Opinion: Intel's shaken Chinese chip firm back to work by Friday

Intel reckons it will be business as usual again this Friday for employees of the company’s chip packaging factory in the Chinese city of Chengdu, only 100km away from the epicenter of Monday’s deadly quake.

The chip plant was closed after the huge earthquake ripped up roads and tore down buildings, killing tens of thousands. Intel gave a statement saying that it was currently conducting a “seismic assessment” (Yep, that was definitely an earthquake alright), before dragging its traumatised employees back in to work.

"While the current situation is dynamic, we hope to resume operations as soon as possible pending the completion of a seismic assessment of our facilities and restoration of infrastructure in the region," read the statement.

To be fair, Intel is being put under quite a bit of pressure from Quanta computer and Compal electronics, who both seem to have a good dose of the shakes themselves, as they worry about how their supplies will be affected by the disaster. After all, Chipzilla does supply around 80 percent of the global computer market with central processing chips.

However, seeing as Intel’s Chengdo plant was a relatively small one, and that Quanta and Compal make up around 60 per cent of the world’s entire laptop market, it seems a bit far fetched that either one should be overly stressed.

Reuters reports that Chinese local media said that Intel has already contacted Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE), Amkor and Siliconware to help them pick up the slack.

Intel could hardly have been more sensitive if it had yelled “get out from under all that rubble and get back to packaging chips, you lazy layabouts”. Truly compassionate. µ

L’Inq Reuters