Production of the XBOX 360 a truly global operation

Microsoft is a manufacturer of software, which even if made globally, is fairly easy to manage. The XBOX is a piece of hardware and it was a challenge for these guys. The Wall Street Journal has an article detailing how the global production is carried out for the XBOX 360.

The core chip is made by IBM in the US
The graphics chip is made by ATI in Taiwan
The buttons of the console come from Lacrosse, Wisconsin
Scores of small companies around the 2 main production plants in South CHina which make the capacitors, cooling fans etc.
25,000 workers work in 2 production plants in China to put all these together.
The units get about 2 hours of manual testing
Get shipped either through air freight or shipped to the US of A

Wow. Right out of a globalization text book. Read the full article here .