The Asia Pacific electronics industry continued to flourish despite the severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak, though the slowdown caused by the Iraq war did have an impact on the industry, according to Gartner, the leading research and analysis firm.
Companies such as Acer experienced a 10 to 20 per cent decline in orders from the United States since hostilities began, Gartner said in a release in Bangalore on Friday.
SARS had not affected the semiconductor and electronics industries till date. "The one possible disruption to the industry could be from mass infections on the vendor side, which has not been seen yet,'' said Dorothy Lai, Gartner's principal semiconductor analyst in Hong Kong.
''Because this outbreak mostly affects people's personal interaction, electronic trade shows or company meetings will be deferred, potentially hurting some local buyers and sellers in the short term. Semiconductor shipments have not been delayed because of the disease, so the long-term impact to the industry will probably be minimal'', Dorothy Lai said.
A Gartner survey of 20 major semiconductor companies in Hong Kong and China showed that the majority of the vendors had not seen any major negative effect to their businesses yet. However, about 40 per cent of the respondents thought that SARS would hurt their businesses starting in the second quarter. Some have forecast that SARS might hurt them by as much as 15 to 20 per cent.
''A number of them are also concerned that the slowdown in vendor and client communication will hurt their business in both the mid and long-term,'' the release said.
UNI
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