Fans NOT made in China?

[RevGAM]

I haven't made an exhaustive look at the nearly 300 fans I have for testing, but every one I did look at was either unmarked or marked "Made in China". Are there any fans that are NOT made in China?

[dizmo]

Noctua fans are made in Taiwan.

[RevGAM]

1 hour ago, micha_vulpes said:

1 hour ago, Caroline said:

NIDEC are japanese but some of them are made in china nowadays. Scythe is also jap.

 

Some old HP branded fans are from the USA, I have a few but they're from computers manufactured in the 90s and early 00s, not sure if they're still making them or who was the OEM.

 

Mechatronics are american but new ones are chinese, you know, it's cheaper to manufacture them so companies go for that...

They are Japanese companies, but they don't make anything there.
Nidec has no production facilities in Japan.   https://www.nidec.com/en/corporate/network/factory/
Neither Does scythe ( they are all made in china, with RnD out of Taiwan) https://www.scythe-eu.com/en/company/about-us

 

HP, Dell often use fans from Sunon ( maglev in laptops), Delta Electronics, and in older times CoolerMaster for down fire cooler+ fan combos. Delta and Sunon have made most of their PC fans in China since the mid to late 90's.

Coolermaster might be made in Taiwan, But everything I have had from them for the last 15-20 years was made in china as well.

 

*ill also edit to say I don't care where somethings made* So long as its made well, and works, im pretty happy with it.

Well, that's interesting. It's pretty telling when Japan outsources to China...All 14 of my Scythes were made in China, including two different 120mm Wonder Snails.

And, while I'm sure most people don't worry about China being the dominant manufacturer for a LOT of stuff, especially in the tech industry, it definitely concerns me because of the economic implications as well as other ones, such as spying, data collection for extortion and manipulation, etc. Apple is so deeply embedded in China that, even though federal leaders are pressuring them, they've committed to spending billions more over the next 5 years in China. I forget the exact amount, but it's insane.

2 hours ago, dizmo said:

Noctua fans are made in Taiwan.

My NH-U12A and an NF-A12x25 are, but my two iPPC 3000 are made in China, and the A14 @micha_vulpesgave me (thanks again!).

Sadly, I don't have any Nidec...Yet.

[TeraSeraph]

7 hours ago, micha_vulpes said:

Starting in 2016/2017 they moved production of some fans to china (A14s being one of them, Both a14's I had were made in china I think. One of them belongs to Rev now). Its luck of the draw where any one noctua fan is made now.  There was a pretty decent internet kerfuffle over it because the initial tooling for the Chinese produced ones appeared to be worn out or inferior machined from the start resulting in some jagged edges, and less defined features particularly at the stepped inlet and the triangular vortex pocket things. (GN and a half dozen tech outlets covered it, reached out to noctua for a statement who just said "its in tolerance"

 

I do think they fixed this over time though and had new molds made to bring the Chinese plant up to standards

I have a Taiwan F12 and Chinese F12 that I'm meaning to test. They're also two destinctly different colours. tried running them side by side and they do not run at the same speeds which causes terrible harmonic warbling. One came from Noctua HQ in Austria and the other was ordered individually. 

 

I know Noctua says they're in spec but one of the fans has quite a bit less refinement to the moulds for sure. The other is crispy clean with almost no seam lines. 

[RevGAM]

On 9/1/2023 at 1:18 AM, TeraSeraph said:

I have a Taiwan F12 and Chinese F12 that I'm meaning to test. They're also two destinctly different colours. tried running them side by side and they do not run at the same speeds which causes terrible harmonic warbling. One came from Noctua HQ in Austria and the other was ordered individually. 

 

I know Noctua says they're in spec but one of the fans has quite a bit less refinement to the moulds for sure. The other is crispy clean with almost no seam lines. 

I assume there's no way the Chinese one is counterfeit? I look forward to seeing the results of your testing! Please let me know!

[RevGAM]

On 8/31/2023 at 8:38 PM, micha_vulpes said:

China is an absolute manufacturing power house for many reasons some good ( heavy governmental subsidization, and capital backing, cheap power, cheap water, cheap resources) and for some less good ones (poor working conditions for some, and limited protections, lax emissions regulations and so on)

 

It makes logical sense to send your plans to be built somewhere that specializes in building those things, especially if they can do it cheaper than you can which is often going to be the deciding factor especially on items that I assume operate at relatively low margins and depend on mass sales volume.

Its really darn cheap to ship items en masse on a ship.

 

But its very expensive to spin up factories, or retool them, especially when you need to meet ever tightening emissions regulations, and some regions expecting more pay. As japan industrialized and became an absolute tech power house and wages increased they often started to outsource low complexity items out. (just like the US did and does).

As economies expand and GDP per capita along with household purchasing power increases, countries tend to transition from a manufacturing based economy to a service based economy in recent times.

China is already doing this themselves too.

 

China makes great things. I have a lot of Xiaomi products, Niz Products, and so on. People like to look down at china's manufacturing but seem to forget they cant do it better themselves, so why complain?

 

Motorola Mobility (handsets) tried to move manufacturing back to the USA in 2014 or so. Turns out this was a bad move. The defect and waste rate was so high, and the cost of labor so high, Motorola LOST money and closed the factory, and moved it to Brazil and China.

 

As far as corporate and governmental espionage are concerned thats pretty much valid of any uneasy alliance trade partner. As far as data collections, I'd worry about whats in your own back yard first.

I'm looking at this from different viewpoints, including short and long term, benefits and consequences, and a lot more. If you'd like to discuss this elsewhere, let me know.