Coronavirus: China’s chip makers proving resilient to supply chain shocks thanks to automation and clean room environments
- Wuhan is an important player in the country’s semiconductor industry, with more than 100 chip design, manufacturing, packaging and testing companies in operation
- The suspension of US-China flights by major US airlines could seriously impact deliveries of finished chip products to US customers
Every morning hundreds of professionals in Wuhan, epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, don protective masks and hazmat-style suits before they enter their workplace.
They are not hospital workers treating patients infected with the virus that has killed more than 1,300 people in China so far. Rather, they work for Wuhan Xinxin Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (XMC) and Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. (YMTC), which operate hospital-style clean rooms designed to prevent microscopic particles from contaminating silicon wafers.
The fallout from the deadly coronavirus outbreak for the tech industry and the global supply chain has been significant, with Canalys forecasting that China’s smartphone shipments would drop 40 to 50 per cent in the first quarter of 2020.
Yet the semiconductor manufacturing sector has been more resilient to the impact thanks to its higher level of automation and clean room environment on the factory floor.
Jim Handy, semiconductor analyst from Objective Analysis in California, said the “incredibly clean and uncrowded” workplace in chip fabs would probably limit the spread of any disease. Workers often live in dormitories on the company’s campus, so they do not need to take public transport to work, he added.