Chip makers see RP exports to take hit from Japan crisis

A prolonged crisis in Japan as a result of the multiple disasters that hit it will slow down the supply chain for electronics including that to the Philippines which relies heavily on Japanese raw materials for its semiconductors, its biggest export product, the Semiconductor Electronics Industries in the Philippines Inc. (Seipi) said yesterday.

Seipi president Ernesto Santiago said most of the local producers of electronics are Japanese-owned companies.

Seipi membership is comprised of 18 percent Japanese member-companies that accounts for around 20 percent of the country’s total electronics exports worth $ 31.1 billion last year.

Santiago said Japanese chip suppliers are likely to encounter difficulties in getting raw materials supplied and distributed, and shipping products out.

Santiago reported that its member-companies reported that the 9 magnitude earthquake that hit Japan last Friday and the subsequent tsunami have caused railways servicing Northeastern Japan and Tokyo to ground to a halt while some airports remain closed.

“Cargo planes did not accept shipments and have implemented an embargo until further advised to all shipments due to damages to their warehouses and heavy backlog caused by last Friday incident,” he said.

Santiago said Japan’s revenue in 2010 accounted for 13.9 percent of the global electronics equipment which includes manufacturing of all electronics equipment such as computers, consumer electronics devices and communication gear. –Ayen Infante, Daily Tribune