In Brief

As geopolitical tensions intensify between the U.S. and China, tech giants Microsoft, Amazon, and Google are ramping up efforts to move production of their products and data centers outside of China, Nikkei reported, citing supply chain sources.

In particular, Microsoft wants to have up to 80% of the components needed to make its Surface notebooks and tablets, as well as its data centers, manufactured outside of China as soon as 2026, the report said. The scope of the change is “quite wide” and includes components and assembly for the company’s future notebooks and server products, Nikkei cited a supply chain source as saying.

The company is reportedly asking its existing partners to prepare manufacturing capabilities outside the country starting next year, and it is also pushing to move some production of its Xbox gaming consoles to other parts of Asia.

Amazon Web Services, meanwhile, is considering buying fewer printed circuit boards for its AI data centers from its long-time supplier SYE, and has conducted an evaluation of what it could need to do. And Google is pushing its suppliers to ramp up server production in Thailand, where it has already secured multiple partners for parts, components, and assembly, the report said.

However, moving production outside the country so quickly would prove difficult, given the vast range of components involved and their Chinese partners’ technological and manufacturing prowess, Nikkei noted.

The news follows a wave of retaliatory measures from both China and the U.S., who have taken turns to impose increasing tariffs on each other, tighten export controls on crucial components and resources, and restrict what tech can be sold.

Microsoft, Google, and Amazon did not immediately return requests for comment.

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