High-tech industries worldwide are facing labor shortages and shipping restrictions from an outbreak of COVID-19 in China, with hardware manufacturers bearing the brunt of the effects, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said in a report yesterday, as it cut its shipments forecast for this quarter.
Lacking key components such as batteries and printed circuit boards due to an overall delay in Chinese production, downstream original design manufacturers (ODM) for consumer electronics would see a decrease in production, the Taipei-based market researcher said.
As a result, TrendForce cut its shipments outlook for laptops, LCD TVs and monitors by 12.3 percent, 4.5 percent and 5.2 percent respectively to 30.7 million, 46.6 million and 27.5 million units this quarter, compared with a previous forecast of 35 million, 48.8 million and 29 million units, the researcher said.
Contract laptop maker Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦) yesterday posted a 25.9 percent drop year-on-year in revenue to NT$62.96 billion (US$2.1 billion) for last month, with laptop shipments of 2 million units, as the Lunar New Year holiday reduced working days.
Contract electronics manufacturer Wistron Corp (緯創) said it shipped 1 million laptops last month, while revenue fell 20.13 percent annually to NT$40.49 billion.
Shipments of other consumer electronics, especially smart devices, also face challenges as ODMs grapple with shortages in labor, passive components and camera lenses, TrendForce said, adding that there would be an estimated 12 percent year-on-year decline in overall production this quarter to 275 million units, a five-year low.
Total smartphone shipments this year are set to fall by 1.3 percent on an annual basis to 1.38 billion units, it said, adding that it might further trim the figure due to uncertainties over the outbreak.
The researcher also predicted declines in shipments of game consoles and smart speakers for this quarter to 6.2 million and 23.2 million units respectively, falling by more than 10 percent each from last month’s forecast of 6.9 million and 26.4 million units.
Lockdowns and traffic constraints in China have left upstream suppliers, such as semiconductor companies and display panel makers, with an increasingly severe shortage of factor workers as they struggle to resume production, the report said.
Chinese foundry firms are likely to see lower factory utilization this quarter as a result, affecting China’s IC packaging and testing companies further down the stream, TrendForce said.
Meanwhile, the memory industry has mostly been spared from the outbreak, as its Chinese production remains unhindered due to its high level of automation, the researcher said, adding that DRAM prices would nevertheless increase this quarter, owing to insufficient inventory among end clients.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last