subject: The smartphone production face the shutdown risk [print this page] The smartphone production face the shutdown risk
The media report that the Toshiba flash chip stops the production because of earthquake is not exact. Its main production place is far from the earthquake center. It still operates normally. The MGC and Hitachi chemical are damaged greatly. The produced BT resin is mainly used for the smartphone. It occupies about 90% of the market. And there is no production base in other than Japan. There is no replacement in short time.
The using range of Toshiba chip: The mobile memory like U disk, SD and CF card of cheap cameras, mobile phone TF card and hard drive.
The Toshiba flash chip production base doesn't suffer from the direct damage. The Toshiba plans to build the NAND flash chip manufacturer in Japan Iwate Prefecture. But there is no actual production. It's reported that the factory is mainly manufacturing the IC and CMOS senor for digital camera.
It's said the Toshiba and SanDisk NAND facotry Fab3 and Fab4 are located in Yokkaichi. It's about 800 kilometers away from the earthquake center. SanDisk publishes the official announcement that there is only temporary production stoppage on the production line, it returns to the normal production very fast.
But because of the indirect damge caused by the earthquake like the raw material supply, traffic blocking and basic infrastructure, Toshiba is still evaluating the hysteretic effect.
BT resin using range: The necessary materials for the smarphone package chip. Mitsubishi Gas Chemical and HitachiChemical are the world first and second suppliers of the IC dielectric material. They mainly supply the BT resin baseplate needed by mobile chip. The production base is located in the Japan super earthquake area.
The production of the two companies occupies the 90% market of the world BT resin. And there is no production base other than in Japan. There is no replacement source in short term. All the smartphones in the world including iPad will use BT resin package chip. If it can't restore the production after two months, the smartphone can't be shipped out.
It's said there will be new smartphone models on the market in the second quarter. If the Japan manufacturers can't restore the supply soon, there will be broken supply chain after two months. And it will affect the achievement of the smartphone concept stock.
But there is less possibility of the price rising of the smartphone. "The shipments will be decreased. But the mobile phone is not the absolute necessary. People will choose the cheap mobile phone if they feel the price is high.
