[ad_1]
The expansion of Covid-19 to Taiwan’s electronics plants threatens to delay the shipment of semiconductors, according to companies and analysts, increasing the chances of disrupting the industry that has suffered from global shortages.
The country, seen as the backbone of the world’s chip supply chain, has its ups and downs the first occurrence of the first coronavirus. It has come against the background increasing warnings about the depth of the shortage of semiconductors, everything from cars to consumer electronics.
King Yuan Electronics chip testing and packaging company said on Monday that it expected an appearance among its employees to reduce June production and revenue by up to 35 percent. Of the 7,300 KYEC employees, 238 have confirmed that Covid-19 is infected.
An appearance among Taiwanese migrant workers has also hit Great chip packer, a telecommunications gear manufacturer for Accton and Foxsemicon, a semiconductor equipment manufacturer linked to supplier Foxconn Apple.
Taiwan reported 214 new Covid-19 cases on Tuesday, 211 of which were spread on the spot and 26 dead. The country has recorded more than 11,000 cases and 260 deaths since the pandemic began.
KYEC and Foxsemicon have each closed a factory for two days of disinfection, and four companies are testing their entire workforce, and more infections are expected to be identified.
“The supply market is already under a lot of pressure, we already have a four-month period to deliver and deliver chips from Taiwan, so any reduction in supply capacity will increase as there is a shortage,” said a supplier, Olaf Schatteman. in the Bain consultancy, an expert in the chain.
KYEC and its ilk tests and packaged chips, such as those manufactured by contracted manufacturers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. These are the final steps in the complex manufacturing process before sending the chips to the companies that designed them.
Among KYEC’s customers is MediaTek, one of the largest chip design houses in the world, which sells semiconductors for electronic devices from phones to TVs.
Analysts said there was little chance of protecting KYEC and Greatek customers from delivery delays because other testing and packaging companies, such as industry-leading Global Semiconductor Engineering, were already operating at full capacity.
Mark Li, a chip analyst at Bernstein, said the break is likely to be short-term. “I think it will hurt small chip design houses in particular, as it will give priority to large customers,” he said, adding that MediaTek has reaffirmed revenue in the second quarter despite KYEC’s problems.
The risk of interrupting the production of other infections in the chip supply chain is said to be much lower, as these phases require less work than packaging, so companies like TSMC and MediaTek can establish socially distanced work arrangements.
Analysts said it was not clear if the measures taken by the Taiwanese health authorities were enough to stop the deployment of Covid-19 electronics plants.
According to the Taiwan Central Epidemic Authority, migrant workers from the affected plants were in the same rooms.
“The same thing happened that year Singapore, and I don’t know if there are lessons to be learned, “said Patrick Chen, head of Taiwan Research at a CLSA brokerage.” They need to improve the living conditions of migrant workers. ”
Taiwan has 713,000 migrant workers, according to government statistics, as well as at least 50,000 undocumented migrants. They work in almost 470,000 industrial sectors, and many live in factory premises or in surrounding rooms.
Employers who are legally required by migrant workers to provide accommodation and food are, for the most part, entrusted with a wide range of services to brokers who accumulate large numbers of workers in shared gels.
The government has installed stations for rapid testing in major technology industry parks and while putting positive ones in quarantine, health authorities are making efforts to improve the tight living conditions of non-positive migrant workers.
Coronavirus business update
How is the coronavirus taking over in markets, businesses, and in our daily lives and workplaces? Keep up to date with our coronavirus newsletter.
[ad_2]
Source link
