Shipments of mobile devices and telecom equipment will likely be affected in the coming months following the devastation wreaked by last week’s earthquake in Japan.
Japan is a major player in the global semiconductor manufacturing market, and production at numerous factories has probably been hit following the disaster.
According to Reuters, Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent and STMicroelectronics have warned of a likely supplies shortage.
Ericsson revealed it was too early to ascertain the extent of damage, but did not expect Q1 sales to be greatly affected. “Business continuity plans and work to assess the impact on Ericsson and mitigation activities has been ongoing since Friday March 11. Typically such activities include supply and sourcing activities such as spot market purchases, redirecting orders to alternative suppliers and tight collaboration with our Japanese supplier base,” the company said.
Earl Lum, head of telecom gear and component research firm EJL Wireless told Reuters he expected supply chains to be impacted for both the remainder of Q1 and Q2 this year, particularly since the industry had already been operating ‘near capacity’ before the crisis.
Research firm iSuppli has also warned of Apple’s iPad 2 shipments potentially being slowed by ‘logistical disruptions and supply shortages’ following the quake.
A report from iSuppli had identified several iPad 2 components that are manufactured in Japan, including NAND from Toshiba Corp, DRAM by Elpida Memory, an electronic compass from AKM Semiconductor, system battery from Apple Japan and the touch screen overlay glass from Asahi Glass.
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