I think people are looking at this the wrong way. Look at the history of manufacturing in any country, at any company. They may start off by taking advantage of lots and lots of inexpensive low-skill labor (even Ford did), but as they grow over time and become more successful they start taking in more and more revenue. And that revenue allows them to accelerate their capital investment, making increasing use of automation for example. It happened with manufacturers in America, and Japan, and Korea, and Taiwan, and it's happening again in China. I don't think it's necessary to invoke any other motivations.