Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) said it is still trying to determine what the market impact will be of the massive earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan, but said it does not expect its first-quarter results to be materially affected by the disaster.
However, the world's largest infrastructure vendor indicated that it thinks component sourcing is likely going to be impacted, though it is still assessing the situation. The company declined to comment on how the disaster might affect its second quarter. "We will continue to closely monitor the situation in Japan to take further action where necessary," the company said in a statement, according to Dow Jones Newswires.
Ericsson was hampered last year by global component shortages, along with other infrastructure vendors and handset makers. The crisis is Japan has renewed fears that the global technology supply chain, particularly for chipsets and LCD panels, might be disrupted.
Nokia (NYSE:NOK), meanwhile, said it is still assessing the impact of the disaster on its own operations, but said it was not aware that any of its suppliers in Japan had been affected.
Research firms continued to try and sort out the impact of the quake and tsunami on global supplies of everything from chipsets to lithium-ion batteries. According to a research report from IHS iSuppli, prices of LCD panels and memory chips may rise if there are shortages. Component makers in Japan are having difficulty getting reliable power, raw materials and workers, iSuppli said.
For more:
- see this Dow Jones Newswires article (sub. req.)
- see this Bloomberg article
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