So, I recently found out that the vast majority of Apple’s wireless gear, including the AirPort Extreme, AirPort Express, and Time Capsule hardware is built by Ambit. Anyone who has known me for a while knows that I HATE Ambit cable modems with the fire of a thousand suns. They are quite crappy, in my personal experience, and knowing that my beloved Apple AirPort Extremes are OEMed by Ambit was like taking a shit in my Cheerios.
However, this does not change the fact that, AirPort Extreme hardware is amazingly solid and extremely reliable. I have had FEW problems ever with my AirPort gear, and it just goes to show that the design of the product means more than almost anything else, and even with a crappy OEM, you can have a great marketable device.
I also found out, as a total aside, that the Foxconn plant in Fullerton, CA assembled my Power Mac G4 and still assembles Mac Pro and Xserve hardware for Apple to this day. Any of your “Pro” Apple hardware that is labeled as “Assembled in USA” is probably built by Foxconn in Fullerton or Dallas, TX. There’s also a Quanta plant in Fremont, CA that does some assembly of stuff like (going by the serial numbers of shipping product) the iMac and MacBook, but my guess is that it does less than the plants in China. If anyone is actually interested in this shit, I’ll post more in the future.