With the recent happenings in China and for several other reasons, a friend of mine are on the quest to find arduino boards and leds made in Europe. We know that original Arduino boards are "Made in Italy", but what does that exactly mean? Are they assembled in Italy? We have also found e-radionica that seemingly produces in Croatia, but are looking for more alternatives. Specifically we are looking for ATtiny85 and WS2812 LEDs, but any tips for components/cable and more are more than welcome. Basically any option that is as ethical as possible would be a win for us. Thanks for any options!
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Yeah we kind of expected our buy couldn't avoid the chinese market 100 percent, but worth a try supporting local economies more. Unfortunately we're located in Europe so produced in America is not ideal either, but thanks anyhow! I got a piece of info explaining the "made in italy" signage on arduino, basically they are assembled there and mostly designed in Europe (Sweden, Italy, etc...).
The idea that you can say something was made in (insert place name of your choice) is a fantasy. The best you can really hope for is to say where the final assembly took place.
Finished products are full of sub assemblies and parts made elsewhere, possibly on the other side of the world. These in turn are made from more sub assemblies and parts made elsewhere.
Oil, from wells in???
Plastic, made out of the above oil in a plant in???
Copper, tin, lead, steel from ore mined in???
Above ore processed into metals in a plant in???
Silicon chips made from silicon in???
Doping materials use in the silicon chips made from ore mined and processed in?
You could do this for a week for 1 product and probably end up with a list containing most countries in the world.
If you want something you know the origin of go and buy potatoes from the local farm, you will be able to see the field they grew in.
Oh! Wait! Don't forget the fertiliser made from oil from??? And the weed killer, and tractor and all the parts that went into making that, and the foreign labour that helped to harvest the crop and.....
For instance, it looks like AVR chip wafers are fabricated in the US, but then shipped to Thailand for "packaging and test." Atmel used to have a fab in France, but I think they sold that even before the Microchip acquisition.