and Roku, the price is expected to come down as the volume increases. The higher cost is attributable to the higher cost of labor but Google thinks that its new device that “links a TV or home sound system to the Internet cloud to play video and audio content”, is exceptional enough for people to want to pay the additional money.

While Google may be one of the first companies to come back to the US to manufacture its products, it doesn’t look as if it will be the last. The New York Times also reported that other companies like General Electric and Caterpillar are moving manufacturing back to the United States.

One of the key issues for companies is access to necessary parts. Apple and other smartphone/tablet companies may continue to manufacture their products in China because of easy access to necessary components. Foxconn and other such companies can get the parts they need from other companies close by. Google was able to do it because it could find most of the parts it needed within the US and the cost for obtaining the other parts was not significant enough to make US manufacturing cost prohibitive.

If this manufacturing renaissance continues, then we may see the creation of two to three million more jobs in the US. As we continue to move out of our current recession, the “reshoring” of jobs to the US will speed up the pace of our economic recovery and may help prevent any further damage as the European Community continues to reel from ongoing economic problems within its member countries

Posted in: Apple,China,Cloud computing,Google,Technology