China to reconfine city of Xian, could reinforce global memory chip shortage


Nerces

Hardware and Gaming Specialist

December 31, 2021 at 11:40 a.m.

31

© Reuters

While the shortage of DDR4
did not seem to be on the agenda, it is quite different with the DDR5
.

According to official statistics, China is one of the countries that best contained the Covid-19 pandemic. At the slightest sign of recovery, at the slightest appearance of a cluster, the government applies drastic measures as it did a few days ago in Xian, in Shaanxi province.

Containment of 13 million inhabitants

In order to fight against the appearance of more than a thousand cases of Covid-19 in the metropolis of 13 million inhabitants, the Chinese authorities have imposed strict confinement: residents are only allowed to go out once every three days for their food shopping.

The situation is obviously difficult for these populations to live with, but far from these humanist concerns, several electronics giants are worried about the industrial consequences. Samsung Electronics and Micron Technology do have large factories in Xian.

Factories responsible for the production of DRAM chips and whose chains have been partially, or even totally stopped, since the confinement decided in Xian.

An impact for the time being limited

While production chains and logistics have been in a complicated situation for several months now, the strict restrictions put in place around Xian could cause further production delays. Micron points out that it has already observed a decrease in staff at DRAM chip manufacturing sites.

For its part, Samsung Electronics had indicated on Wednesday that it had to temporarily adjust its operations at production sites in Xian, affecting its production of NAND flash. Adjustments which, as relayed Reuters, have not yet had a real impact on production and supplies.

TrendForce, for its part, believes that laptop and smartphone makers could be directly affected by any change in the way production sites operate in Xian, but Samsung Electronics’ high inventories prevent any disruption in the short term. term.

The question of the duration of confinement

Quoted by Reuters, Yan Chegyin consultant for Bayes Consulting in Beijing, believes that “ the impact on the overall supply chain is under control, but there are still uncertainties “.

The uncertainty relates to how long it will take to stop the spread of the virus and allow factories to resume normal work. In our experience, clusters are quickly under control in China. I also think the local government will try to support big foreign companies like Samsung “.

Samsung has two major production lines in Xian. They are responsible for manufacturing advanced NAND and account for 42.5% of its production capacity of this type of component.

On the same subject :
Thanks to the global shortage, Soitec, one of the few French semiconductor players, expects to increase its turnover by 45%

Source: Reuters



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