Chinese city’s lockdown risks chip shortages, Micron says | Coronavirus pandemic

Leading chip supplier warns stringent restrictions in Xian are increasingly difficult to work around.

Micron Technology Inc said on Wednesday a COVID-19 lockdown in the Chinese city of Xian would lead to delays in the supply of its DRAM memory chips, which are widely used in data centres.

Micron, one of the world’s biggest memory chip suppliers, said the stringent restrictions, which went into effect earlier this month, may be increasingly difficult to mitigate and had resulted in thinner staffing levels at its manufacturing site.

Chinese officials have imposed tough curbs on travel within and leaving Xian from December 23, in line with Beijing’s drive to immediately contain outbreaks as they appear.

“We are tapping our global supply chain, including our subcontractor partners, to help service our customers for these DRAM products,” Micron said in a blog post.

“We project that these efforts will allow us to meet most of our customer demand, however, there may be some near-term delays as we activate our network,” the company said.

Micron added that it was working to minimize the risk of virus transmission and had employed measures, including physical distancing and on-site testing, and was encouraging vaccination.