Slashdot Mirror
Japanese Chip Shutdown Causing Shortages
An anonymous reader writes "Japan's natural disasters and nuclear crisis have already caused silicon wafer shortages that are rippling through the global supply chain of semiconductors for everything from your garden variety PC to the biggest Google server farm. The earthquake and tsunami in Japan have shut down 25 percent of the global semiconductor raw materials production, threatening to cause shortages and price hikes in everything from smartphones to supercomputers. Intel and Qualcomm are countering that they have stockpiles and alternative manufacturing plants that can pick up the slack, but dozens of other electronics makers require critical components only manufactured in Japan."
...but dozens of other electronics makers require critical components only manufactured in Japan."
What could these critical components be really? Just want to know. With this datum, can someone convince me that Japan is manufacturing these components because it's cheaper than to manufacture them in the USA?
US based venture capitalists, step in and do something here. You will be handsomely rewarded.
Japan has been known to disaster-prone for how long exactly? And you don't have reliable alternate streams for your critical components? Cry me a fucking river - I'll sing you a sad song.
Pain is merely failure leaving the body
Because not discussing the economic impact of a disaster on a technology website will totally help those people. Much in the same way that not discussing other, more trivial stories will cure cancer or address world hunger.