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Shipping of tiny electronic components around the globe doesn't have any substantial CO2 emissions, as long as they are shipped in bulk (and preferably by sea), simply because each component is so small/light.

Shipping your bags of clothes when you go on holiday has a far bigger impact. Those are shipped by air (~50x the CO2), are far larger/heavier, and in a weeks time will be shipped back, perhaps unused.



Nobody ships high value small expensive components by sea. It’s ok for reels of generic resistors. But not good for project specific parts.


Almost all electronic components are shipped by sea. It is only finished goods that have a minuscule but real chance of being shipped by air.


The big corp I work for has dedicated logistic dudes who fly with crates full of wafers around the world. While 30 years lifecycle FPGAs from Xilinx feel well in the container in open sea, project specific parts manufactured for specific client’s specific product with lifecycle of 2 years go by plane. Saving 1000$ and risking loosing business is not worth it.


Are you confusing an instance of JIT/lean with possibly broader trends?


One anecdote does not make a pattern. Just because your specific big corp does it does not mean all big corps do, let alone companies in general.


And even then, it is normally planned that finished goods are shipped by sea, and it is only when things fall behind schedule that air shipping is used as a way to get goods into the right place in time for release day.


iPhones are shipped by air to Louisville, KY to distribute throughout the central USA. It shuts down UPS for a whole week when iPhones launch. All employees can be required to unload and move iPhones, including engineering.


Those are finished goods, not components.


You'd be surprised at what flies in the big cargo airlines (Lufthansa Cargo, CargoLux, Atlas Air, etc) and who their customers are


They are normally shipped by sea to distributors.




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