AuroraJ
2021-08-30
Out of control
Covid-19 Surge in Malaysia Threatens to Prolong Global Chip Shortage<blockquote>马来西亚的Covid-19激增可能会延长全球芯片短缺</blockquote>
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Disruptions in Malaysia threaten to prolong uncertainty over chip supply well into next year, dashing hopes of relief in the second half of 2021.</p><p><blockquote>这个东南亚国家是世界上组装和测试控制智能手机、汽车发动机和医疗设备的设备的首选目的地之一。马来西亚的中断可能会将芯片供应的不确定性延长到明年，使2021年下半年缓解的希望破灭。</blockquote></p><p> The supply crunch in Malaysia, caused primarily by staff shortages linked to virus-control measures combined with a sharp surge in global demand, poses a new problem for the auto industry. For the first half of this year, shortages largely stemmed from companies miscalculating the pace of economic recoveries and not ordering enough parts. Now they can’t always get the parts they need because Covid-19 outbreaks are denting factory output.</p><p><blockquote>马来西亚的供应紧缩主要是由与病毒控制措施相关的员工短缺以及全球需求的急剧激增造成的，这给汽车行业带来了新的问题。今年上半年，短缺很大程度上源于企业误判了经济复苏的步伐，没有订购足够的零部件。现在，他们并不总是能得到他们需要的零件，因为新冠肺炎疫情正在削弱工厂的产量。</blockquote></p><p> “It’s a bit like a game of whack-a-mole,” said Ravi Vijayaraghavan, a Singapore-based partner at the consulting firm Bain & Co. specializing in semiconductors. “We think we have supply sorted out, and then a problem suddenly pops up somewhere else.”</p><p><blockquote>“这有点像打地鼠游戏，”专门从事半导体业务的咨询公司贝恩公司驻新加坡合伙人Ravi Vijayaraghavan说。“我们认为我们已经解决了供应问题，然后其他地方突然出现了问题。”</blockquote></p><p> Some of the world’s leading car makers including Toyota Motor Corp. , Ford Motor Co. , General Motors Co. and Nissan Motor Co. have disclosed major production cuts due largely to chip shortages from factories in Malaysia. Ford suspended work for about a week at an F-150 plant in the Kansas City, Mo., area and a Fiesta factory in Cologne, Germany because of missing parts, while Toyota said it would cut global production by around 40% in September. General Motors said it expects to make 100,000 fewer vehicles in North America in the second half of the year.</p><p><blockquote>包括丰田汽车公司、福特汽车公司、通用汽车公司和日产汽车公司在内的一些全球领先汽车制造商已披露大幅减产，主要原因是马来西亚工厂的芯片短缺。由于零部件缺失，福特在密苏里州堪萨斯城的一家F-150工厂和德国科隆的一家嘉年华工厂停工约一周，而丰田表示将在9月份将全球产量削减约40%。通用汽车表示，预计下半年在北美的汽车产量将减少10万辆。</blockquote></p><p> The problems in Malaysia stem from the worst Covid-19 surge the country has seen since the start of the pandemic. The nation of around 32 million people has had more than 1.6 million reported cases and 15,000 deaths to date, more than half of them this summer.</p><p><blockquote>马来西亚的问题源于该国自疫情开始以来最严重的新冠肺炎疫情激增。这个拥有约3200万人口的国家迄今为止已报告超过160万例病例，15,000人死亡，其中一半以上发生在今年夏天。</blockquote></p><p> On June 1, the government imposed a nationwide lockdown to stem the spread and protect its buckling healthcare system, but it designated electronics companies as essential businesses and allowed them to operate at 60% capacity. As vaccination rates picked up, factories were eventually allowed to resume full operations, but they have been playing catch-up ever since and disruptions have persisted.</p><p><blockquote>6月1日，政府在全国范围内实施封锁，以阻止疫情蔓延并保护其不堪重负的医疗保健系统，但它将电子公司指定为重要业务，并允许它们以60%的产能运营。随着疫苗接种率的提高，工厂最终被允许恢复全面运营，但从那以后他们一直在追赶，中断持续存在。</blockquote></p><p> Even minor disruptions can dramatically shift output and delivery timelines. In June, the Malaysian chip maker Globetronics Technology Bhd., which assembles sensors for a U.S. smartphone maker as well as basic car components, voluntarily closed two of its factories for several days after three workers tested positive for Covid-19.</p><p><blockquote>即使是很小的中断也会极大地改变产出和交付时间表。今年6月，为一家美国智能手机制造商组装传感器以及基本汽车零部件的马来西亚芯片制造商Globetronics Technology Bhd.在三名工人新冠肺炎病毒检测呈阳性后，自愿关闭了两家工厂数日。</blockquote></p><p> It took about four weeks to normalize deliveries, according to Chief Executive Heng Huck Lee, who had back-to-back calls with customers as he and his team tried to shuffle around orders without causing a domino effect of delays.</p><p><blockquote>首席执行官Heng Huck Lee表示，交付正常化花了大约四个星期的时间。他和他的团队与客户进行了背靠背的评级，试图在不造成延误多米诺骨牌效应的情况下重新安排订单。</blockquote></p><p> Mr. Heng said that employee safety was his priority and that production at the two factories was halted completely for two days to sanitize them from top to bottom and flush out the air several times over. Hundreds of workers were isolated.</p><p><blockquote>恒先生表示，员工安全是他的首要任务，两家工厂的生产完全停止了两天，从上到下进行了消毒，并多次冲洗空气。数百名工人被隔离。