With China significantly easing its COVID-19 restrictions, some notebook supply chain companies in China have seen infections in their plants affect up to 50% of their workers, resulting in the temporary shutdown of production lines, according to sources from the upstream supply chain.
Sources say the short-term impact is limited due to the traditional peak season in 2022 being weak.
Notebook ODMs Quanta Computer, Compal Electronics, Wistron, and Inventec have yet to hear of any impact on shipments due to the spread of COVID-19 in China.
In previous years, brand factories have requested ODMs to work overtime during the Lunar New Year holiday, but no brand has made such requests for 2023, further highlighting the notebook market's weakness.
The supply chain expects a new wave of COVID-19 infections to peak after the Lunar New Year, which may have a more significant impact.
Sources pointed out that workers in China are extending their Lunar New Year vacations, resulting in a greater shortage of workers during the Lunar New Year period. If this will affect the industry will depend on whether or not brand factory end market sales improve.
Finding a solution to the chaos caused by China's easing COVID-19 regulations is difficult, with most industry players saying all they can do is wait for China to reach herd immunity. Companies emphasized that even if their own company successfully staves off the virus, other links within the supply chain will inevitably be affected.
Some companies have taken the initiative to extend vacation times for employees in an effort to reduce the risk of mass infections at factories.
One notebook component factory in China revealed that 30-50% of its employees are unable to work due to COVID-19, resulting in a one-month shipment delay due to insufficient production capacity.
Some manufacturers estimate that only 10-15% of workers actually have COVID-19, while 30-40% are calling out of work due to fear of infection. Sources pointed out that under China's current policies, workers can still go to work with a fever.
Industry players believe that China is only in the beginning stages of an epidemic.
The Lunar New Year holiday in China is the largest occurrence of population movement globally every year. Government restrictions on movement over the past two years mean the coming year's holiday will experience even larger waves of travel, which could lead to unfathomable widespread infection.
Sources noted that new notebook product launches in response to new processors and graphics cards in the first quarter of 2023 will be affected by COVID-related infections in China.
Article translated by Eifeh Strom
