Apple computers are assembled in China using components that come from electronics companies all over the world (chips from the US or Japan or Korea, LCD screens from Japan and Korea, hard drives from Japan etc. Probably even numerous components from China. Apple bought CNC mills to put at it’s Chinese manufacturing partner’s facility (Foxconn) to machine all the aluminum enclosures etc. in-house in China. However, they are assembled to Apple’s specs and requirements. In fact, most of the consumer electronics we use are assembled in China but design and components are specified by Apple, Sony, Microsoft etc. It’s not about where something is built but about the design, the quality of the components and the quality control that is required by and overseen by the particular “brand”. And not all brands are created equal. Sony used ot have a great reputation for quality and reliability (not sure they still do). Apple does too. I have used tons of Apple hardware starting in the early 90s and I have very rarely seen a hardware failure (or major software failure for that matter). Part of what you pay for with Apple is also the OS and the R&D that has gone into it.
Anyhow, I'm not here to make this into a PC vs. Apple debate :-) The cheap LED fixtures are slapped together by the companies in China without any R&D, design or long term testing.
As for the LED chips, Cree does produce their own chips at Fabs in the US. I believe Phillips does as well. Bridgelux designs the chips but doesn’t manufacture themselves. They contract that out and I believe Toshiba is one of their big contractors for the actual chips. Seoul Semiconductor is Korean and I imagine manufacture their chips at facilities there.
Now anyone can take a high quality LED emitter from Cree for example and run it on a cheap driver with a crappy heatsink etc. They will still have problems down the road. It’s the overall package that’s important. I’ve spoken to several people who have run cheap fixtures and they were happy with them in the short term but not over the long term because of problems. Sure people have problems with expensive fixtures too but at least you will get warranty support etc for those. It’s harder to get support for the cheapo ones.
I can't see how a $200 120W LED light can have any quality components in it. It will either be generic LEDs or the cheapest bins from Cree or Bridgelux etc. And they will have to skimp on power supplies and drivers etc to come in at that price. There's no way. I haven't checked prices today but you can't DIY a decent 120W LED fixture for $200. And even at lower costs with volume purchases of components a $200 fixture is not going to have any quality whatsoever. Does that mean I suggest you run out and buy a $2000 fixture? No, not at all. But don't try to make it sound like a $200 fixture is going to perform anywhere near as well as a $2000 fixture. It's just not possible.
If you want to get a quality LED light on a budget then DIY is the way to go. It isn’t particularly difficult for anyone even remotely handy. I still have the four foot fixture I built several years ago using Cree emitters and Meanwell drivers and overkill heatsinks etc. I’m getting ready to re-enter the world of large reef tanks and will be using it on a new 120 gallon build as I can’t afford to spend $1800 on a Vertex fixture or a couple Radion Pros etc. But if I were buying an off the shelf fixture I would avoid the cheap generic/rebranded Chinese fixtures for many of the reasons I mentioned. In fact, I haven’t even seen a mid range fixture that I particularly like (Maxspect, Kessil etc). If I couldn’t afford a high end fixture I would just go DIY again. You can then build something for your own personal application with the mix of colours and configuration you want.
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