Japan's earthquake-driven tsunami and the damage to several of the nuclear reactors that provide most of the country's electrical power will have long-term impact on Japan's ability to manufacture and deliver key components for an enormous range of products, including lighting and projection systems… Japan accounts for one-fifth of the world's semiconductor production, including about 40 per cent of the flash memory chips used in everything from smart phones and tablets to computers. Even if shipments of semiconductor parts affected by the quake were disrupted for only two weeks, shortages and their price impact were likely to linger until the third quarter of this year, iSuppli said. Key video and visual systems makers, including Sony, Canon and Toshiba (which supplies about one-third of the world's NAND flash memory chips), all said that short-term manufacturing and supply would be disrupted.
-Dan Daley, "The Biz," PLSN, April 2011
