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| A Samsung Electronics employee works in the company's DRAM chip manufacturing line in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province. / Courtesy of Samsung Electronics |
By Baek Byung-yeul
Apple, Amazon, Sony, Dell and other global tech companies are increasingly concerned about the adverse effects of Japan's restrictions on exports to Korea of high-tech materials, as it could cripple the global value chain of the entire IT industry, according to industry officials Sunday.
They said the global makers of smartphones and other IT devices can deal with the shortage of semiconductors and display panels in the short run because they have secured enough components to produce the products. But, in the long term, they will need to draw up contingency plans to deal with the supply shortage and higher prices.
"Major tech companies such as Apple and Amazon have allegedly made inquiries to Samsung Electronics and SK hynix regarding whether there will be a bottleneck in production of memory chips for smartphones and servers in data centers," an official in the semiconductor industry said.
"At a time when semiconductor firms are expecting a recovery in business following Huawei being placed on the U.S. entity list, concerns are growing in the global IT industry as Japan's export curbs added another uncertainty for them to deal with."
Mark Liu, chairman of the world's largest chip foundry company TSMC said the trade conflict between Japan and Korea is a major uncertainty in the coming months and it is likely to impact technology supply chains because the high-tech material market mainly dominated by Japan will be in question.
"Currently, global IT companies have not been hit hard by the dispute but uncertainties will grow if Tokyo's export curbs continues to stagnate because securing enough inventory levels of components at an affordable price is the top priority for them," a semiconductor industry official said. "The increased uncertainties will lead the entire industry to severe consequences."
To brace for the impact of the possible bottleneck in production of semiconductor chips, IT companies said they need to diversify their supply chains.
"We will need contingency plans if the impact materializes," said a spokeswoman of Vaio, a spinoff of Sony's PC business. Stating that the computer maker has not been affected by the export restrictions, the official added, "Options include seeking alternative chip suppliers outside Korea."
The growing uncertainty over the possible production bottleneck of memory chips is already reflected in the market.
After Japan started to impose tougher restrictions on the export of core chips and display making materials to Korea beginning July 4, the price of DRAM has increased by up to 25 percent depending on capacity specifications while the price NAND flash chips have soared by 6 percent, according to market researcher DRAMeXchange.
