Where USB Memory Sticks Are Born: A Factory Tour with Modified Chopsticks

I visited a factory to see how USB memory sticks are manufactured, discovering a surprising blend of manual dexterity and automation. Workers screen bare FLASH chips using probe cards and place them onto PCBs by hand with modified bamboo chopsticks. After automated wire bonding, the flexible panels are overmolded with epoxy and cut into individual drives. This process reveals the intricate, low-tech reality behind the high-tech devices we use daily.