Giant Plays Catch Up

Giant, one of the world's largest bike makers, expects its supplies to remain tight for some time to come. Giant moved some of its manufacturing for the U.S. market from China to Taiwan to avoid added tariffs. When the pandemic caused demand for bikes to jump, Giant needed another plan of action. With its Taiwan facility already under strain, the company had little choice but to crank up production in China.

Giant's chairwoman, Bonnie Tu, said in an interview “there’s nowhere else in the world that can go like China from zero to 100 in an instant, like a sports car. Shyeew!” However, this complicates something, especially in the United States market. In 2020, during the end of Trump's presidency, a variety of Chinese products had temporarily lifted tariffs because they were deemed strategically unimportant. Bicycles were included, and so Giant was able to resume production of some USA-made bikes in China.

But, because of the international bike shortage, Giant expects their production and time frame to remain behind. Ms. Tu later said that “It's not that I want to leave China. Not at all,” but that there are too many obstacles to overcome, and that there is “nothing that can be done. There are too many trade barriers.”

However, as of now, Giant factories seem to be running once again at full capacity, hoping to make up for the lost time. Tu doesn't seem too worried about the Chinese trying to capitalize on the demand for bicycles, rather Tu focuses on the revival of the industry brought on upon the pandemic. In the meantime, Tu will focus on keeping Giant's work in China while figuring out how to best use their resources.