Microsoft will move Surface production and data center equipment from China to another country as early as next year, according to a Nikkei Asia report. The move will be comprehensive, including component manufacturing and will not stop at the assembly stage. The decision was made after seeing the impact of tariffs imposed on products imported from China, which have already forced Microsoft to raise the selling prices of the Xbox Series X and S in the United States this year.
In the same report, Microsoft is said to have requested that 80% of data center components be sourced from outside China, and it is believed that they will also be used in Surface production in the near future. It is not known where production will be moved.
This move to move production was already made by Apple shortly after Trump's tariffs were announced in April. Apple chose India and Vietnam as centers for product production for the American market. Apple's move is clearly worth it because last week Trump imposed an additional 100% tariff on China after the country restricted the export of rare earth resources.
President Trump and Xi are believed to have agreed to hold a four-way meeting in South Korea later this month in conjunction with the APEC conference. It is hoped that this will resolve various issues regarding trade between the two countries with the world's largest economies.
