It is the companies themselves who are crying out loud due to the restrictions and shortages they are experiencing. The supply chain is affecting the assembly chain because factories are running out of key materials, parts like PMIC or simply chemicals that they need for certain processes. A drama that we will soon experience in the rest of the world and that only two factors can prevent this announced disaster.
Kunshan and Shanghai at the center of the hurricane
The large companies in the PC industry are concentrated near the nerve centers of the Asian country, as is the case in the rest of the world. It is a labor organization system that differs less and less between the West and the East because everyone tries to improve productivity, but China currently cannot maintain the same level as Europe, nor did it at the beginning of the pandemic.
The exception is the effectiveness of the vaccines, as we have previously pointed out, and this is being suffered by companies such as Compal, Pegatron or Winstron among others, not to mention ODM Quanta Computer.
These companies have either stopped production or are at a minimum since March 28, as the lockdowns remain strict and are also intensifying. This is leading to an inconstant and minimal supply that is causing temporary problems such as those faced by these companies with chemical products that cannot be stored for certain tasks for more than a few days.
The laptop shortage and production versus demand
Companies like Carrer Technology or Unimicron, PCB construction giants have stopped since April 21 and have no sign of opening soon. If there are no PCBs there are no motherboards or laptops, or graphics cards, it is an unprecedented production stoppage that not even the first wave of COVID really achieved.
But this does not end here, but the integrated circuits, the internal wiring or the key power management chips for the industry are in complete shortage due to the mentioned lockups and stoppages. In other words, the industry has closed its doors and we are facing a near-total shortage of laptops and possibly other components.
In addition, the units that are leaving the factory with a dropper have another added problem: the port of Shanghai is completely blocked by ships, which number in the thousands.
If you want to import materials, there are long queues on the high seas, if you want to export containers and materials, they have to pass detection controls to guarantee that both the ship and the cargo do not spread the virus, which slows down all action day after day.
So what are the possible solutions? The first is the most obvious: the removal of restrictions and the blockade by China. The second has to do with the demand. That of Chromebooks is plummeting after a rather peculiar rise in the last year and a half, which means that the materials used for them could be redirected or adapted to traditional laptops.
Also, the overall demand for laptops is falling. To be specific, said lawsuit so far in 2022 has been reduced by 10% while that of PCs is on the rise, a change in trend that only partially moves the problem to another sector, but that could alleviate that of laptops and their scarcity. Analysts’ forecasts say that the situation will worsen in the summer and begin to improve towards the end of the year, that is, if there is nothing to shake the world outlook again…
