Generally the BOM cost of most hardware is much smaller than the labor cost of assembly. That's why company shipped their semiconductors to low labor cost countries and re-imported finished goods.
That said, if the US does enter a depression then the cost of labor in the US will plummet as people compete for jobs which may? change that ratio in favor of manufacturing in the US. That is rumored to be the "big secret" behind these stupid moves but frankly the folks who believe that are not seeing what I'm seeing I guess.
If the cost of labor plummets I wonder if it will accelerate the timeline for AI, automation, and robotics.
I gave this a shot at home a month ago by cutting my kids off from toys online and getting them a 3D printer. They have already printed more toys than the cost of the printer. The only problem is that the printer was manufactured in China.
I don't see that happening. I reason to it this way;
In 2024, $15 BILLION dollars was invested in AI startups, and a record $250 BILLION dollars by established companies (nVidia/Microsoft/Google/Facebook/Apple)
I don't believe that AI making any meaningful progress on the "timeline" will occur just because you throw even more money at it.
Not really. Take an iPhone. The component costs are around $500 while the assembly costs are probably about $30-$50.