HONSHU, JAPAN – The electronics manufacturing industry will feel the aftershocks from the today’s 8.9 magnitude earthquake on Japan’s East coast for some time to come, says an industry research firm.

Objective Analysis anticipates “phenomenal price swings and large near-term shortages” as result of the quake and its follow-on aftershocks.

The semiconductor market research firm said it is conducting status checks of semiconductor wafer fabrication plants in Japan, but because of the size of the earthquake, understanding the total impact could take several days.

More than 40% of the world's NAND flash and roughly 15% of the world's DRAM are manufactured in Japan, the firm says. Japan is a significant source of chips to support consumer electronics devices. A two-week shutdown would remove from production a sizable share of each of these.

Demand will be impacted as well, since many electronics manufacturers are in Japan, and their consumption of semiconductors will be halted until earthquake damage is repaired.

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