Sony LTO Shortages a reality
for UK Distributors, US next.....
The prospect of component shortages caused by the Japanese
quake and tsunami are becoming a reality in the UK channel, according to
distributors.
With Japan accounting for up to a quarter of global
production of both integrated circuitry and raw wafers, many fabs still
remain closed or severely damaged a fortnight after the disaster struck.
One UK Disti said Lead times on hard disk drives and LTO
Media "are most definitely being extended and prices are going up so that is
a sign of shortages".
"OEMs are panic buying, people better start planning for
the April period."
Another distributor, revealed that yesterday it sold five
times the daily average for hard drives and trebled orders.
2.5 inch hard drives were the worst impacted, adding that
they were "taking a long position" in terms of inventory holding.
The issue with LTO stems from the temporary suspension of
some of Sony's manufacturing operations due to the quake, tsunami and
subsequent power outages. It also makes semiconductor lasers, optical
devices and lithium ion secondary batteries.
In the HDD space, component maker Showa Denko - which
accounts for 25% of global production - and substrate manufacturers Furukawa
Denko and Kobe Steel also shut operations awaiting a review.
Another Distributor SVP at Avnet TS, said: "We are
ordering higher HDD volumes based on the demand that we are seeing from
customers, everyone is panicking as shortages are starting to come through
the supply chain."
He added that memory prices had risen by 20% since the
disaster struck Japan and may continue to edge up.
In an SEC filing this week, HP - which was forced to close
its Sendai office - warned it sourced components for cartridges from
partners in Japan.
This is an evolving situation; we are in contact with our
partners, suppliers and customers and are continuing to assess the impact to
of the entire LTO family, from HP, Sony, Imation, FujiFilm, Maxell, TDK and
others.