Vietnam’s manufacturing sector is suffering supply chain problems caused by the COVID-19 outbreak in China, which may delay production of Samsung Electronics Co’s new phones, the nation’s Ministry of Industry and Trade said yesterday.
“Car, electronics and phone manufacturers are experiencing difficulty in acquiring supplies and materials due to disruptions from the virus,” the ministry said in an e-mailed statement.
“Vietnam relies much on China for materials and equipment, which makes the country become vulnerable when an outbreak happens,” it said.
Vietnam on Thursday eased some health-related restrictions on cross-border trade to prop up economic activity, but some strict measures are still in place.
Samsung, Vietnam’s largest single foreign investor, is an example, the ministry said.
The outbreak would have an impact on its production of two new phone models as most of the components are sourced from China.
“Samsung is considering using sea or air transport to import needed components, but it would lift up the cost and would hardly meet the production schedule and demand,” Samsung said.
“We are making our best effort to minimize impact on our operations,” it said.
Although the ministry has not reported any plants being shut down because of the virus, the biggest problems facing car and electronics manufacturers are securing alternative materials and goods, along with inventory management.
“If the epidemic is not contained in the next 1 to 1.5 months, we will run out of inventory. Domestic TV’s and phone’s output will sharply decline,” the trade ministry said, citing a report by the Vietnam Electronics Business Association.
The government said that it would stick to this year’s economic growth target of 6.8 percent and take steps to ease the effects of the outbreak.
The Vietnamese Ministry of Health yesterday said that 15 out of 16 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country had recovered, while 28 suspected cases were being quarantined in the hospital.
Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday introduced the company’s latest supercomputer platform, featuring six new chips made by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), saying that it is now “in full production.” “If Vera Rubin is going to be in time for this year, it must be in production by now, and so, today I can tell you that Vera Rubin is in full production,” Huang said during his keynote speech at CES in Las Vegas. The rollout of six concurrent chips for Vera Rubin — the company’s next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) computing platform — marks a strategic
REVENUE PERFORMANCE: Cloud and network products, and electronic components saw strong increases, while smart consumer electronics and computing products fell Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday posted 26.51 percent quarterly growth in revenue for last quarter to NT$2.6 trillion (US$82.44 billion), the strongest on record for the period and above expectations, but the company forecast a slight revenue dip this quarter due to seasonal factors. On an annual basis, revenue last quarter grew 22.07 percent, the company said. Analysts on average estimated about NT$2.4 trillion increase. Hon Hai, which assembles servers for Nvidia Corp and iPhones for Apple Inc, is expanding its capacity in the US, adding artificial intelligence (AI) server production in Wisconsin and Texas, where it operates established campuses. This
Garment maker Makalot Industrial Co (聚陽) yesterday reported lower-than-expected fourth-quarter revenue of NT$7.93 billion (US$251.44 million), down 9.48 percent from NT$8.76 billion a year earlier. On a quarterly basis, revenue fell 10.83 percent from NT$8.89 billion, company data showed. The figure was also lower than market expectations of NT$8.05 billion, according to data compiled by Yuanta Securities Investment and Consulting Co (元大投顧), which had projected NT$8.22 billion. Makalot’s revenue this quarter would likely increase by a mid-teens percentage as the industry is entering its high season, Yuanta said. Overall, Makalot’s revenue last year totaled NT$34.43 billion, down 3.08 percent from its record NT$35.52
OPPORTUNITY: Supply of conventional DRAM chips tightened after the world’s major memory makers focused on manufacturing chips utilized in AI servers DRAM chipmaker Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) yesterday reported a spike in revenue for last month, as severe supply constraints prompted chip price hikes, almost doubling the company’s annual revenue last year from the previous year. Revenue soared 444.87 percent last month to NT$12.02 billion (US$381.4 million), from NT$2.21 billion a year earlier. That brought fourth-quarter revenue to NT$30.17 billion, from NT$6.58 billion for the same period in 2024. On a quarterly basis, revenue jumped 60.65 percent from NT$18.78 billion. Last year, revenue soared 95.09 percent to NT$66.59 billion from NT$32.13 billion in 2024, the company said. Supply of conventional DRAM
RSS