00:00This fan is being built to cool the servers of a large data center.
00:05Demand for such products is skyrocketing, especially from the US.
00:10That's because artificial intelligence applications are requiring more and more computing power.
00:17Harald Kleiber and his colleagues at Fan Specialist EVM Pops in southern Germany say their order books are full.
00:24And yet, they view the enormous demand from across the pond with mixed feelings.
00:30Because filling those orders means dealing with import tariffs imposed by US President Trump and a weaker dollar.
00:37The problem, when German or European products are sold in the US, the euro price must be converted to dollars.
00:45The weaker the dollar, the less favorable this conversion rate becomes.
00:54The exchange rate makes the products we ship from here to the US more expensive.
00:58The tariffs make it a challenge to be able to offer competitive products to our customers there.
01:06In the company's distribution center, thousands of boxes are ready to ship, most of them for export.
01:13The container currently being loaded will be put on a ship destined for the US.
01:20This container has a capacity of 75 cubic meters.
01:24It holds product worth around 100,000 euros.
01:27And we ship about 30 to 40 containers per week.
01:34Part of EBM Pops strategy is to protect itself from currency fluctuations.
01:39That's why they also produce their products in different parts of the world.
01:43In the US, about half of their orders are manufactured there in local factories.
01:48They call it local for local.
01:56We have two production sites in the US, in Connecticut and in Tennessee.
02:00For us, it's not just about manufacturing products there, but also about gradually localizing the entire value chain, the supply
02:10chain, in order to have the entire value creation process within that area.
02:18A few kilometers away, from machine-manufactured Ziel Abeck, the US is also one of their most important markets.
02:26They produce drives for passenger and freight elevators.
02:30Two years ago, CEO Joachim Lai opened a 100-million-euro plant in North Carolina.
02:36He says it was the only way to mitigate currency risks, because passing on additional costs to customers would erode
02:44trust.
02:46If local competitors can offer lower prices, you simply lose the business.
02:53Unless you have the know-how and products that are still profitable for customers, despite higher prices.
02:59Fans made by market leaders like Ziel Abeck or IBM Pops often consume significantly less electricity than comparable products made
03:08in Asia or the US,
03:10offsetting the higher purchase price with energy cost savings.
03:14A few months ago, last year, early in今日, the US is a national market.
03:21You obviously are now driving to our US.
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