Nearly 25 percent of the world's semiconductor production capacity is in Japan, and more than 60 percent of the silicon wafers that semiconductor chips are created from are made in Japan, according to a March 24 report from Objective Analysis.
Renesas, the world's largest producer of microcontrollers, formed from the former Hitachi, Mitsubishi and NEC semiconductor operations, has six or seven facilities that have been hard hit or shut down.
Starnes said that Texas Instruments has reported sustained physical damage to one of its fabs that will limit production, if not put it out of operation, for three to six months.
I've been affected by a short supply of Hirose connectors. DigiKey has eliminated volume discounts on these parts to limit hoarding. Both DigiKey and Mouser have published statements by the affected companies as to their status due to the quake. In each of the statements I've read, the company's first concern has been with the well-being of its workers, rather than that of its own infrastructure. In some cases where no damage occurred, production is still affected by rolling power blackouts or the inability to obtain raw materials.
Tom Starnes is a name I remember from many years ago, when he worked for Motorola in the UK on the 68000. He got permission for me to reproduce Motorola material in a book I wrote on the 68000.
Tom Starnes is a name I remember from many years ago, when he worked for Motorola in the UK on the 68000. He got permission for me to reproduce Motorola material in a book I wrote on the 68000.
1. The Japanese government is quite distracted from other events - where to place homeless and what to do with nuclear reactor troubles - in order to come to a complete report of what the semiconductor industry status is.
2. Rolling blackouts may further prevent restarts of production as these plants cannot tolerate them.
3. The Japanese may culturally feel they are being disloyal and loosing face by reporting facts in a pessimistic fashion.
4. Many in the financial news have been quick to report optimistic recovery in order to gain future favor with Japanese companies.
5. The Prime Minister's political party is not finding the opposition to be cooperative in getting emergency measures in place.
In sum, we just can't get the real scope yet as everyone is responding to a very complex matrix of self-interests.
Comments
-Phil
Yes, he's still around, and has been getting around quite a bit since those days. I even worked back then at MOT with a guy named Robin Saxby, whom The Queen now apparently calls "Sir". But I don't think he's got a whole village by-the-sea named after himself. My comments on trembling Japan in particular can be found near the bottom of http://www.objective-analysis.com/Reports.html or at http://www.objective-analysis.com/uploads/2011-03-23_Japan_Earthquake_Update.pdf with more info on what I'm doing on http://www.strategysanity.com
1. The Japanese government is quite distracted from other events - where to place homeless and what to do with nuclear reactor troubles - in order to come to a complete report of what the semiconductor industry status is.
2. Rolling blackouts may further prevent restarts of production as these plants cannot tolerate them.
3. The Japanese may culturally feel they are being disloyal and loosing face by reporting facts in a pessimistic fashion.
4. Many in the financial news have been quick to report optimistic recovery in order to gain future favor with Japanese companies.
5. The Prime Minister's political party is not finding the opposition to be cooperative in getting emergency measures in place.
In sum, we just can't get the real scope yet as everyone is responding to a very complex matrix of self-interests.
http://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/en/Market_Communication/Dear%20Customer%20letter%20from%20Microchip%20CEO%20-%20Mar%2021,%202011_EN.pdf