Fukushima Quake Knocks Down Chipmaker

When it comes to the global supply chain for high-demand semiconductors, if it’s not one thing, it’s another. And it seems just as analysts were hinting at a future reprieve from bottlenecks, there’s been another big hit that could have far reaching implications for the auto industry.

Just before midnight on March 16th, a 7.4 Magnitude earthquake struck near the Fukushima province in northeast Japan. Yes – that Fukushima. The one that sustained an earthquake and subsequent tsunami in 2011 that was severe enough to knock a nuclear power plant offline, a disaster which the region is still recovering from.

In this case, there are several factories who are shutting down, at least in the near term, in response to this quake and unfortunately for the delicately positioned semiconductor market, one of them is a chip plant.