Made in USA: China and India Invest Abroad

Companies have been moving overseas forWriting in Fortune, Sheridan Prasso explains that
decades, looking to reduce costs and increasethe gap between manufacturing costs in the
revenue by outsourcing production. And as ChinaUnited States and China is shrinking. “The
and India continue their rise to become globalland Yuncheng [a Chinese manufacturing company]
economic powers, the trend continues. But ratherpurchased in Spartanburg, at US$350,000 for 6.5
than American companies moving to India andacres, cost one-fourth the price of land back in
China to save money, now Chinese corporationsShanghai or Dongguan, a gritty city near Hong
are looking at the United States as a land ofKong where the company already runs three
opportunity and cost savings.plants. Electricity is cheaper too: Yungcheng pays
Yes, not Africa or Southeast Asia, though thereup to 14¢ per kilowatt-hour in China at peak
are plenty of Chinese companies in those locationsusage, and just 4¢ in South Carolina. And no
already, but America. And by Chinese standards,brownouts either, a sporadic problem in China.
the Land of Lincoln is cheap.