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Japan quake disrupts PCs', gadgets' production
by Yasser Ali - March 13, 2011 - comments
The massive quake has adversely affected major tech companies including Sony Epson, Panasonic and Sharp.
The colossal earthquake that shook Japan not only took thousands of lives, but also affected the manufacturing sites of some of the world’s biggest technology companies.
Sony’s manufacturing facilities in Japan that involved Blu-ray components, lithium-ion batteries and disc production have been disrupted by the sudden quake that hit the east coast of the Japanese island of Honshu Friday.
The earthquake that shook the Honshu island is the largest ever in terms of magnitude since record-keeping began in the late 1800s.
Experts have already begun to express their concerns over the effects of the quake on the supply of NAND flash memory across the globe. A variety of electronics products that use solid-state storage rely on NAND flash memory.
Some Sony factories along the Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures have been shut down as a precautionary measure, confirmed Sony. It said that one of the factories in Miyagi had been hit by the tsunami, which led to its lower floor getting flooded.
Tech companies Epson, Panasonic and Sharp said that they were still assessing the damage and have yet not released any figures.
Tech gaints unite to offer support
Search giant Google recently put out a special version of its Person Finder tool to track missing people.
The quake has undoubtedly caused great losses to many tech firms. Jefferies International Ltd., a global investment banking group, has estimated the total loss to be close to $10 billion.
Tech companies Epson, Panasonic and Sharp said that they were still assessing the damage and have yet not released any figures.
Microsoft said that it has activated its disaster response protocol to monitor the disaster in Japan and offer help and support to areas on tsunami high alert.
“We are taking a number of steps, including ensuring the safety of our employees and their families and proactively offering customers, partners and local response agencies technical support to help ensure business continuity," Microsoft said in a statement.
Memory prices may increase due to shortage
Objective Analysis, a semiconductor research firm, said in a report that more than 40 percent of the world’s NAND flash and nearly 15 percent of the world’s DRAM are manufactured in Japan.
It went on to say that Japan is a significant source of chips to most tech companies and the two-week shutdown would severely affect production.
Objective Analysis concluded by saying that it anticipates a sharp rise in prices owing to the shortage.