</blockquote></p><p> “This wasn’t a disaster in terms of revenue, but it caused disruption,” Mr. Heng said. “When your workforce is lower, it kind of cascades down the line.”</p><p><blockquote>“就收入而言，这并不是一场灾难，但它造成了混乱，”恒先生说。“当你的劳动力减少时，它就会级联。”</blockquote></p><p> Mr. Vijayaraghavan said chip manufacturing relies on a precarious model designed to keep costs low by holding minimal inventory and spreading assembly across several markets specializing in processes that are hard to relocate in a pinch. “There’s very little room for error, so whenever there’s any disruption you see it all the way through to the end product because there’s just no slack in the system,” he said.</p><p><blockquote>Vijayaraghavan先生表示，芯片制造依赖于一种不稳定的模式，该模式旨在通过保持最低库存并将组装分散到多个市场来保持低成本，专门从事在紧要关头难以搬迁的流程。“犯错的空间很小，所以每当出现任何中断时，你都会看到它一直到最终产品，因为系统中没有任何松弛，”他说。</blockquote></p><p> Malaysia is a major hub for packaging, a labor-intensive process of combining basic elements into functioning components and testing them for quality before they are shipped abroad and made into end-use products. About 7% of the global supply of semiconductors goes through the country at some point, according to the U.S.-based Semiconductor Industry Association. The U.S. imports more chips directly from Malaysia than from any other country in the world, the group said.</p><p><blockquote>马来西亚是包装的主要中心，包装是一个劳动密集型过程，将基本元素组合成功能组件，并在运往国外并制成最终用途产品之前对其进行质量测试。根据美国半导体行业协会的数据，全球约7%的半导体供应在某个时候经过该国。该组织表示，美国直接从马来西亚进口的芯片比世界上任何其他国家都多。</blockquote></p><p></p><p> Problems in Malaysia started last year amid factory shutdowns caused by the pandemic, though they weren’t as consequential because, at the time, global chip supply appeared more stable and demand was lower. But by early 2021, as economies started waking up, shortages were magnified by soaring demand for all manner of devices that require the chips. Then came the unexpected blows to two industry juggernauts: a fire at a major plant on the outskirts of Tokyo in March and a drought in Taiwan that slowed the chips’ water-intensive production in April. Covid-19 cases started ticking up in Malaysia around the same time, compounding the problems.</p><p><blockquote>马来西亚的问题始于去年疫情导致工厂关闭，尽管这些问题并没有那么严重，因为当时全球芯片供应似乎更加稳定，需求也较低。但到2021年初，随着经济开始苏醒，对需要芯片的各种设备的需求飙升，短缺加剧了。随后，两家行业巨头遭受了意想不到的打击：3月份东京郊区一家大型工厂发生火灾，4月份台湾发生干旱，导致芯片的水密集型生产放缓。大约在同一时间，马来西亚的新冠肺炎病例开始增加，使问题更加复杂。</blockquote></p><p> The demand has continued to rise. More chips have been needed for medical devices such as portable ultrasounds, thermometers and ventilators as healthcare systems around the world have rushed to build capacity. Prolonged lockdowns fueled demand for home appliances and personal electronics including tablets and videogame consoles. Auto makers hoped to seize on a rise in consumer spending as Western economies stepped up vaccinations and emerged from stagnation.</p><p><blockquote>需求持续上升。随着世界各地的医疗保健系统争相建设产能，便携式超声波、温度计和呼吸机等医疗设备需要更多芯片。长期封锁刺激了对家用电器和个人电子产品（包括平板电脑和视频游戏机）的需求。随着西方经济体加强疫苗接种并摆脱停滞，汽车制造商希望抓住消费者支出增长的机会。</blockquote></p><p> “Even if you’re running at 100% capacity, supply is still not enough to meet demand, and lead time will increase,” said Wong Siew Hai, president of the Malaysia Semiconductor Industry Association, a business group formed in January in response to challenges caused by the pandemic. The problem, Mr. Wong said, is that demand exceeds full capacity while most factories are still running below their potential. He estimates that pandemic-related capacity constraints translated to hundreds of millions of dollars of “missed opportunities” in the country this year.</p><p><blockquote>马来西亚半导体行业协会（Malaysia Semiconductor Industry Association）主席Wong Siew Hai表示：“即使以100%的产能运行，供应仍然不足以满足需求，交货时间也会增加。”大流行带来的挑战。黄先生说，问题在于需求超过了满负荷，而大多数工厂的运转仍低于其潜力。他估计，今年与大流行相关的产能限制导致该国“错失机会”数亿美元。</blockquote></p><p> In theory, Malaysia’s semiconductor sector should be running optimally by late August as worker vaccination rates for most companies reach the 80% threshold required to resume full operations, Mr. Wong said. In practice, factory output could be uneven for the next two or three quarters, until the entire country reaches a higher vaccination rate and transmission slows. Malaysia has fully vaccinated almost 45% of its population, according to Our World in Data.</p><p><blockquote>Wong表示，理论上，随着大多数公司的工人疫苗接种率达到恢复全面运营所需的80%门槛，马来西亚半导体行业应该会在8月底达到最佳运行状态。