I don’t think non high tech manufacturing will be going anywhere soon. I desperately tried to find manufacturing away from China, but at the end of the day, China has the infrastructure and the business know-how for a smooth supply chain for most goods. Especially in those cities and towns that have established for this reason.
I have since diversified my manufacturing to Vietnam, Korea, and some Taiwan. Although price of manufacturing has also risen in China vs SE Asia, companies like mine still value doing business with a manufacturer that understands how to do business and deliver the goods efficiently.
India and Pakistan sucks, they are cheap but they don’t know how to do business. They are too pushy and everyone I talk to there is really strange. One guy sent porn videos to my fiancee…They also get really offended over normal business dealings. Their financial infrastructure also sucks so payments are hard to deal with. I have given up on dealing with Pakistani and Indian companies.
SE Asia is a little better but still lacks the infrastructure to keep up with China. Their governments are kind of stupid so a lot of stupid things happen that make business hard to deal with. And lack of resources to combat covid has been an issue.
A business doesn’t just think about their bottom line, yes it’s cheaper in SE Asian and India/Pakistan. But I’ve had slower delivery times, issues with banks, weird laws, lack of understanding on how to do business, and the inability to communicate in English or another language.
China also now outsources their own manufacturing to other places. I’ve talk to some manufacturers like a chemical company and most of their sales are to China the resells to the West.