A fire broke out at Taiwanese passive component maker Walsin Technology’s factory site in Dongguan, China on January 13, but the company estimates no material impact from the accident.
Walsin said the fire started at the plant’s utility engineering system and was soon extinguished, neither damaging its production lines, inventory for MLCC and chip resistors nor causing major personnel injuries.
The company said it is still checking actual damage and losses, but stressed that its overall operations have not been much affected by the fire.
But the fire has raised concerns, as both MLCCs and chip resistors are in highly tight supply, industry sources said, adding that major suppliers including Murata and Taiyo Yuden have twice extended delivery lead time amid strong demand and resurging pandemic in Japan and Southeast Asia.
China’s leading chip resistor maker Chaozhou Three-Circle Group has recently raised its quotes for upstream ceramic and aluminum substrates by 15%, but its Taiwanese counterparts have yet to follow suit, pending terminal clients’ response to price hikes by the Chinese vendor, the sources said.