What will be the medium term consequences of the Coronavirus epidemic on the world of Tech ? The demand had been dormant for days and today’s alarm bell rang in Cupertino (Apple has warned of possible delays in sales that could weigh on quarterly data) has generated fibrillations on exchanges all over the world.
A TrendForce analysis now tries to shed more light on what the impact of the epidemic could be on the world of technology, estimating the damage based on the projections referring to what is known today about the trend of infections.
Coronavirus: the impact on the tech world
- the production of smartphones could drop by 12% compared to 2019, with an emphasis on the Chinese market: the problems will cross between all groups with strong supply chain and assembly chains focused on Chinese companies;
- 5G and fiber optic systems could be seriously slowed by virtue of the fact that the Wuhan region is heavily involved in the production of this type of components: Chinese companies engaged in the sector could therefore pay the costs, with the attention that seems therefore move mainly on Huawei;
- the new consoles arriving should not be delayed: the prospect is that the Coronavirus will loosen its grip on the Dragon from the next quarter, leaving Microsoft and Sony all the space necessary to arrive on time for the appointment with the new generation of PlayStation and Xbox ;
- minimal or no impact on the markets of DRAM and NAND memories: process automation and reserve storage are banks that are sufficiently resistant to avoid kickback;
- significant impact expected on smartwatches by virtue of the fact that standard updates are expected in a particular way in the second half of the year and purchases would be concentrated from the summer onwards: delays in production could impact the market especially in the coming months;
- minimal impact also for the world of TV , where the problem is mostly related to demand (in sharp decline) from the Chinese market;
-8% forecast for the automotive world, -12% for the notebook market . All this, however, in the perspective of a trend slowing epidemic and in the hope that the quarantine measures adopted all over the world are sufficient to curb the epidemic. The longer the duration, the greater the general impact on the economy: these damages are now evident, but the situation can be preserved if from the health point of view it will be possible to curb the alarm as soon as possible.
