Texas

"Those who had been dozing suddenly woke up, and the atmosphere in the hall abruptly became tense. Before Teal had even finished speaking, dozens of hands were raised. The questioners could not believe their ears: “Have you really made a real silicon transistor?” Teal had come prepared; rather than explain verbally, he demonstrated with actual objects. He called out to a colleague who had been waiting backstage carrying a bucket of hot water, and at the same time took two pocket radios out of his pocket—one equipped with germanium transistors, the other with silicon transistors. He turned both radios on, first immersed the one with germanium transistors into the hot water, and the music that had been playing immediately gave way to silence. Then he immersed the one with silicon transistors, and the music continued without interruption. This was powerful proof, and everyone stood up and applauded enthusiastically. Unluckily for the presenters scheduled after Teal that day, their audiences suddenly dwindled. Outside the hall, small clusters of people excitedly discussed Teal’s announcement. Long lines formed in front of several public phone booths. Just walking past, one could hear people inside shouting: “They made silicon transistors in Texas!”"

"Obviously, the rise of the American currency, boosted by Ronald Reagan, should allow it to better navigate the situation. The exports of the European subsidiaries to the United States were planned, at the beginning of the seventies, based on a dollar oscillating between four francs eighty cents and five francs. By the end of 1980, the American currency was at four francs twenty cents. In January 1981, it oscillates around five francs eighty (after nearing six francs twenty in August). On the other hand, the investment program—which luckily was carried out with an undervalued dollar—is, if not completed, at least largely underway. In the units of Greenville, Anderson, Spartanburg, the break-even point has already been reached. In Dothan, it is approaching. Only the Lexington plant, which has just been commissioned, weighs on the results. In the current state of affairs, the creation of three new plants in Texas—and for which land has been purchased in Austin, Midland, and Temple—can wait. If the American automobile market picks up, the third Canadian plant in Waterville, also in Nova Scotia, which will be commissioned at the end of 1982—the largest, it is said, that Michelin has ever built in the world—could suffice to bridge the gap[47](private://read/01jkqdqdgs7t399cyecbezrhj0/#ftn_fn47)."

"There was a bunch of stuff that we at Apple were very used to doing, that just didn’t work anymore. Like, we’re very fond of making custom fastening hardware, custom screws—you know, little nuts and stuff like that. Well, in China, if you’re building and it’s like, “Oh, shit, the screw is too short,” and like, “I need a longer one,” you call someone on a cellphone and 1,000 are at the factory tomorrow. That was not a thing in Texas. It would take two months. It was absurd."

"eyeglasses. It had decided to diversify on several fronts to escape from a very competitive market. On one hand, it was betting on the contact lens business, to which it had added a division for hearing aids and one for hair loss solutions: sectors that had no synergy with the optics industry, a choice that fragmented commitments and investments making its glasses less competitive. It no longer had true direct control over the making of its products, which had been outsourced: the frames and semi-finished products were produced in Ireland and San Antonio. The lenses, on the other hand, were made in Hong Kong. Finally, the glasses were assembled again in Texas, in a factory with a very high turnover of workers, without specialized operators, far from the managers who stayed at the headquarters."

"The first one is Mr. Bass, a regular customer from the Toshiz Sushi-ya days. When I first met him, I thought he was a scholar, but I found out he was actually a businessman living in Texas. He built his fortune in the oil business and always traveled by private jet when he came to the Bay Area."

"Heinz Berggruen's inner compass unerringly signaled to him where the big money was in America: with the Texas oil magnates. They were among the forefathers of American wealth and extravagance."

"If the Gammells were prosperous and well connected, they were also tough and practical Scots. The family rite of passage was to send each grown child ‘somewhere in the world’ with a one-way ticket the year after leaving school. One brother went to Tanzania, another rode the range in Texas, a third went to Canada and their sister went to Pennsylvania. Bill came to Australia to work as a roughneck in a geological mining crew at Tennant Creek in 1970."