According to a report by thepaper.cn, more than 3,000 employees of the Semiconductor chip supplier in Muar, Malaysia, have lost more than 20 of their lives due to the epidemic, and hundreds of others have been infected, facing the test of life or death.
Many semiconductor factories in the region have been ordered to operate with low manpower and load reduction, and some have been shut down if they become infected. This may further aggravate the global "lack of core".
It is worth mentioning that Malaysia is known as the "semiconductor packaging testing center", accounting for nearly 13% of the global semiconductor packaging market share. In 2019, 569.5 billion yuan of electronic products and related components were exported, accounting for nearly 40 percent of the country's foreign trade exports that year.
Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Ibrahim has resigned
Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Ibrahim said Monday he has submitted his resignation to Supreme Head of State Abdullah Abdullah, Xinhua reported Wednesday.
In a televised address, Muhyiddin said he was stepping down as prime minister in accordance with the Constitution after 15 members of the lower house of Parliament withdrew their support for him and opposition parties rejected his proposal for cross-party cooperation.
Mohyiddin became Malaysia's prime minister in March 2020, succeeding Mahathir Mohamad, who abruptly resigned.
Since the beginning of this year, the outbreak in Malaysia has become increasingly serious, causing many people to be dissatisfied with the Muhyiddin government. Not long ago, Umno President Ibrahim Zahid and some UMno MPS withdrew their support for Muhyiddin, citing the weak response to the outbreak. In a televised speech on Wednesday, Muhyiddin promised a series of reforms in return for cross-party cooperation, but was rejected by the opposition.
When those efforts failed, Muhyiddin was forced to resign after 17 months in office, making him the shortest serving prime minister in Malaysian history.
Malaysia's Supreme Head of State Abdullah Abdullah accepted the resignation of Muhyiddin and his cabinet with immediate effect, the Palace said in a statement on Wednesday. Abdullah agreed that Muhyiddin would serve as interim prime minister until a new prime minister is chosen.
Muhyiddin's resignation leaves Malaysia Mired in political uncertainty at a critical juncture in the country's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Local analysts generally agree that it is unclear who will succeed Muhyiddin at this stage of the political situation, and that the new prime minister will face similar challenges as Muhyiddin.
The severe epidemic has caused the closure of some chip factories, such as Bosch affected
According to thepaper, a senior official of Bosch China, an automotive electronics company, posted on Wechat on August 17 that a semiconductor chip supplier's factory in Muar, Malaysia, has been ordered by the local government to shut down part of its production line until August 21 due to the severe epidemic in Malaysia. Bosch'S ESP/IPB, VCU, TCU and other chips will be directly affected, and it is expected to be basically out of supply after August, which will have a huge impact on China's auto industry.
Subsequently, there is Italy and France semiconductor confirmed that this is Italy and France in Malaysia's chip packaging plant. "More than 20 of Muar's 3,000 employees have lost their lives and hundreds have been infected," the Bosch executive said.
COVID-19 has had a big impact on the local semiconductor industry. "Some factories have been infected and have been forced to close," said Wang Shoutai, chairman of the Malaysian Semiconductor Industry Association.
Public information display, Malaysia is one of the important global testing, global semiconductor product's seventh largest exporter, has about 50 global semiconductor giant set up testing factory in Malaysia, most of which are multinational firms, including AMD, grace wisdom pu, ASE, infineon, stmicroelectronics, Intel, broadcom, micron, Texas instruments, etc.
In addition to international manufacturers, Malaysia's local closed test factories also include Inari and Unisem(which was acquired by Huatan Technology in 2018).
In addition, Taiwan's passive components manufacturers huaxinke, Wangquan, Qilixin, guangyu also set up factories in Malaysia.
Malaysia has always had a unique position in the global semiconductor sealing and testing market compared to other Southeast Asian countries. Southeast Asia accounts for 27% of the global semiconductor packaging and testing market, while Malaysia accounts for nearly 13% of the market. In 2019, Malaysia exported RM372.7 billion (about 569.5 billion yuan) of electronic products and related components, accounting for nearly 38% of the country's total exports in that year. Contributed 6.8% of the country's GROSS domestic product (GDP) and employed 575,000 people in 2020.
According to United Nations data, Malaysia's IC export share has been at the forefront of the world since 2002. In 2018, Malaysia's IC export share surpassed Japan's and was on a par with the United States.
In addition, it is estimated that Wangquan, which has factories in Malaysia, has a monthly production capacity of 15-17 billion resistors, and Puwu Motor, which is owned by Huasingke, has a monthly production capacity of 15-16 billion resistors. The production capacity of these two factories in Malaysia alone accounts for 7.5% of the global total.
According to the report, the Malaysian government currently requires factories to operate with a minimum of 10-20% manpower on their production lines. Industry insiders say this is equivalent to maintaining the state of the production line, almost no production.
In fact, as early as march last year during the epidemic, Malaysia has taken a "lockdown" measures, at that time caused a global semiconductor shortage, price rise tide.
According to TrendForce research, the global passive components (MLCC) market will face supply challenges due to the extension of the National action control by the Malaysian government. Among them, high-end MLCC is the most stressed, and the terminal products corresponding to the main items in short supply include mobile phones, laptops, netcom, servers and 5G base stations.
Other chip makers with factories in Japan, such as Murata, Kyocera and South Korea's Samsung, may benefit from the prolonged Malaysian shutdown. In terms of terminal applications, major MLCC suppliers of iPhone and Macbook Pro such as Murata, Suntec and Kyocera will see peak demand in the third and fourth quarters due to apple's new product launch in the third quarter.
Factories and ports in many Asian countries have been paralyzed by the spread of a mutant Delta virus
Many Asian countries are facing a new wave of COVID-19 caused by a mutant strain of the Delta virus, which has paralyzed factories and ports and disrupted supply chains in the world's largest manufacturing hubs, According to CCTV News and Singapore's Lianhe Zaobao on Wednesday, citing related reports.
According to the report, shipping costs have soared due to a shortage of container ships in the wake of the global outbreak of COVID-19, and supply shortages such as semiconductors have made the price more expensive. Now, a new delta strain is making things worse.
The United Nations estimates that about 42 percent of the world's manufactured goods come from Asia, and with orders rising in the run-up to the year-end holiday shopping season, the rapid spread of a mutant Delta strain has crippled factories and ports across the region, potentially disrupting global supply chains.
Natixis estimates that while Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand together account for 5.7 per cent of global exports, disruptions in their exports are highly likely to affect larger economies, particularly in electronics. Half of America's semiconductor imports come from southeast Asian countries. Japan and South Korea were also affected. South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. disclosed last month that revenue from its mobile phone business had fallen because of a new outbreak in Vietnam.