实际上，未来两到三个季度，工厂产出可能会不均衡，直到整个国家达到更高的疫苗接种率并且传播放缓。根据我们的世界数据，马来西亚已经为近45%的人口全面接种了疫苗。</blockquote></p><p> Meanwhile, factories might be forced to shut down temporarily because of breakthrough infections among vaccinated staff, or they might have sporadic shortages related to workers being quarantined after coming into contact with an infected person, even if the workers are fully vaccinated.</p><p><blockquote>与此同时，工厂可能会因为接种疫苗的员工出现突破性感染而被迫暂时关闭，或者即使工人完全接种了疫苗，工厂也可能会出现与工人在接触感染者后被隔离有关的零星短缺。</blockquote></p><p> Staff shortages due to quarantine requirements are a persistent problem not just on the factory floor, but for workers in related industries, such as truck drivers and cleaners. The staff shortages could cause significant disruptions in the weeks ahead, possibly longer, according to David Lacey, president of Frepenca, an industry group based in Malaysia’s industrial hub of Penang, where many semiconductor factories are located. “We’re starting to see industry capacity impacted by worker shortages, and the worker shortages are caused by quarantine rules,” Mr. Lacey said. “We need to keep the rules in sync with the situation, and the rules in place now are the same ones we had pre-vaccination.”</p><p><blockquote>由于检疫要求导致的员工短缺不仅是工厂车间的一个持续存在的问题，对于卡车司机和清洁工等相关行业的工人来说也是如此。总部位于马来西亚工业中心槟城的行业组织Frepenca总裁大卫·莱西(David Lacey)表示，员工短缺可能会在未来几周造成重大中断，甚至可能更长时间。槟城是许多半导体工厂所在地。“我们开始看到行业产能受到工人短缺的影响，而工人短缺是由检疫规则造成的，”莱西先生说。“我们需要让规则与情况保持同步，现在制定的规则与我们接种疫苗前的规则相同。”</blockquote></p><p> Chip makers said the situation remains dynamic and could be volatile into next year. A spokesperson for Infineon Technologies AG , a German semiconductor supplier that manufactures products in Malaysia, said the company expects shortages to persist into 2022, as demand remains high and significantly outstrips supply.</p><p><blockquote>芯片制造商表示，情况仍然充满活力，明年可能会出现波动。在马来西亚生产产品的德国半导体供应商英飞凌科技股份公司（Infineon Technologies AG）的发言人表示，该公司预计短缺将持续到2022年，因为需求仍然很高，并大大超过供应。</blockquote></p><p> “Today’s semiconductor supply chain is complex to the degree that you may have to go through multiple locations in multiple countries in multiple regions just to get this one piece, this one tiny part of your final product,” said Mr. Heng, of Globetronics. “But we’ll figure out a way to overcome this. We’re all still in learning mode.”</p><p><blockquote>Globetronics的Heng先生表示：“当今的半导体供应链非常复杂，您可能必须经过多个地区多个国家的多个地点才能获得最终产品的这一小部分。”“但我们会想办法克服的。我们都还在学习。”</blockquote></p><p></p>","collect":0,"html":"<!DOCTYPE html>\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"Content-Type\" content=\"text/html; charset=utf-8\" />\n<meta name=\"viewport\" content=\"width=device-width,initial-scale=1.0,minimum-scale=1.0,maximum-scale=1.0,user-scalable=no\"/>\n<meta name=\"format-detection\" content=\"telephone=no,email=no,address=no\" />\n<title>Covid-19 Surge in Malaysia Threatens to Prolong Global Chip Shortage<blockquote>马来西亚的Covid-19激增可能会延长全球芯片短缺</blockquote></title>\n<style type=\"text/css\">\na,abbr,acronym,address,applet,article,aside,audio,b,big,blockquote,body,canvas,caption,center,cite,code,dd,del,details,dfn,div,dl,dt,\nem,embed,fieldset,figcaption,figure,footer,form,h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6,header,hgroup,html,i,iframe,img,ins,kbd,label,legend,li,mark,menu,nav,\nobject,ol,output,p,pre,q,ruby,s,samp,section,small,span,strike,strong,sub,summary,sup,table,tbody,td,tfoot,th,thead,time,tr,tt,u,ul,var,video{ font:inherit;margin:0;padding:0;vertical-align:baseline;border:0 }\nbody{ font-size:16px; line-height:1.5; color:#999; background:transparent; }\n.wrapper{ overflow:hidden;word-break:break-all;padding:10px; }\nh1,h2{ font-weight:normal; line-height:1.35; margin-bottom:.6em; }\nh3,h4,h5,h6{ line-height:1.35; margin-bottom:1em; }\nh1{ font-size:24px; }\nh2{ font-size:20px; }\nh3{ font-size:18px; }\nh4{ font-size:16px; }\nh5{ font-size:14px; }\nh6{ font-size:12px; }\np,ul,ol,blockquote,dl,table{ margin:1.2em 0; }\nul,ol{ margin-left:2em; }\nul{ list-style:disc; }\nol{ list-style:decimal; }\nli,li p{ margin:10px 0;}\nimg{ max-width:100%;display:block;margin:0 auto 1em; }\nblockquote{ color:#B5B2B1; border-left:3px solid #aaa; padding:1em; }\nstrong,b{font-weight:bold;}\nem,i{font-style:italic;}\ntable{ width:100%;border-collapse:collapse;border-spacing:1px;margin:1em 0;font-size:.9em; }\nth,td{ padding:5px;text-align:left;border:1px solid #aaa; }\nth{ font-weight:bold;background:#5d5d5d; }\n.symbol-link{font-weight:bold;}\n/* header{ border-bottom:1px solid #494756; } */\n.title{ margin:0 0 8px;line-height:1.3;color:#ddd; }\n.meta {color:#5e5c6d;font-size:13px;margin:0 0 .5em; }\na{text-decoration:none; color:#2a4b87;}\n.meta .head { display: inline-block; overflow: hidden}\n.head .h-thumb { width: 30px; height: 30px; margin: 0; padding: 0; border-radius: 50%; float: left;}\n.head .h-content { margin: 0; padding: 0 0 0 9px; float: left;}\n.head .h-name {font-size: 13px; color: #eee; margin: 0;}\n.head .h-time {font-size: 12.5px; color: #7E829C; margin: 0;}\n.small {font-size: 12.5px; display: inline-block; transform: scale(0.9); -webkit-transform: scale(0.9); transform-origin: left; -webkit-transform-origin: left;}\n.smaller {font-size: 12.5px; display: inline-block; transform: scale(0.8); -webkit-transform: scale(0.8); transform-origin: left; -webkit-transform-origin: left;}\n.bt-text {font-size: 12px;margin: 1.5em 0 0 0}\n.bt-text p {margin: 0}\n</style>\n</head>\n<body>\n<div class=\"wrapper\">\n<header>\n<h2 class=\"title\">\nCovid-19 Surge in Malaysia Threatens to Prolong Global Chip Shortage<blockquote>马来西亚的Covid-19激增可能会延长全球芯片短缺</blockquote>\n</h2>\n<h4 class=\"meta\">\n<p class=\"head\">\n<strong class=\"h-name small\">WSJ</strong><span class=\"h-time small\">2021-08-30 19:43</span>\n</p>\n</h4>\n</header>\n<article>\n<p>SINGAPORE—A surge of Covid-19 cases in Malaysia, a little-known but critical link in the semiconductor supply chain, has opened a new front in the battle to fix manufacturing woes that have rippled across industries during a global shortage of computing chips.</p><p><blockquote>新加坡——马来西亚是半导体供应链中鲜为人知但至关重要的一环，马来西亚的Covid-19病例激增，为解决全球计算芯片短缺期间波及各行业的制造业困境开辟了一条新战线。</blockquote></p><p> The Southeast Asia nation is one of the world’s top destinations for assembly and testing of the devices that control smartphones, car engines and medical equipment. Disruptions in Malaysia threaten to prolong uncertainty over chip supply well into next year, dashing hopes of relief in the second half of 2021.</p><p><blockquote>这个东南亚国家是世界上组装和测试控制智能手机、汽车发动机和医疗设备的设备的首选目的地之一。马来西亚的中断可能会将芯片供应的不确定性延长到明年，使2021年下半年缓解的希望破灭。</blockquote></p><p> The supply crunch in Malaysia, caused primarily by staff shortages linked to virus-control measures combined with a sharp surge in global demand, poses a new problem for the auto industry. For the first half of this year, shortages largely stemmed from companies miscalculating the pace of economic recoveries and not ordering enough parts. Now they can’t always get the parts they need because Covid-19 outbreaks are denting factory output.</p><p><blockquote>马来西亚的供应紧缩主要是由与病毒控制措施相关的员工短缺以及全球需求的急剧激增造成的，这给汽车行业带来了新的问题。今年上半年，短缺很大程度上源于企业误判了经济复苏的步伐，没有订购足够的零部件。现在，他们并不总是能得到他们需要的零件，因为新冠肺炎疫情正在削弱工厂的产量。</blockquote></p><p> “It’s a bit like a game of whack-a-mole,” said Ravi Vijayaraghavan, a Singapore-based partner at the consulting firm Bain & Co. specializing in semiconductors. “We think we have supply sorted out, and then a problem suddenly pops up somewhere else.”</p><p><blockquote>“这有点像打地鼠游戏，”专门从事半导体业务的咨询公司贝恩公司驻新加坡合伙人Ravi Vijayaraghavan说。“我们认为我们已经解决了供应问题，然后其他地方突然出现了问题。”</blockquote></p><p> Some of the world’s leading car makers including Toyota Motor Corp. , Ford Motor Co. , General Motors Co. and Nissan Motor Co. have disclosed major production cuts due largely to chip shortages from factories in Malaysia. Ford suspended work for about a week at an F-150 plant in the Kansas City, Mo., area and a Fiesta factory in Cologne, Germany because of missing parts, while Toyota said it would cut global production by around 40% in September. General Motors said it expects to make 100,000 fewer vehicles in North America in the second half of the year.</p><p><blockquote>包括丰田汽车公司、福特汽车公司、通用汽车公司和日产汽车公司在内的一些全球领先汽车制造商已披露大幅减产，主要原因是马来西亚工厂的芯片短缺。由于零部件缺失，福特在密苏里州堪萨斯城的一家F-150工厂和德国科隆的一家嘉年华工厂停工约一周，而丰田表示将在9月份将全球产量削减约40%。通用汽车表示，预计下半年在北美的汽车产量将减少10万辆。</blockquote></p><p> The problems in Malaysia stem from the worst Covid-19 surge the country has seen since the start of the pandemic. The nation of around 32 million people has had more than 1.6 million reported cases and 15,000 deaths to date, more than half of them this summer.</p><p><blockquote>马来西亚的问题源于该国自疫情开始以来最严重的新冠肺炎疫情激增。这个拥有约3200万人口的国家迄今为止已报告超过160万例病例，15,000人死亡，其中一半以上发生在今年夏天。