At the Taiwanese-based Wistron plant in Ciudad Juárez, rows of plasma screens flicker red, blue and green as workers trussed in disposable gloves and face masks run the sets through a final test before boxing them and sending them off to the US market.

The high-tech scene is a far cry from the traditional image of Mexico’s manufacturing export sector, which used to be dominated by basic assembly processes, and which today has all but disappeared thanks to the emergence of China on the global stage.