The price of tablets, notebooks and netbooks along with Smartphones could rise in price after the spot price for Nand flash memory jumped, up 20 percent, reflecting concerns that supplies could be limited in the aftermath of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami.
Spot prices jumped between 10 and 20 percent after Toshiba, the leading maker of Nand flash memory, announced that it would close down five manufacturing and business sites.
In the DRAM spot market most major suppliers have reportedly stopped offering chips, due to uncertainty over the impact of the Japan earthquake and tsunami.
Meanwhile Taiwan-based DigiTimes reported that Nand supply would probably tighten in the wake of the earthquake. The newswire also said the quake might disrupt supply of silicon wafers after the major supplier Shin-Etsu Handotai ‘s facility in Skirikawa had shut down due to a lack of power.
Texas Instruments, the second-largest US chipmaker, said “substantial” damage to one of its plants in Miho, Japan would impact sales in the first and second quarters.
Freescale Semiconductor said a plant in Sendai which makes chips for cars had ceased operations following the earthquake. The plant had been up for sale.
