Qatar attack, semiconductor supply chain, LNG, helium
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. in Hsinchu on Tuesday, January 11, 2022. Images of mobile devices at the (TSMC) Museum of Innovation.
I-Hwa Cheng | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Asian technology stocks fell on Thursday as Iran’s latest attacks on Qatar’s Ras Laffan Industrial City and a rise in oil prices shook investor confidence and raised concerns about supply chain disruptions in the semiconductor industry.
Materials sourced from Middle Eastern energy markets are widely used in electronics manufacturing, from printed circuit boards to semiconductor process chemicals.
South Korean memory giants SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics fell 2.23% and 1.8%, respectively. Seoul Semiconductor shares lost 2.53%.
of japan cutting edge fell over 4 percent Tokyo Electron lost 1.99 percent. Taiwan’s TSMC fell 2.1 percent.
Knowledge Atlas Technology, also known as China’s ‘AI Tigers’ MiniMax and Zhipu, fell 10% and 8%. This decline follows a surge in Chinese AI stocks following optimistic comments from Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang about the promise of AI agents and OpenClaw.
Stocks listed in Hong Kong Alibaba’s While it lost value by 3.34% Tencent It decreased by 6%.
“With recent market movements almost entirely attributable to the Middle East conflict and the rise in oil prices, macro risks far outweigh company fundamentals for now,” UBP senior equity advisor Vey-Sern Ling said in an email to CNBC.
While immediate concerns focus on higher oil prices fueling inflation fears, analysts noted that the deeper risk lies in the second-order effects rippling through the semiconductor supply chain.
helium source
Missile attacks on QatarEnergy’s Ras Laffan Industrial City on Wednesday damaged one of the world’s most strategically important gas hubs and are likely to raise concerns for global LNG and helium supply chains.
Helium is an important material for the semiconductor industry with Qatar It produces more than a third of the world’s helium supply as a byproduct of natural gas processing.
Ongoing outages at Qatar’s LNG facilities could threaten to further increase helium prices for semiconductor companies, as no viable alternatives exist.
State energy giant QatarEnergy, the world’s second largest LNG exporter, announced on March 2 that it had stopped production at its 77 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) facility and declared force majeure on LNG shipments.
“Qatar’s gas shortage is tightening supplies of helium, a natural gas byproduct used in semiconductor manufacturing and medical imaging,” Fitch Ratings analysts wrote in a note to investors on Tuesday. he wrote.
“Asia’s semiconductor supply chain faces increasing tail risk from helium shortages as the Iran conflict drags on and Qatar’s gas shortage continues,” the analysts added.
Shelley Jang, director of corporate ratings for Asia-Pacific at Fitch Ratings, told CNBC via email that disruptions at Ras Laffan could cause further logistics delays and reduced availability.
Even if production resumes, helium will face additional delays in bringing it to market until all logistics chains and shipping schedules are restored, he said.
Beyond helium, broader petrochemical supply chains are also under scrutiny.
The Gulf region hosts critical systems that support hyperscale infrastructure growth, semiconductor manufacturing, and electronics manufacturing. Gartner semiconductor supply chain analyst Cori Masters said rising tensions are disrupting high-tech supply chains.
“The worst-case scenario for semiconductor factory delays could result in delayed revenues of $1.5 billion to $3 billion and additional manufacturing impacts,” Masters wrote in a note to investors.
— CNBC’s Spencer Kimball contributed to this report.
