Starting yesterday, Malaysia entered a national lockdown, imposing country-wide restrictions on civilian movement, educational institutions, and social gathering which is expected to last till the 7th of June. For the semiconductor industry, this could mean worsening of the worldwide chip shortages. Malaysia accounts for nearly 15% of the global packaging and testing capacity, with all major companies including Intel, AMD, NXP, Renesas, Texas Inst., and ASE having factories in the region.
Intel will be the most affected, with 50% of its overall processor supply packaged in Malaysia while a notable chunk of AMD’s Ryzen 3000 and 5000 processors are also packaged in the country. While a month-long shutdown is nothing to scoff at, it shouldn’t completely drain the inventory of large suppliers and retailers. However, it might adversely affect the already strained global semiconductor supply chain that has been struggling to meet the growing demand of the console and computer hardware markets.