</blockquote></p><p> On June 1, the government imposed a nationwide lockdown to stem the spread and protect its buckling healthcare system, but it designated electronics companies as essential businesses and allowed them to operate at 60% capacity. As vaccination rates picked up, factories were eventually allowed to resume full operations, but they have been playing catch-up ever since and disruptions have persisted.</p><p><blockquote>6月1日，政府在全国范围内实施封锁，以阻止疫情蔓延并保护其不堪重负的医疗保健系统，但它将电子公司指定为重要业务，并允许它们以60%的产能运营。随着疫苗接种率的提高，工厂最终被允许恢复全面运营，但从那以后他们一直在追赶，中断持续存在。</blockquote></p><p> Even minor disruptions can dramatically shift output and delivery timelines. In June, the Malaysian chip maker Globetronics Technology Bhd., which assembles sensors for a U.S. smartphone maker as well as basic car components, voluntarily closed two of its factories for several days after three workers tested positive for Covid-19.</p><p><blockquote>即使是很小的中断也会极大地改变产出和交付时间表。今年6月，为一家美国智能手机制造商组装传感器以及基本汽车零部件的马来西亚芯片制造商Globetronics Technology Bhd.在三名工人新冠肺炎病毒检测呈阳性后，自愿关闭了两家工厂数日。</blockquote></p><p> It took about four weeks to normalize deliveries, according to Chief Executive Heng Huck Lee, who had back-to-back calls with customers as he and his team tried to shuffle around orders without causing a domino effect of delays.</p><p><blockquote>首席执行官Heng Huck Lee表示，交付正常化花了大约四个星期的时间。他和他的团队与客户进行了背靠背的评级，试图在不造成延误多米诺骨牌效应的情况下重新安排订单。</blockquote></p><p> Mr. Heng said that employee safety was his priority and that production at the two factories was halted completely for two days to sanitize them from top to bottom and flush out the air several times over. Hundreds of workers were isolated.</p><p><blockquote>恒先生表示，员工安全是他的首要任务，两家工厂的生产完全停止了两天，从上到下进行了消毒，并多次冲洗空气。数百名工人被隔离。</blockquote></p><p> “This wasn’t a disaster in terms of revenue, but it caused disruption,” Mr. Heng said. “When your workforce is lower, it kind of cascades down the line.”</p><p><blockquote>“就收入而言，这并不是一场灾难，但它造成了混乱，”恒先生说。“当你的劳动力减少时，它就会级联。”</blockquote></p><p> Mr. Vijayaraghavan said chip manufacturing relies on a precarious model designed to keep costs low by holding minimal inventory and spreading assembly across several markets specializing in processes that are hard to relocate in a pinch. “There’s very little room for error, so whenever there’s any disruption you see it all the way through to the end product because there’s just no slack in the system,” he said.</p><p><blockquote>Vijayaraghavan先生表示，芯片制造依赖于一种不稳定的模式，该模式旨在通过保持最低库存并将组装分散到多个市场来保持低成本，专门从事在紧要关头难以搬迁的流程。“犯错的空间很小，所以每当出现任何中断时，你都会看到它一直到最终产品，因为系统中没有任何松弛，”他说。</blockquote></p><p> Malaysia is a major hub for packaging, a labor-intensive process of combining basic elements into functioning components and testing them for quality before they are shipped abroad and made into end-use products. About 7% of the global supply of semiconductors goes through the country at some point, according to the U.S.-based Semiconductor Industry Association. The U.S. imports more chips directly from Malaysia than from any other country in the world, the group said.</p><p><blockquote>马来西亚是包装的主要中心，包装是一个劳动密集型过程，将基本元素组合成功能组件，并在运往国外并制成最终用途产品之前对其进行质量测试。根据美国半导体行业协会的数据，全球约7%的半导体供应在某个时候经过该国。该组织表示，美国直接从马来西亚进口的芯片比世界上任何其他国家都多。</blockquote></p><p></p><p> Problems in Malaysia started last year amid factory shutdowns caused by the pandemic, though they weren’t as consequential because, at the time, global chip supply appeared more stable and demand was lower. But by early 2021, as economies started waking up, shortages were magnified by soaring demand for all manner of devices that require the chips. Then came the unexpected blows to two industry juggernauts: a fire at a major plant on the outskirts of Tokyo in March and a drought in Taiwan that slowed the chips’ water-intensive production in April. Covid-19 cases started ticking up in Malaysia around the same time, compounding the problems.</p><p><blockquote>马来西亚的问题始于去年疫情导致工厂关闭，尽管这些问题并没有那么严重，因为当时全球芯片供应似乎更加稳定，需求也较低。但到2021年初，随着经济开始苏醒，对需要芯片的各种设备的需求飙升，短缺加剧了。随后，两家行业巨头遭受了意想不到的打击：3月份东京郊区一家大型工厂发生火灾，4月份台湾发生干旱，导致芯片的水密集型生产放缓。大约在同一时间，马来西亚的新冠肺炎病例开始增加，使问题更加复杂。