The recent earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Japan have taken a serious toll on the country's vital technology industries; PCMag has already reported about the delay in launching the iPad 2 there, shutting down Blu-ray and battery sites, and problems at the Fukushima nuclear plant that could affect the chip industry. But what sort of impact did the disasters have on the components at the heart of desktop and laptop computers in America and elsewhere?
To find out, we asked representatives from three major component companies, AMD, Intel, and Nvidia, to tell us how their businesses, products, and employees had been affected. Here's what they told us.
Brian Burke, Senior PR Manager for Nvidia. "All of the factories that produce our products are outside of Japan, mostly in Taiwan, and they have been unaffected. Some of the substrate material used in the assembly process comes from Japan, and could be subject to delays. If there was an issue, there would be no impact until early Q2, but we believe supply would catch up later in Q2. Our Tokyo offices were not damaged in the earthquake, and our employees in Japan and throughout the region have been safely accounted for."
Chuck Mulloy, Intel Corporate Communications. "We are continuing to monitor and assess the situation. Preliminary assessments are relatively positive from our direct suppliers, whom we currently believe came through this event in reasonable shape. Challenges in power and transportation infrastructure are evolving and we continue to monitor and interpret the implications to our suppliers. We don't see anything at this point that will prevent us from meeting our commitments to our customers."
Pushpita Prasad, AMD Global Communications. "All our employees in the region are safe and working remotely till further notice. AMD is offering temporary relocation to employees in Japan. We are working with an international emergency service provider to organize transportation and hotel accommodations for employees and their families who choose to relocate. AMD's facilities incurred only minor damage and are operational. So far, we have not seen any disruptions to our supply chain, but we are still working with suppliers to understand the full impact. AMD has an Employee Giving Program which is being used to support earthquake relief efforts in Japan and many AMDers have already taken advantage of it. AMD is matching every dollar in employee charitable contributions up to $3,000 per employee."