Recently there have been ongoing concerns over the shipments of lithium-ion batteries typically used in laptops. The concern stemmed from demand outstripping supply and predictions that only the biggest vendors would be receiving their quotas in the next few months.
The main reason for the shortage was due to a fire back in March at manufacturer LG Chem that saw production stop at the facility. But now it seems that supply may get back to normal by the third quarter according to battery producer Simplo Technology.
Sung Fu-hsang, chairman of Simplo stated, “The LG Chem problem has had a big impact on supplies, but we’re working with customers and they understand“.
Simplo Technology is the largest independent supplier of lithium-ion batteries and the comment by Mr Fu-hsang was made last Friday during an investors conference. His comments may bring relief to PC vendors, but in the short term companies such as Asustek and Acer believe they will suffer shortages and therefore hurt sales and revenue.
Read more at ITWorld.com
Matthew’s Opinion
The comments made by Mr Fu-hsang may have been made just to steady investors rather than actually predicting an end to the shortages. His prediction of the 3rd quarter also only states the problem will be resolved within that 3 month period and 3 months is a long time not to have batteries for a company like Acer.
In some ways I don’t think it is right that the largest vendors get their battery supplies first; as it’s the smaller vendors that suffer more from not being able to meet their sales. Depending on how bad the situation gets customers may migrate to the larger vendors just because they have the batteries and laptops available to sell.
Looking at this from another angle it shows how close to the peak of battery production the world is at right now. One manufacturing plant has gone offline and almost straight away there are shortages. This episode may actually push manufacturers, and possibly the vendors themselves, to invest more in battery production facilities.
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