Assessing Japanese Quake Impact on GaAs Industry

Strategy Analytics issued a report today that the impact of the March 11 earthquake and ensuing tsunami, as well as the on-going issues with the nuclear reactors at Fukushima, are affecting the equipment and materials suppliers, consumer electronics companies, automotive, test and measurement companies in Japan. The Strategy Analytics' GaAs and Compound Semiconductor Technologies (GaAs) service report, “Japanese Quake Impact on the GaAs Industry,” contains a preliminary assessment of the impact of the tragedy on the global GaAs industry in Japan and throughout the world.

Strategy Analytics assessment of the situation indicates that there is no danger of immediate disruption to the supply of gallium and arsenide raw materials. The supply of SI (semi-insulating) bulk substrates will also be sustained. GaAs device manufacturing facilities were also largely unaffected. They state that the Japanese materials supplier were running at full capacity when the quake hit so if there was a surge in demand, shortages could result.

Japan is a leading player in the GaAs RF/microelectronics industry, accounting for 50 percent of bulk substrate supply, 18-20 percent of global SI GaAs epitaxial substrate production and up to one-fifth of the global GaAs device market. Japanese companies involved in the GaAs industry include Hitachi Cable, Renesas and Sumitomo Chemical.