Japan Earthquake: The Industry Will Respond and Rebound

By Stanley T. Myers, president and CEO, SEMI

The massive earthquake, tsunami and power plant disaster in Japan has brought great sadness to the semiconductor industry, as it has to people all over the world. Japan is a pioneer and leader in the global chip industry whose contributions are valued the world over. SEMI and our member companies extend our deepest condolences to our friends and colleagues in Japan, and to all Japanese people, for all their enormous loss.

In response to many individual SEMI member inquiries and a mandate from the SEMI Board, we are aggregating useful resources to support your intelligence gathering and decision making relative to the devastating impact of the Japan earthquake and tsunami. Public announcements on the status of major Japan fabs and SEMI Japan member operations are provided on a spreadsheet “Known Impacts of the Japan Tohoku Earthquake/Tsunami on the Semiconductor Supply Chain” You may wish to bookmark this page as we are updating this spreadsheet every Monday.

There has been significant, and in some cases hasty, speculation on the impacts to NAND memory, silicon wafer shipments, packaging material resins, capital equipment, and other areas. The news media is identifying and evaluating these issues for their general-interest and financial readers. SEMI does not want to add to the public media speculation by contributing to or accelerating what may be incomplete information.

Currently the production status at some fabs and chemical processing plants remains uncertain due to rolling blackouts and intermittent electrical supply. SEMI has joined with other semiconductor industry organizations in recommending stabilizing electric power to critical semiconductor facilities that require continuous electrical service to resume operations. SEMI is working with members, industry stakeholders and ministry officials to communicate suggestions for reestablishing productive economic activity that will be vital to the region’s recovery and growth. SEMI has also established a SEMI fund for humanitarian relief efforts. The fund is open to SEMI members who wish to include their donation as part of an industry-wide effort. All donations received, along with a SEMI corporate contribution, will be directed to the International Red Cross Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami Fund. More information is available at www.semi.org/en/node/36726.

We will continue to work with SEMI members and Japan manufacturers on providing authorized and useful information on the status of production facilities in Japan. We will also do our best provide useful information on how these events in Japan have impacted the global supply chain throughout the coming weeks and months.

If you have any questions or comments, please contact me.