</blockquote></p><p> The demand has continued to rise. More chips have been needed for medical devices such as portable ultrasounds, thermometers and ventilators as healthcare systems around the world have rushed to build capacity. Prolonged lockdowns fueled demand for home appliances and personal electronics including tablets and videogame consoles. Auto makers hoped to seize on a rise in consumer spending as Western economies stepped up vaccinations and emerged from stagnation.</p><p><blockquote>需求持续上升。随着世界各地的医疗保健系统争相建设产能，便携式超声波、温度计和呼吸机等医疗设备需要更多芯片。长期封锁刺激了对家用电器和个人电子产品（包括平板电脑和视频游戏机）的需求。随着西方经济体加强疫苗接种并摆脱停滞，汽车制造商希望抓住消费者支出增长的机会。</blockquote></p><p> “Even if you’re running at 100% capacity, supply is still not enough to meet demand, and lead time will increase,” said Wong Siew Hai, president of the Malaysia Semiconductor Industry Association, a business group formed in January in response to challenges caused by the pandemic. The problem, Mr. Wong said, is that demand exceeds full capacity while most factories are still running below their potential. He estimates that pandemic-related capacity constraints translated to hundreds of millions of dollars of “missed opportunities” in the country this year.</p><p><blockquote>马来西亚半导体行业协会（Malaysia Semiconductor Industry Association）主席Wong Siew Hai表示：“即使以100%的产能运行，供应仍然不足以满足需求，交货时间也会增加。”大流行带来的挑战。黄先生说，问题在于需求超过了满负荷，而大多数工厂的运转仍低于其潜力。他估计，今年与大流行相关的产能限制导致该国“错失机会”数亿美元。</blockquote></p><p> In theory, Malaysia’s semiconductor sector should be running optimally by late August as worker vaccination rates for most companies reach the 80% threshold required to resume full operations, Mr. Wong said. In practice, factory output could be uneven for the next two or three quarters, until the entire country reaches a higher vaccination rate and transmission slows. Malaysia has fully vaccinated almost 45% of its population, according to Our World in Data.</p><p><blockquote>Wong表示，理论上，随着大多数公司的工人疫苗接种率达到恢复全面运营所需的80%门槛，马来西亚半导体行业应该会在8月底达到最佳运行状态。实际上，未来两到三个季度，工厂产出可能会不均衡，直到整个国家达到更高的疫苗接种率并且传播放缓。根据我们的世界数据，马来西亚已经为近45%的人口全面接种了疫苗。</blockquote></p><p> Meanwhile, factories might be forced to shut down temporarily because of breakthrough infections among vaccinated staff, or they might have sporadic shortages related to workers being quarantined after coming into contact with an infected person, even if the workers are fully vaccinated.</p><p><blockquote>与此同时，工厂可能会因为接种疫苗的员工出现突破性感染而被迫暂时关闭，或者即使工人完全接种了疫苗，工厂也可能会出现与工人在接触感染者后被隔离有关的零星短缺。</blockquote></p><p> Staff shortages due to quarantine requirements are a persistent problem not just on the factory floor, but for workers in related industries, such as truck drivers and cleaners. The staff shortages could cause significant disruptions in the weeks ahead, possibly longer, according to David Lacey, president of Frepenca, an industry group based in Malaysia’s industrial hub of Penang, where many semiconductor factories are located. “We’re starting to see industry capacity impacted by worker shortages, and the worker shortages are caused by quarantine rules,” Mr. Lacey said. “We need to keep the rules in sync with the situation, and the rules in place now are the same ones we had pre-vaccination.”</p><p><blockquote>由于检疫要求导致的员工短缺不仅是工厂车间的一个持续存在的问题，对于卡车司机和清洁工等相关行业的工人来说也是如此。总部位于马来西亚工业中心槟城的行业组织Frepenca总裁大卫·莱西(David Lacey)表示，员工短缺可能会在未来几周造成重大中断，甚至可能更长时间。槟城是许多半导体工厂所在地。“我们开始看到行业产能受到工人短缺的影响，而工人短缺是由检疫规则造成的，”莱西先生说。“我们需要让规则与情况保持同步，现在制定的规则与我们接种疫苗前的规则相同。”</blockquote></p><p> Chip makers said the situation remains dynamic and could be volatile into next year. A spokesperson for Infineon Technologies AG , a German semiconductor supplier that manufactures products in Malaysia, said the company expects shortages to persist into 2022, as demand remains high and significantly outstrips supply.</p><p><blockquote>芯片制造商表示，情况仍然充满活力，明年可能会出现波动。在马来西亚生产产品的德国半导体供应商英飞凌科技股份公司（Infineon Technologies AG）的发言人表示，该公司预计短缺将持续到2022年，因为需求仍然很高，并大大超过供应。</blockquote></p><p> “Today’s semiconductor supply chain is complex to the degree that you may have to go through multiple locations in multiple countries in multiple regions just to get this one piece, this one tiny part of your final product,” said Mr. Heng, of Globetronics. “But we’ll figure out a way to overcome this. We’re all still in learning mode.”</p><p><blockquote>Globetronics的Heng先生表示：“当今的半导体供应链非常复杂，您可能必须经过多个地区多个国家的多个地点才能获得最终产品的这一小部分。”“但我们会想办法克服的。我们都还在学习。”