SONY is in a hurry: the battery core faces "two choices"

On March 11, Sony China Vice President Li Wei was working at Sony Dream Technology Museum. Li Wei, who is also the curator of Sony's Dream Technology Museum, will come here every Friday. This afternoon she heard shocking news that a major earthquake occurred in the waters near Japan. She immediately went online with the headquarters to confirm the news - the response was yes.

On the same day, Sony Global CEO Howard Stringer sent a letter to all employees: "This disaster-stricken area is one of the most important areas in history for Sony, focusing on Sony's many production facilities...". In the next few days, the news from Japan was even more worrying - Sony will close six factories.

Li Wei said that Sony is currently assessing the damage caused by the disaster in Japan, and it is still impossible to determine the specific impact of the earthquake on Sony (China) operations and when it can resume operations. Sony (China) management will evaluate this as soon as possible. It is reported that in Sony's global operating income, the Japanese island market accounts for more than 20%, and the remaining 70% of revenue comes from other countries and regions of the world.

According to statistics from iSuppli, a market research company in the field of electronics manufacturing, in 2010, the output value of Japanese electronic equipment accounted for 13.9% of the global market share in the same year. In the same year, Japanese semiconductor production accounted for more than 20% of the global market share. During the earthquake, in addition to Sony's closure of six factories, Matsushita chose to temporarily suspend production, and Toshiba also closed the microcontroller factory in Iwate Prefecture. Analysts at iSuppli believe that the disruption of Japanese semiconductor supply in the next two weeks may have a considerable impact on the entire supply chain in the next quarter, which may also have a significant impact on the Chinese consumer electronics industry.

Close six factories

In northern Japan, Sony has six factories, four in Miyagi Prefecture and two in Fukushima. Three of the four factories in Miyagi Prefecture belong to the Sony Chemical and Information Components Group (SCID), and one belongs to Sony White Rock Semiconductor. SCID produces IC cards (Fel-ica cards), magnetic tapes, Blu-ray discs and various other components. Sony White Rock Semiconductor produces semiconductor laser heads. Two factories in the Fukushima area produce lithium-ion rechargeable batteries. After the earthquake and tsunami, all six factories closed production facilities, and employees were evacuated or evacuated in time.

SCID was hit by the tsunami at the factory in Doha City, and the damage was more serious. 1159 employees and approximately 110 nearby residents who came to take refuge were placed on the second and third floors of the factory overnight. On the morning of March 12, Sony hired a helicopter to the factory to provide assistance to the trapped people. The other five factories were damaged and the Doha City factory was not serious. However, due to factors such as unstable power supply, it is impossible to calculate accurate losses. As of the afternoon of March 13, the five factories have started to recover to varying degrees, but it is still impossible to predict the full operation time.

The earthquake in Japan affected dozens of semiconductor factories, and it also triggered concerns about the shortage of supply or price increases for many widely used components. In the next few weeks, the entire electronics industry will result in finished product shipments due to reduced supply of core components. The amount of sharp decline, such as smart phones, LCD TVs, digital cameras and other related products in a short period of supply and demand contradictions will be highlighted, and some products may even face a stock market crisis.

According to a large home appliance chain in Beijing, Sony's supply may be "fluctuating", such as delayed delivery. But Peng Liang, vice president of Kuba's e-commerce website, said that the current inventory of Gome and Kuba is sufficient, and the goods for the "May 1" are enough to support until June. And the replacement of digital products is very strong, even if the goods are out of stock, they do not have to raise prices.

Fight upstream supply chain

According to data from the global electronics industry market intelligence provider Jibang Technology, the total size of global notebooks in 2010 was about 195 million units, of which Japan accounted for about 5% of sales.

The earthquake will cause Japanese consumers to reduce or delay notebook (NB) consumption. In 2010, Sony notebooks accounted for 4%-4.5% of global shipments, about 8 million to 8.5 million units. Sony notebook sales in Japan accounted for approximately 9%-10% of total shipments. At present, Sony notebooks are mostly commissioned, mainly for Taiwan's Quanta, Wistron and Foxconn. ErnestTseng, an analyst at Jiming's memory research department, believes that the capacity of Sony notebooks will not be significantly affected in the short term, but the production capacity of silicon wafers, passive components and Sony's battery cores in the upper reaches of the disaster area has been affected. Whether the impact of plant damage, power cuts and logistics will cause further shortage of NB parts and price increases will require further observation.

ErnestTseng believes that Sony notebooks have always been positioned for high-end products, mostly for business people and mature markets. For the second half of this year, it should be the traditional peak season for notebook sales. However, the notebook sales market in the second half of the year will also face the impact of various tablet PCs, global economic concerns and the earthquake in Japan.

H.P.Chang, an analyst at the panel research department, believes that the Sony TV business is not affected by the earthquake because Sony's factory in Japan is mainly sold in Japan and is located in Kansai, and has not been affected by the earthquake. In addition, Sony has increased its proportion of outsourcing OEMs since 2010. It is estimated that the proportion of outsourcing manufacturing in 2011 will increase to 70%, so the current production capacity of the foundry is sufficient to meet Sony's plans. However, due to the impact of the earthquake on the supply chain of Korean TV manufacturers, if the related components in the subsequent foundries are not affected by the Japanese supply chain, it will not be conducive to the competitiveness of Sony's global TV.

The battery core faces "two choices"

In the field of battery cells, Sony faces the challenge of choosing between notebooks and power tools.

It is reported that Japan has a market of 1/5 of the global chip, and the earthquake will have a serious impact on the supply and price of global chips. Many overseas media directly pointed out that due to the traffic disruption caused by the earthquake, the supply of raw materials was affected, and the finished products could not be transported to the airport or port. The supply chain crisis will bring losses to Japanese manufacturers and even global manufacturers within a few months.

According to DuffLu, an analyst at the New Energy Research Department, Sony has also been affected by the Japanese battery core factory. Currently, it mainly supplies notebooks and power tools. Due to the relatively high gross profit margin of the power tool battery core, Sony's supply of laptop battery cells may be reduced. It is estimated that the supply of laptop battery cells may stop for two weeks. In the most serious case, the production capacity will be affected by 4 million. .

Sony can be divided into two types of cylindrical and polymer in the lithium battery business. Polymer lithium batteries are mainly used in mobile phones. There are about 13 million units shipped per month, and cylindrical ones are mainly notebooks and power tools. , accounting for about 45% of Sony's own capacity. For Sony, the inventory level of all battery cells is more than one month, but due to interference from other factors such as material end and power outage, as well as the test of product gross margin, it is expected to fully support the battery core production of power tools.

DuffLu believes that Sony's full support for power tools will affect battery resources such as NB. In terms of current product mix, the supply of laptop batteries will make Sony, Macro and Lenovo's supply on the relevant battery core tight.

It is rumored that the Korean battery core factory has quietly adjusted the battery core price in the second quarter, which is about 5% or more. The battery core has been in a sluggish price for a long time, and perhaps the bottom of the battery is about to happen.

The page contains the contents of the machine translation.