The nation’s electronics sector could face disruptions in raw material supplies as early as next month due to the COVID-19 outbreak in China, the Taipei-based Chinese National Federation of Industries (CNFI, 全國工業總會) said on Saturday.
Citing a survey of its 157 member companies, the group said that tech companies are concerned about the availability of raw materials, as many Chinese manufacturers have not yet returned to full production since reopening on Monday last week after several extensions of the Lunar New Year holiday break.
Lockdown policies in at least 48 cities and four provinces across China, and travel restrictions that have shut down highways, railways and public transportation systems have restricted the movement of millions of people and limited the size of factory workforces at numerous plants.
The CNFI said that the electronics sector has been severely affected by the city lockdowns.
Many Taiwanese electronic components makers have built clusters of production sites in Hubei and Guangdong provinces, the two regions hit the hardest by the COVID-19 outbreak, and city lockdowns to restrict movement are the last thing tech companies want, the industry group said.
Hubei’s capital, Wuhan, the center of the outbreak, and neighboring Xiantao and Huangshi have become a production hub for many Taiwanese printed circuit board makers, but these cities have been sealed off and raw material shipments interrupted, the group said.
Even when manufacturers secure approval from local governments to resume production, workers have to stay in quarantine for 14 days before starting production line duty, which has slowed output, it said.
As for the biotech industry, many drug manufacturers in Taiwan are expected to soon face raw material supply shortages from China as their inventories run out, CNFI said.
The outbreak has also hurt private consumption in China, which would affect Taiwanese makers of consumer electronics items, such as chip and optoelectronic products, it said.
Under such unfavorable circumstances, some small and medium-sized enterprises in Taiwan are expected to face capital shortfalls as their operations deteriorate, it said.
Those organizations would still have to pay salaries, rents and loan interest, so their financial burden would be heavier until production returns to normal, the group said.
Many businesses are hoping the government would help them negotiate with banks to resolve possible funding issues, it added.
On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump weighed in on a pressing national issue: The rebranding of a restaurant chain. Last week, Cracker Barrel, a Tennessee company whose nationwide locations lean heavily on a cozy, old-timey aesthetic — “rocking chairs on the porch, a warm fire in the hearth, peg games on the table” — announced it was updating its logo. Uncle Herschel, the man who once appeared next to the letters with a barrel, was gone. It sparked ire on the right, with Donald Trump Jr leading a charge against the rebranding: “WTF is wrong with Cracker Barrel?!” Later, Trump Sr weighed
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) secured a record 70.2 percent share of the global foundry business in the second quarter, up from 67.6 percent the previous quarter, and continued widening its lead over second-placed Samsung Electronics Co, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said on Monday. TSMC posted US$30.24 billion in sales in the April-to-June period, up 18.5 percent from the previous quarter, driven by major smartphone customers entering their ramp-up cycle and robust demand for artificial intelligence chips, laptops and PCs, which boosted wafer shipments and average selling prices, TrendForce said in a report. Samsung’s sales also grew in the second quarter, up
HEADWINDS: Upfront investment is unavoidable in the merger, but cost savings would materialize over time, TS Financial Holding Co president Welch Lin said TS Financial Holding Co (台新新光金控) said it would take about two years before the benefits of its merger with Shin Kong Financial Holding Co (新光金控) become evident, as the group prioritizes the consolidation of its major subsidiaries. “The group’s priority is to complete the consolidation of different subsidiaries,” Welch Lin (林維俊), president of the nation’s fourth-largest financial conglomerate by assets, told reporters during its first earnings briefing since the merger took effect on July 24. The asset management units are scheduled to merge in November, followed by life insurance in January next year and securities operations in April, Lin said. Banking integration,
LOOPHOLES: The move is to end a break that was aiding foreign producers without any similar benefit for US manufacturers, the US Department of Commerce said US President Donald Trump’s administration would make it harder for Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc to ship critical equipment to their chipmaking operations in China, dealing a potential blow to the companies’ production in the world’s largest semiconductor market. The US Department of Commerce in a notice published on Friday said that it was revoking waivers for Samsung and SK Hynix to use US technologies in their Chinese operations. The companies had been operating in China under regulations that allow them to import chipmaking equipment without applying for a new license each time. The move would revise what is known
RSS