On this issue, to take one local example, the mayor of Mansfield, Texas, Michael Evans, described the crisis in the state as “life or death….We have been caught in the middle of something here where there have been individuals who have not had electricity or power for about 3 1/2 days now [and] it’s zero degrees.”
Furthermore, the extreme cold has resulted in millions in the state under boil-water notices. So, it’s not surprising that the storms’ impact on semiconductor fabrication plants in the lone star state has not received much attention.However, in the aftermath the economic impact will be felt, especially in electronics which is a sectorkey to the prosperity across the state.
Hence, “the storm-related power outages in Texas could have a mind-blowing impact on fabs and, in turn, on the availability of semiconductors in the supply chain.” This is what Richard Barnett, CMO of Supplyframe, which aligns electronics demand with supply and brings new levels of resiliency to the global electronics value chain, has told Digital Journal.
Barnett continues with his assessment of the impact: “Texas has ordered Samsung, Infineon and NXT to shut down their fabs due to the power shortage. This will stall semiconductor production output and yields now and, in the future, because you can’t just restart the fab process where you left off. Fab creation involves a specific and well-orchestrated process.”
Explaining further, Barnett adds: “Now more than ever, global manufacturers need new forms of real time supply market intelligence to minimize the impact of these new risks. This event will likely exacerbate the component shortages we’ve already seen in the automotive industry. It could also have dire impacts on the manufacturers of turnkey consumer electronics and IT equipment that rely on semiconductors.”
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