Chip firms hope Singapore, where officials explicitly named semiconductors as an essential business, will cause fewer disruptions. Micron Technology Inc and Applied Materials Inc both told Reuters on Monday they believe their factories in Singapore will be allowed to run with protections in place for workers. Qualcomm Inc, which last year acquired a chip factory in Singapore, declined to comment.
(Apr 8): Computer chip makers are banking on less disruptions to their factories from this week’s strict lockdown in Singapore than the havoc wreaked on their supply chains last month when Malaysia and the Philippines imposed vague restrictions about “essential” operations.
In the United States, chipmakers are considered essential businesses and allowed to operate. But with no uniform global definition of “essential,” industry executives say their delicate supply chains have hit snags as lockdowns played out differently in different countries, with Malaysia and the Philippines both shuttering or reducing work at factories.
