Industries Struggling with Material Shortages Amid Pandemic

Several industries have enjoyed a market boom amid the COVID-19 pandemic, bolstered by work-from-home demand, including backlight module (BLM) makers and laptop suppliers.

BLM maker Coretronic remarked that with the shortage of panel parts and shipping containers unable to meet demand, the firm's tentative combined delivery volume for energy-saving products would decline in December.

Coretronic's combined revenue in November hovered around NTD$3.779 billion, a 1% decline compared to October, and a YoY drop of 13%. As of November, combined revenue reached NTD$38.551 billion, a YoY decline of 13%.

Another field seeing material shortage is imaging products, largely caused by the worsening pandemic situation overseas, specifically Europe and the U.S.

PC maker ASUS is buoyed by remote learning and WFH demands for laptop computers, seeing a 0.4% increase in revenue in November. However, the PC brand has pointed to disruption in parts supply in Q4, hindering its exports by almost 30%, and could continue into the next quarter.