Due to damage from the devastating earthquake in Japan, Toshiba has been forced to close down its LCD assembly line at a plant near Tokyo for a month, a Toshiba spokeswoman said on Thursday.
Another LCD maker, Hitachi, has also been forced to halt production at one of its factories, and Sony and Panasonic have also suspended operations at several of their plants.
The negative impact of these disruptions on Japan’s economy is obvious, but it’s hard to tell how they will affect global LCD supply, as Panasonic plans to offset the damage by increasing production in other factories, while Hitachi might get help from Taiwan-based Chimei Innolux Corp.
Some analysts think that smartphone shortages are still a possibility, though. “Given that the market for smartphones outside Japan is pretty active, supply disruptions there could cause problems for some handset makers of some models,” said Damian Thong, an analyst at Macquarie Capital Securities in Japan.
It’s too early to point to specific smartphone models, but the earthquake in Japan might soon start affecting us all in the way of “out of stock” signs.
