I so loved what Framework announced earlier this year and am wanting to get a Framework 16 at some point in the future after it comes out. I have followed the company for a long time, and want the company to be around for a long time to come. But I have a concern about Framework the company’s ability to continue operating if something bad happens to Taiwan. Framework gets much of its production done there, which raises the fear in my mind that Framework might not survive if China attacks and overtakes the country, a possibility which has seemed to have become larger in light of China’s recent actions. Does Framework have alternative contingency plans in place to continue operating and producing parts and computers if that were to happen? Much of the attraction of Framework for me is the prospect of being able to upgrade a computer and being able to instead opt to keep a computer chugging along if a part breaks or if I don’t have the money for a full upgrade. I also have 11 nephews and 2 nieces, and I like the idea of being able to upgrade mainboards and use old mainboards for gaming systems for nephews to get to play local multiplayer for computer games. I do not want this post to be taken as political. That is not my aim. But I do want to be able to better gauge the long-term viability of Framework in regard to production and political risk. Does anybody know if Framework has addressed this concern previously? If not, is there a Framework representative who knows if Framework has alternative production plans for parts and computers if something bad were to happen to Taiwan and it could no longer use Taiwan for production?
If Taiwan gets invaded, the world has much bigger problems. So don’t even worry about it since anything said here will just be conjecture. To bluntly answer your question, I have heard nothing from Framework regarding contingencies in the event of a Taiwan invasion and I don’t expect to since such diversification in the supply chain is a tremendous and expensive undertaking and outside of Framework’s current capabilities.
Good point. Thank you for the response.
Also something else to consider:
If China really were to invade Taiwan it would also affect the general production in China, which would disrupt the global market in a way that we have never seen.
Forget about fearing that a replacement part will not arrive in time. We are so dependent on China that a stop on their production would cause a stop in most western businesses within a few weeks (some even days).
The state of things is much much worse. It’s more like, What computer maker will still be able to supply parts and operate if something bad happens to Taiwan?
Look at the top semiconductor companies by market share. TSMC is number one at 54%. TSMC is Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. The world’s most valuable semiconductor company. They are a foundry who makes chips for other companies. Little guys like AMD, Apple, Broadcom, Marvell, MediaTek, Qualcomm and Nvidia are literally dependent on TSMC. Even companies like Intel, one of the few who have their own fab, outsource some production to TSMC.
If something happens to Taiwan, computers and electronics production worldwide will be disrupted on a massive scale.
If china tries something funny with taiwan you aren’t getting parts for anything for a while, at least not without scavenging.
Yeah, like others have pointed out this is way way beyond Framework. If Taiwan is invaded, you will likely not be able to get a replacement for any laptop or computer at least for a while.
On the plus side, the issue of the likely WWIII might make you not care so much about laptop replacements…
Note that the mainboard firmware vendor of Framework laptops(aside from the Chromebook edition) is also a Taiwanese company, which will also be affected as well.
As a Taiwanese, I’m pleased that our safety is being taken into consideration in one way or another.
In any case, the people of mainland China and the people of Taiwan in China certainly do not want a war. I come from mainland China and at least I do want world peace, not from a political point of view, and peaceful economic development is the one thing that is good for everyone. The question of where Taiwan belongs is a legacy of history and one needs to read through world history, Asian history and Chinese history to get the real answer for oneself. If the Chinese mainland does recover Taiwan by force, what people around the world need to worry about is not whether there will be any after-sales service or long-term development for various products. For this would lead to bigger problems, such as a third world war or a nuclear war.
P.S. My English is not very good and I have used the help of the DeepL translator in the above statement, so I hope there are no mistakes and you can understand.
Greetings from Autumn Leaves. may there be peace in the world!
I’m not the only one who thinks this way.
No it won’t. China will not officially declare war to Taiwan. China is expected to invade Taiwan with there public ferry vessels, to increase the success of invasion, because Taiwan will not shoot at non military ships when they are not in war with China. The Chinese public ferrys have already participated in military invasion trainings.
Since Taiwan is not in the NATO and protected by USA only, there is no chance of a 3rd world war, because the world will not join this conflict.
All,
Let’s nix the random speculation that is already going into the weeds here.
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No more talks of country vs country as it is not a productive or a productive thread contribution.
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Expressing concerns over parts availability is fine, but keep it to the parts themselves please - not regions or politics.
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If we cannot get everyone on board with this, I will be closing the thread.
Thanks