</blockquote></p><p></p>\n<div class=\"bt-text\">\n\n\n<p> 来源：<a href=\"https://www.wsj.com/articles/covid-19-surge-in-malaysia-threatens-to-prolong-global-chip-shortage-11630234802?cx_testId=242&cx_testVariant=cx_3&cx_artPos=1#cxrecs_s\">WSJ</a></p>\n<p>为提升您的阅读体验，我们对本页面进行了排版优化</p>\n\n\n</div>\n</article>\n</div>\n</body>\n</html>\n","type":0,"thumbnail":"","relate_stocks":{"GM":"通用汽车","TM":"丰田汽车","F":"福特汽车"},"source_url":"https://www.wsj.com/articles/covid-19-surge-in-malaysia-threatens-to-prolong-global-chip-shortage-11630234802?cx_testId=242&cx_testVariant=cx_3&cx_artPos=1#cxrecs_s","is_english":true,"share_image_url":"https://static.laohu8.com/e9f99090a1c2ed51c021029395664489","article_id":"1199240853","content_text":"SINGAPORE—A surge of Covid-19 cases in Malaysia, a little-known but critical link in the semiconductor supply chain, has opened a new front in the battle to fix manufacturing woes that have rippled across industries during a global shortage of computing chips.\nThe Southeast Asia nation is one of the world’s top destinations for assembly and testing of the devices that control smartphones, car engines and medical equipment. Disruptions in Malaysia threaten to prolong uncertainty over chip supply well into next year, dashing hopes of relief in the second half of 2021.\nThe supply crunch in Malaysia, caused primarily by staff shortages linked to virus-control measures combined with a sharp surge in global demand, poses a new problem for the auto industry. For the first half of this year, shortages largely stemmed from companies miscalculating the pace of economic recoveries and not ordering enough parts. Now they can’t always get the parts they need because Covid-19 outbreaks are denting factory output.\n“It’s a bit like a game of whack-a-mole,” said Ravi Vijayaraghavan, a Singapore-based partner at the consulting firm Bain & Co. specializing in semiconductors. “We think we have supply sorted out, and then a problem suddenly pops up somewhere else.”\nSome of the world’s leading car makers including Toyota Motor Corp. , Ford Motor Co. , General Motors Co. and Nissan Motor Co. have disclosed major production cuts due largely to chip shortages from factories in Malaysia. Ford suspended work for about a week at an F-150 plant in the Kansas City, Mo., area and a Fiesta factory in Cologne, Germany because of missing parts, while Toyota said it would cut global production by around 40% in September. General Motors said it expects to make 100,000 fewer vehicles in North America in the second half of the year.\nThe problems in Malaysia stem from the worst Covid-19 surge the country has seen since the start of the pandemic. The nation of around 32 million people has had more than 1.6 million reported cases and 15,000 deaths to date, more than half of them this summer.\nOn June 1, the government imposed a nationwide lockdown to stem the spread and protect its buckling healthcare system, but it designated electronics companies as essential businesses and allowed them to operate at 60% capacity. As vaccination rates picked up, factories were eventually allowed to resume full operations, but they have been playing catch-up ever since and disruptions have persisted.\nEven minor disruptions can dramatically shift output and delivery timelines. In June, the Malaysian chip maker Globetronics Technology Bhd., which assembles sensors for a U.S. smartphone maker as well as basic car components, voluntarily closed two of its factories for several days after three workers tested positive for Covid-19.\nIt took about four weeks to normalize deliveries, according to Chief Executive Heng Huck Lee, who had back-to-back calls with customers as he and his team tried to shuffle around orders without causing a domino effect of delays.\nMr. Heng said that employee safety was his priority and that production at the two factories was halted completely for two days to sanitize them from top to bottom and flush out the air several times over. Hundreds of workers were isolated.\n“This wasn’t a disaster in terms of revenue, but it caused disruption,” Mr. Heng said. “When your workforce is lower, it kind of cascades down the line.”\nMr. Vijayaraghavan said chip manufacturing relies on a precarious model designed to keep costs low by holding minimal inventory and spreading assembly across several markets specializing in processes that are hard to relocate in a pinch. “There’s very little room for error, so whenever there’s any disruption you see it all the way through to the end product because there’s just no slack in the system,” he said.