Microsoft Refutes Report That it Will Move Manufacturing From China

Microsoft is refuting reporting from last week that it is moving manufacturing out of China. The original report, from Nikkei, suggested that Microsoft, Dell, HP, Amazon and other tech companies were exploring or already beginning moving supply chains to Taiwan and countries in southeast Asia in response to the U.S.-China trade war, as well as rising labor costs in the country.

But Microsoft told Tom's Hardware that it won't be moving manufacturing out of China and that there currently aren't any plans to do so, putting it at odds with Nikkei's reporting. The report specifically mentioned Microsoft looking to move some Xbox manufacturing out of China into Thailand and Indonesia, though it also builds Surface devices in the country.

Nikkei reported that Acer and Asus had confirmed exploring moving at least some production out of China. Last week, HP told Tom's Hardware it wouldn't comment on rumors, but that it "shares industry concerns that broad-based tariffs harm consumers by increasing the cost of electronics."

At the end of June, U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to restart trade talks, which puts a proposal of 25% tariffs on more than $300 billion worth of goods, including laptops, tablets, headphones, SSDs, keyboards and more, on hold.