Making high quality large fast mirrors is about expertise and knowledge in testing and figuring that is at a much higher level , and no amount of cheap labor can make up for the lack of that . It will happen eventually but it is not there yet .
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Originally Posted by clive milne
I disagree Mark.
The highly distorted value of the Yuan gives the Chinese a significant advantage in labour costs. To put it another way, a Chinese optical company can get a full months work out of their technicians for the same price as just two days graft from an American. There is just no way that a US company can compete on those terms even at half the price. You would know yourself that you can't even buy the raw materials for making optics here for the same price as you can get the completed item including coating and shipping.
The Chinese might still be a bit behind in the development curve but they are catching up pretty fast. There is nothing (racially) that makes them any less capable of learning how to perform any given mechanical task, so while the imbalance in their currency persists I can only see the merit function leaning further their way.
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