Anti-Covid prevention measures are causing production plants in the Shanghai region to slow down, which could have a big negative impact on the PC industry, but also on TVs and smartphones.
Since April 1, 2022, Shanghai and its 26 million inhabitants have been confined for the first time since the start of the pandemic. The fulgurance of the Omicron variant unfortunately hits the population in this essential city for Chinese trade (the largest port in the world in terms of annual container traffic) and the virus risks spreading rapidly to the entire region.
The production of electronic components affected
In an attempt to stem its spread, the city of Kunshan, located about fifty kilometers away, has also decreed anti-Covid measures. This is where many factories manufacture electronic components — from semiconductors to printed circuits to LCD screens, in particular — for the biggest brands of laptop computers (Dell, Apple, Lenovo, Acer, Toshiba or HP). As a striking example, some Taiwanese companies such as Elite Material and Nan Ya have 30-40% of their PCB circuit production in Kunshan alone.
A strategic city, therefore, for an electronics industry which risks taking a serious blow and whose repercussions will undoubtedly be felt as of this month of April, according to certain Taiwanese analysts. With the confinement in Shanghai, logistics and transport will be all the more complicated and we should perhaps expect an increase in the shortage which has however been easing recently…