After Japan's Quake, Taiwan Helps Fill iPad 2 Supply-Chain Gaps

RedEaredSlider writes "Like many device manufacturers, Apple cannot seem to escape supply concerns in the wake of the ongoing crisis in Japan. The company is hoping that AU Optronics will fill the void left by companies like Hitachi and Toshiba, both of which have been affected by the series of disasters that have rocked Japan. Damage to many factories from the earthquake and an ongoing nuclear disaster has disrupted supply chains and caused large slowdowns in production of vital electronic components."

Comments

HypotheNews Theorem

[srussia]

Between two hot stories, there is an angle, no matter how obtuse.

Oh stuff it

[Sycraft-fu]

The world does not stop because of a disaster. We don't all quit what we are doing just because something bad happens. Companies still need to keep selling their stuff, the world economy needs to keep moving.

Further, one of the things Japan needs is for their stuff to be in demand, so they can get their industry up and running again and make money to help pay for the cost of all this.

Re:Oh stuff it

[MozeeToby]

If the world economy stops moving you get people losing their jobs and their homes, and eventually going hungry on the streets. It doesn't matter if you have the most ethical company in the world, they aren't going to be able to keep paying their employees if they aren't selling their products.

Re:Oh stuff it

[fidget42]

You don't have a job, do you?

If companies waited until Japan can back to production then they would have to lay people off, which would have a severe ripple effect in your local economy.

Re:Oh stuff it

[geekoid]

No he does not. He is simply stating that people still need to do stuff. People still need to buy stuff. You act as if the world can only do one thing at a time.

Those 'rituals' happen so we can keep goos flowing, people employed, and so on.

Re:Oh stuff it

[bar-agent]

But as if often the case, my post is getting modded down as it suggests that Steve Jobs' latest sneeze may not be newsworthy.

Wait, he sneezed? OMG OMG why didn't anyone tell me?!! DAMN YOU MASS MEDIA!

Yes, Good.

[xMrFishx]

Well the thing is, money into Japan will help to some extent. Companies that need to fund repairs need money from somewhere. Companies with money may put it to good (useful) use elsewhere in Japan. So you can't say getting buisness is a bad thing. Factories have to work, or people don't get paid and can't eat. Work from Apple will at least be reliable and in large volume, probably at a premium too. Some money is better than no money in a country facing crisis.

Re:Yes, Good.

[DarkOx]

Um you realize the article is about Apple moving orders away from Japan to AUO which is a Taiwanese company that Apple thinks is in a better position to fill them.

Mind you I am not knocking Apple, if you have a supply who can't deliver why is not your problem you find a new supplier.

Sandy Bridge Upgrade Delays...

[rwade]

I've been looking forward to building a new Sandy Bridge system and the disaster in Japan has thrown quite a wrench in it, I'm afraid. The high-quality Asus and MSI motherboards are, of course, assembled in China. However, it is my understanding that the high-quality capacitors and some of the other vital components in the boards are manufactured in Japan.

The revision 3 boards -- with the cougar point SATA issue resolved -- have been in short supply since...well, up to now. I was anticipating several months of supply -- oversupply, specifically -- to knock down the price of the boards, some of which are selling _above_ MSRP -- particularly the Asus P8P67 Pro. From what I understand, Asus, MSI, gigabyte, and the rest are having enough trouble just getting boards to folks that RMA'd their original boards, which is why so few are in the retail channel.

That, of course, leads me to the fear that the Japan-related supply shortage shoe has yet to drop. Kind of sucks.

Then again, I didn't loose my house...

Think about it from their perspective

[rwade]

I guarantee you the last thing that the Japanese want is for us to stop wanting their stuff real bad. Charity and well wishes about the "toll it's taken" on them will only go so far.

Re:Think about it from their perspective

[Yvanhoe]

The sound I get from people living in Tokyo is exactly that : "stop consider us as victims, we want life to come back to normal, let's have business as usual". Of course I guess that the mood is different in the Sendai region.

Re:Think about it from their perspective

[timeOday]

I guarantee you the last thing that the Japanese want is for us to stop wanting their stuff real bad.

Sure, if you stayed home sick and your boss said, "don't worry, take all the time you like, we don't need what you do," you wouldn't feel too secure.

But you also don't want your boss to say, "we can't wait for you to recover, you're fired, we'll already found else." Which is what just happened here.

What about quality?

[jackd]

This could easily have extended consequences for the quality of the devices that are put in the market over the next 1-6 months. New possibly untested stopgap suppliers, providing technology condensed sensitive parts. This won't just affect Apple, many manufacturers will get hit by this. Would be interesting to see stats for returns from some of these companies over the next few months.

Re:What about quality?

[jrumney]

The article is not clear, but it seems that AUO were already supplying half the LCDs for the iPad 2, with Toshiba, Hitachi, Samsung and LGD also named in the article (the latter two specifically as display suppliers). So it seems Apple already had their bets hedged with multiple suppliers, and AUO is just increasing its share (probably along with Samsung and LGD) to cover the shortfall from the Japanese suppliers. Quality should not be affected, as they are an existing supplier, not a new unknown one.

Re:OH THANK GOD

[narcc]

What would we do without iPad 2s!?!?

I know! the iPad 2 is the most important technological development since man first learned to create Fire. (It's 33% *thinner* for goodness sake!)

Without a steady supply of iPad 2's, civilization would collapse overnight. It's miraculous that we managed to survive as long as we have without this vital technology.

Re:First things first

[geekoid]

so what? the people in Taiwan should just stand around doing nothing? Please. The world does more then one thing at a time.

The fact that it can be picked up so quickly is an interesting note considering the global market.

Something else that was ,once again, brought to light is the problems with just in time services.

Exactly -- Taiwan suddenly being considered..?

[rwade]

Good point. Japan hasn't been a low-cost manufacturing location for a long, long time. That begs the question of why not go with Taiwan production even before the quake. I think that you're onto the answer to that question with your post...

Re:Exactly -- Taiwan suddenly being considered..?

[Altus]

My company's hardware is assembled in China, however, many of the base electrical components, switches, capacitors and such, are manufactured in Japan. The assembly lines in China cant build what we need if they can't get the parts.

Re:Exactly -- Taiwan suddenly being considered..?

[tftp]

Like Japan, Taiwan does a lot of high-tech manufacturing.

There is more than one level of high-tech manufacturing. It's one thing to take a 0402 capacitor and put it onto the PCB. It's a very different thing to make that capacitor from microscopic parts in the first place. Do you think there are no trade secrets in ceramics that allow you to cram a few uF into an 0402 part? (Murata is a Japanese company.) Even this tiny segment of passives is dominated by US and Japanese manufacturers (TDK, Taiyo Yuden, Kemet, Panasonic, Murata.) Even AVX, a very solid US manufacturer, has nothing to offer if you need 4.7uF in size 0402.

Companies like Panasonic-ECG and Rohm are doing very well, and they are producing very cost-competitive components. If you are looking for a low cost surface mounted aluminum capacitor, Panasonic is the most likely manufacturer.

Reading comprehension

[geekoid]

epic fail..

The parts the had been made in Japan were vital to building the iPad.

Not that iPads are vital.