Recalling Painful 2000, Component Makers Stay Cool in Hot Market

摘要

With output of mobile phones back on track, demand is growing for related electronic components and semiconductor devices. The recovery of demand began in earnest in July 2003. It might have started earlier, but, the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and efforts to control this strain of pneumonia affected the ability of manufacturers to respond to demand. This delayed the market recovery two months for mobile phone components. The recovery has been powerful enough to lift monthly production orders above the records of 2000. For some components, manufacturers are receiving more orders than they can fill. While some manufacturers are investing in facilities to increase production capacities, others are cautious. Despite soaring orders, many component manufacturers are making conservative demand forecasts, having learned lessons from 2000, when makers were left with a production surplus because set makers placed excess orders and then later cancelled some of those orders.