\nMalaysia is a major hub for packaging, a labor-intensive process of combining basic elements into functioning components and testing them for quality before they are shipped abroad and made into end-use products. About 7% of the global supply of semiconductors goes through the country at some point, according to the U.S.-based Semiconductor Industry Association. The U.S. imports more chips directly from Malaysia than from any other country in the world, the group said.\nProblems in Malaysia started last year amid factory shutdowns caused by the pandemic, though they weren’t as consequential because, at the time, global chip supply appeared more stable and demand was lower. But by early 2021, as economies started waking up, shortages were magnified by soaring demand for all manner of devices that require the chips. Then came the unexpected blows to two industry juggernauts: a fire at a major plant on the outskirts of Tokyo in March and a drought in Taiwan that slowed the chips’ water-intensive production in April. Covid-19 cases started ticking up in Malaysia around the same time, compounding the problems.\nThe demand has continued to rise. More chips have been needed for medical devices such as portable ultrasounds, thermometers and ventilators as healthcare systems around the world have rushed to build capacity. Prolonged lockdowns fueled demand for home appliances and personal electronics including tablets and videogame consoles. Auto makers hoped to seize on a rise in consumer spending as Western economies stepped up vaccinations and emerged from stagnation.\n“Even if you’re running at 100% capacity, supply is still not enough to meet demand, and lead time will increase,” said Wong Siew Hai, president of the Malaysia Semiconductor Industry Association, a business group formed in January in response to challenges caused by the pandemic. The problem, Mr. Wong said, is that demand exceeds full capacity while most factories are still running below their potential. He estimates that pandemic-related capacity constraints translated to hundreds of millions of dollars of “missed opportunities” in the country this year.\nIn theory, Malaysia’s semiconductor sector should be running optimally by late August as worker vaccination rates for most companies reach the 80% threshold required to resume full operations, Mr. Wong said. In practice, factory output could be uneven for the next two or three quarters, until the entire country reaches a higher vaccination rate and transmission slows. Malaysia has fully vaccinated almost 45% of its population, according to Our World in Data.\nMeanwhile, factories might be forced to shut down temporarily because of breakthrough infections among vaccinated staff, or they might have sporadic shortages related to workers being quarantined after coming into contact with an infected person, even if the workers are fully vaccinated.\nStaff shortages due to quarantine requirements are a persistent problem not just on the factory floor, but for workers in related industries, such as truck drivers and cleaners. The staff shortages could cause significant disruptions in the weeks ahead, possibly longer, according to David Lacey, president of Frepenca, an industry group based in Malaysia’s industrial hub of Penang, where many semiconductor factories are located. “We’re starting to see industry capacity impacted by worker shortages, and the worker shortages are caused by quarantine rules,” Mr. Lacey said. “We need to keep the rules in sync with the situation, and the rules in place now are the same ones we had pre-vaccination.”\nChip makers said the situation remains dynamic and could be volatile into next year. A spokesperson for Infineon Technologies AG , a German semiconductor supplier that manufactures products in Malaysia, said the company expects shortages to persist into 2022, as demand remains high and significantly outstrips supply.\n“Today’s semiconductor supply chain is complex to the degree that you may have to go through multiple locations in multiple countries in multiple regions just to get this one piece, this one tiny part of your final product,” said Mr. Heng, of Globetronics. “But we’ll figure out a way to overcome this. 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