How Coronavirus is Sculpting the Electronics Industry Landscape

By Amy Leary

If you were to tell me last year that in the first few months of 2020 there would be roaring Australian bushfires, climate emergencies, US trade tariff wars and a deadly virus spreading across the globe – I wouldn’t have believed you.

It was January 30th, 2020 when the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee of the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a “public health emergency”. The virus first broke out in Wuhan late December 2019 which spread like wildfire – causing almost 9,000 casualties in less than three months. The virus has now been confirmed in over 160 countries and has infected over 219,042 people worldwide. Things haven’t got much better – on March 11th, 2020, World Health Organization confirmed the Coronavirus a pandemic. A pandemic is the term used for a disease which is spreading between multiple people and counties at the same time. The last time a pandemic occurred was 2009 with swine flu.

All global catastrophes come a silver lining – even though it is difficult to see sometimes. It is easy to become complacent in the world we live in. It’s only when something like this happens that we realise what we had and how it will affect us in the long run. Within this article, I am going to (try) and enlighten the situation we are in with the benefits that COVID-19 may have on the electronics industry and ourselves.

Healing the Planet

On March 9th, 2020, the government of Italy imposed a national quarantine to restrict the movement of the population. This means Italian citizens would be subject to staying in their homes and avoiding all activities such as shopping, visiting friends and attending tourist destinations. As the Italian death roll has risen to 2,158 and over 27,980 infected – the country is a ghost-town. As you can imagine, since Italy has been on lockdown, the streets are empty and therefore the NO2 pollutions levels have significantly dropped. It has been trending on social media that water flowing through the canals in Venice have become cleaner along with thriving wildlife. According to Post Magazine, “Even the streams around Piazza San Marco, usually particularly cloudy, due to the traffic of boats, taxis, as well as gondolas, have regained their clarity. And the lagoon ecosystem is showing evident signs of regeneration.”. The canals which are usually choked by diesel-powered water buses and boats are now thriving with small fish and swans. Not only this, according to Independent, a dolphin was filmed swimming in the port of Cagliari, one of the largest seaports in Italy and the Mediterranean Sea basin. The port has an annual traffic capacity or around 50 million tonnes of cargo and a million twenty-foot equivalent unit containers.

Increased Demand for Ventilators

In my opinion, there may be an increase in job opportunities for contract manufactures due to the circumstances of needing box build medical assists. The demand for ventilators has rocketed due to them being a vital asset for tackling the coronavirus. According to Financial Times, General Motors and Ford have been in talks with the White House about using vacant car factories to manufacture ventilators in order to help tackle the growing number of coronavirus cases. Not only this, stated by The Guardian, UK manufacturers such as Vauxhall and Airbus are planning to 3D-print parts for ventilators to treat coronavirus patients, as part of a “wartime” effort to build thousands of medical devices that will be overseen by a management consultancy.

Higher Demand for Electronics

Lockdown is potentially on the cards sooner than we think. Like other countries such as France, Italy and China – many people are isolating and working from home. Along with school children who are scheduled to learn from home from Friday 20th April – many students will become bored extremely quickly. In my opinion, the demand for electronics will rocket within the next few days. In order to work from home, many companies will purchase and supply employees with specific devices in order to work while in lockdown. Electronic devices such as laptops and phones will be in higher demand to ensure employees can work efficiently. Not only this, many potential customers will ‘panic buy’ in order to keep younger people occupied during these unsettling times. For example, the demand for games consoles or educational devices will increase drastically.

Let’s hear what the industry professionals have to say:

SOS Electronic: At this time, we have not detected any specific interruptions within our supply chain. However, delivery dates for certain products may ultimately be affected in the future. Therefore, we cannot guarantee them with certainty, and we encourage customers to place new orders in time to avoid coronavirus problems that may affect their business.

Mouser Electronics: Regarding travels, we have restricted all travels to Asia and within Asia. We have recently also stopped all travels to Italy and are limiting all other travels to Europe, within Europe and to/from USA. It is highly likely that we will see very few people flying for at least the next month, unless exceptional circumstances, and we see the same from most of our supplier partners. As the situation changes, we will review. We have ensured all offices globally have masks available as well as sanitizer to clean hands plus re-emphasizing good hygiene rules.

Digi Key: At Digi-Key, our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone impacted by COVID-19 worldwide, and our primary concern is for the health and safety of our team members, customers and business partners. Our business model positions us with substantial inventory to offer minimal disruption to our customers, and we have worked closely with our multiple carrier partners to mitigate impact on cargo plans. We’re providing updates and FAQs on our website for our customers and we’re in constant communication with our suppliers.