Coronavirus outbreak could disrupt Apple’s MacBook plans

If their suppliers continue to be disrupted from resuming work due to the coronavirus outbreak, assemblers of notebooks in China, including those like Quanta Computer which puts together Apple MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models, have resumed production, but face the possibility of component shortages starting next month.

Quanta Computer has started volume production at a new assembly plant in Taiwan to meet urgent needs from clients, but components shortages remain an issue… Taiwan notebook ODM Quanta Computer is reportedly moving to accelerate volume production at its new assembly lines in northern Taiwan to fulfill rush shipments to US brand vendors amid the coronavirus outbreak, according to industry sources.

Global notebook shipments for 1Q20 to plunge 29-36% sequentially on epidemic, says Digitimes Research: Global notebook unit shipments for the first quarter of 2020 are estimated to experience a larger sequential fall of 29-36% than 17% projected earlier, as severe labor and components shortages and stagnant logistics arising from the coronavirus outbreak are derailing supply chain in China, which commands over 90% of global notebook production, according to Digitimes Research.

MacDailyNews Take: Apple is run by operations masters. We’d bet that they’ve stockpiled critical components just in case a situation such as the coronavirus outbreak should arise.

MacDailyNews Note: Today is Washington’s Birthday in the U.S.A., a federal holiday and, as such, the U.S. markets are closed for the day. We will resume our normal posting schedule tomorrow.

Washington’s Farewell Address, September 19, 1796