Like it or not, almost everything related to hardware is manufactured in China, epicenter of the Coronavirus outbreak. So far, there are already in the country more than 9,600 confirmed cases of virus infection, and the government is literally closing down entire cities to try to stop the virus from advancing, which means that many businesses and factories have had to stop their production since many workers cannot reach their jobs.
Wuhan, a city with 10 million inhabitants, has been the first to be closed (it has been this way since January 23), and 15 other cities have followed in the wake of the wave of infections: Chibi, Dangyang, Enshi, Ezhou , Huanggang, Huangshi, Jingmen, Suizhou, Qianjjiang, Xiangyang, Xianning, Xiantao, Xiaogan, Yichang, and Zhijiang. Many of them have factories of hardware products, especially NAND memory, and at this point or have already stopped production or will stop shortly before the lack of labor.
The list of storage product manufacturers, including NAND memory, includes:
- Intel: with its Fab 68 that manufactures 3D NAND memory in Dalian.
- Micron: and its factory in Xi’an.
- Samsung: it has factories in three locations:
- Shaanxi: Samsung China Semiconductor.
- Xian: NAND F1x1 wafer factory.
- Suzhou: Samsung Shuzhou Research Center (SCCR)
- SK Hynix: with its HC1 and HC2 factories in Chongquing and Wuxi respectively.
- Tsinghua Unigroup: with factories in Chengdu and Nanjing.
- Yangtze Memory Technology Company: with a plant in Wuhan itself.
- Seagate: has a hard disk assembly factory in Wuxi.
- HGST (from Western Digital): it has factories in both Shenzen and Shanghai.
While Tsinghua and Yangtze are manufacturers that only sell locally in China, the others have distribution systems throughout the world and if these factories located in China were closed, the supply of products would be in serious danger and could lead to a financial disaster. they.
What will happen from now?
The situation in the country, with the reaction of the Chinese authorities regarding the expansion of the Coronavirus is becoming quite ugly. The Chinese New Year began on January 25 and theoretically has to end this weekend, February 2. However, they have already announced that they will extend this period (so that people do not go to work basically) until February 6, and cities like Shanghai have already said that they will extend it further, until day 9.
Businesses in Suzhzou, a huge business center and factories in the eastern part of the country, are closed until at least February 8.
The list of manufacturers of NAND products that we have put up, as well as other technology companies, have announced that they will try to continue producing normally, although in the end if the government orders the closure of their factories they will not be able to do anything other than obey. And this will inevitably mean the price increase of its products in stock due to the impossibility of being able to manufacture again, except in the event that the stop is short enough so that its products in stock are sufficient to not run out of anything.
