How the coronavirus is impacting the global tech industry

[Shawn Knight]

What just happened? Market intelligence firm TrendForce recently took a look at the global high-tech industry to gauge the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak, otherwise known as the coronavirus.

The semiconductor sector has a higher degree of automation than some other industries so the impact on that front isn’t as severe as elsewhere. Unfortunately for fab operators, many employees come from out of town and with traffic and labor restrictions in place, fab utilization could be impacted. As a result, TrendForce said it is forecasting a possible decline in shipments for the Chinese foundry industry in the first quarter that could have an impact downstream.

IC design shouldn’t be impacted due to the fact that many now work remotely and collaborate via the cloud.

DRAM and NAND flash production isn't expected to take much of a hit, either. Companies stocked up on supplies ahead of the Chinese New Year and assuming that materials can continue to be imported as usual, the outbreak presents no real problem here.

The situation is a bit fuzzier in the display industry. Panel makers are maintaining maximum water input for front-end displays, TrendForce said, but back-end module houses, downstream brands and original design manufacturers face issues arising from labor shortages and transportation limitations. As such, TV set shipments are expected to fall from a previous prediction of 48.8 million units in the quarter to 46.6 million units. Similarly, monitor shipments are forecasted to drop from an expected 29 million down to 27.5 million units.

One area that is being hit the hardest is the consumer smartphone industry due to the fact that the supply chain is highly labor-intensive. TrendForce said production during the quarter is expected to decline by 12 percent year-over-year, making it the quarter with the lowest output over the last five years. If the outbreak isn’t contained by the end of February, it is likely that smartphone production will continue to be negatively affected into Q2.

Game console manufacturers have seemingly caught a break, at least thus far. The busy season for consoles is Q4. Thus, Q1 is a weak season as the peak season for the supply chain won’t happen until 2H20. If the outbreak can be contained before the end of March, the industry should be able to make up for any losses happening right now.

The timing arguably couldn’t be better for Sony and Microsoft. Sales of their respective consoles have tapered off in recent months due to anticipation for next-gen systems scheduled to launch in the fourth quarter of this year. Had the virus outbreak hit at any other time, or especially just after a new console launch, the impact could have been far greater.

Masthead credit: Microchip by Gorodenkoff. Shipping yard by Mr. Amarin Jitnathum.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/84065-how-coronavirus-impacting-global-tech-industry.html

 

[psycros]

The fact that China continues to lie about fatality numbers, "disappear" people who criticize the government's actions and generally act like the Soviet-era dirtbags they are should serve as a wake-up call for all of us. Its time to demand that the ultra-capitalists bring the jobs back to the free world and stop enriching dictatorships who like to dabble in bioweapons.

 

[Mr Majestyk]

The fact that China continues to lie about fatality numbers, "disappear" people who criticize the government's actions and generally act like the Soviet-era dirtbags they are should serve as a wake-up call for all of us. Its time to demand that the ultra-capitalists bring the jobs back to the free world and stop enriching dictatorships who like to dabble in bioweapons.

Meanwhile back in the stone age, Agent Orange has slashed the USA's CDC budget. America has never been less prepared for a pandemic. As for bioweapons, well the USA knows all about them as it makes them itself.

 

[SilentMarket]

Entertainment equipment is not tech.
Better do some research filtering out 0.13-micron virus instead of pushing out masks filtering 0.3 micron.

 

[EClyde]

There is no worse time or better time and the havoc has only just begun. This virus is why countries that are not self sufficient are really going to suffer. There is no better reason then this to reject globalism

 

[EClyde]

Meanwhile back in the stone age, Agent Orange has slashed the USA's CDC budget. America has never been less prepared for a pandemic. As for bioweapons, well the USA knows all about them as it makes them itself.

but we don't let them out to play

 

[DoYouTrustEvry1]

The fact that China continues to lie about fatality numbers, "disappear" people who criticize the government's actions and generally act like the Soviet-era dirtbags they are should serve as a wake-up call for all of us. Its time to demand that the ultra-capitalists bring the jobs back to the free world and stop enriching dictatorships who like to dabble in bioweapons.

Why do you automatically assume that China is doing these things? Is it because of the anti-Chinese media blitz that suspiciously seems to have ramped up around the same time that the "trade war" started? Do you also automatically believe everything else that the media tells you? If you're not in China, and don't have any first hand knowledge, you're just repeating somebody else's words.

Here's something to keep in mind: Even the media outlets that are trying to whip everyone into a frenzy about this coronavirus have shown that the mortality rate is somewhere around 2% at most. Also, there hasn't been a single confirmed case of a non-Asian person dying from it. Strange how this is never mentioned, isn't it. Haven't you noticed that the articles always say something like "American citizen" or "French national" and omit the fact that these people are of Asian descent?

Wake the **** up. The media is not unbiased, and it's obvious that they have an agenda regarding what they report and what they don't. You're being programmed and you're too blind to even see it.

 

[Jules Mark II]

The Mortality rate is about 12%. 2012 /(2012+14 887) Death divided by (# death + # recovered)

You can not use the # death divide by # infected to get a mortality rate. As the # of infected needs to go through treatment. That is also how one get their # from a flu season per year.

Of course, that rate only apply to Wuhan province. Hospitals are overwhelmed, under-equipped, exhausted . They also reported 3000 medical staff are infected while 5 have die.

Source: Radio France Internationale
3000多名医务人员感染新冠病毒 中国近10%重症工作者已投入武汉


Outside Wuhan, mortality rate drops significantly.