[01acheru]

IMHO because it's not something trivial to build so you would also need to build the stuff to build it. To build complex (and huge) machinery you need specialized factories with lots of other big and complex machinery, you cannot just create a factory to build n=1 objects it's not economically viable.

[bunderbunder]

Though, perhaps they meant "assemble".

A lot of other big things, like wind turbines, are shipped in smaller pieces and assembled onsite. At least according to a family member of mine who works on them, you even get slightly different designs that are specifically tailored to the local highway transport regulations in different countries.

That said, I think in general you're right that the story is that it's just cheaper to do it this way. I just think that assuming you'd need to build actual factories is a bit drastic. But perhaps even getting the equipment needed for final assembly onsite is prohibitively expensive compared to just transporting the fully-assembled equipment.

[01acheru]

Well if they mean assemble instead of build the things change a bit, but anyway even when talking about big and complex things there are big and complex things that can be "easily" split into pieces and assembled at a later time and other things that cannot be split so easily so much more resources are needed to assemble the thing in its final form.

Just guesses it's not something I'm into.