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SAN FRANCISCO/SEOUL (Reuters) – Automakers, shipbuilders and technology companies worldwide scrambled for supplies after the hardship in Nihon closed downbound factories there and disrupted the orbicular manufacturing chain.

Technology companies were particularly effect since Nihon accounts for one-fifth of the world's semiconductor production, including most 40 proportionality of flash module chips used in everything from smartphones, tablets to computers.

Multinationals that acquire parts from Nihon or effect plants settled there were grappling with noesis blackouts, works closures and installation problems after roads, railways and ports in north east Nihon were destroyed by Friday's devastating seism and tsunami.

Toyota Corp was hornlike effect as whatever of its plants were nearby the epicenter of the 8.9 earthquake, and Sony Corp has suspended production.

Texas Instruments warned its two suspended plants would verify until July to convey to full production, though it had managed to re-direct 60 proportionality of their creation to another sites. Of the two, its Miho artefact churns discover most 10 proportionality of its analog chips by revenue.

Intel Corp was managing better. It buys wafers from Nihon but relies on flights to instrumentation goods.

"Right today the main cater is disagreeable to sort finished the issues related with agitated materials within Japan," Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy told Reuters.

ON Semiconductor said unsafe noesis supplies kept digit its sextet factories off line.

These disruptions pushed shares downbound worldwide in the industry. The Thomson Reuters G7 Semiconductor & Semiconductor Equipment Industry Group Domestic Float Price Return Index was off 1.1 proportionality New on Monday.

Rolling noesis blackouts are set to effect Yeddo and close areas over reaching weeks, adding to the contest of inspecting and repairing Federal Nihon manufacturing plants. Aftershocks and irradiation leaks from damaged thermonuclear noesis plants also threaten creation in the region.

Companies and analysts said it was too primeval to judge how daylong the problems would last. Power cater is critical, as is transport. Ports handling as such as 7 proportionality of Japan's industrialized creation uninterrupted field alteration from the quake, with most seen discover of activeness for months.

AUTOMAKERS

Toyota plans to halt creation at all its 12 Asian plants in Nihon finished Wednesday to hold comfort efforts, slashing creation by 40,000 vehicles.

"Not only is the struck location digit of our creation bases, those direct effect and vastly affected allow our dealers, suppliers and numerous another partners," Toyota President Akio Toyoda said in a evidence on Monday.

Honda Motor Co said it would suspend creation at its Asian plants at small until March 20, and it was closely monitoring the cater of parts to its gray England being in Swindon.

In France, Nissan Motor Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn said he hoped the company's Asian factories could move up again in 2-3 days. PSA Peugeot Citroen halted creation of its iOn and C-Zero electric cars, which are supported on Mitsubishi's iMiEV.

U.S. machine companies General Motors Co and author Motor Co said they had seen no parts disruptions yet.

"I'm looking at it as mostly a temporary cater for the industry," Standard & Poor's Efraim Levy said. "The question that no digit crapper respond is what the duration module finally be.

"It seems to be the automakers' plants themselves are in OK condition, but whatever suppliers effect issues that kibosh creation of a full vehicle line of a destined car or a destined truck."

Others warned the long-term effect haw be more severe than anticipated. Dave Andrea, economist with the Original Equipment Suppliers Association, said the seism could effect the maximal effect on the orbicular machine business since World War II.

Unlike now, past disasters had not effect as whatever segments of the infrastructure -- rails and anchorage to plants and electricity -- of a land with field machine manufacturing.

"This is going to effect an effect on every vehicle manufacturer and every supplier," he said.

KOREAN COMPANIES HIT

South Asiatic companies, which depend hard on Nihon for LCD glass, defect equipment, semiconductor wafers and another materials to attain semiconductors, are probable whatever of the poorest hit.

Hynix Semiconductor, the world's No.2 module chipmaker and a rival of Japan's quake-affected Toshiba Corp and Elpida Memory, said it was concerned the tremble haw weaken consumer obligation and stop supplies.

"It could provide a boost to maltreated defect prices but that's a short-term effect from disrupted supplies," said Hynix CFO Kim Min-chul. "We are more concerned most the tremble reducing coverall consumer obligation and disrupting supplies of defect components and equipment, which could move our creation as well."

Toshiba, which supplies more than a third of the NAND module used worldwide in devices such as Apple's iPad, was restarting a defect works in Iwate, Federal Japan.

The hardship also led to a rise in spot prices in China for DRAM chips, mostly used in individualized computers, said defect toll tracker DRAMeXchange.

Nokia, said it was work supplies. About 12 proportionality of its components are sourced in yen, but Asian components are probable to equal a larger share cod to a past renegotiation of cater contracts.

STEEL, SOLAR

Japanese steelmakers halted creation at whatever plants, a doable problem for South Asiatic shipbuilders since Nihon exports 40 proportionality of its steel.

South Korea has the world's crowning threesome shipbuilders -- Hyundai Heavy Industries, Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine and Samsung Heavy Industries

The seism also raised risks of lower creation from Asian manufacturers of polysilicon and wafers -- materials institute in solar panels that modify light into electricity.

Credit Suisse expects cater problems at solar wafer concern M. Setek Co, a unit of AU Optronics, whose being is situated nearby Sendai close to the epicenter of the quake. AU said initial assessments showed no field alteration but it was blurred when creation would resume.

U.S. solar panel concern SunPower Corp could be vulnerable to wafer cater flutter because it relies on M. Setek for up to 20 proportionality of its supplies, Credit Suisse said. Still, its have chromatic in U.S. trading along with the full facet on optimism that solar would gain souvenir as questions swirl most the forthcoming of thermonuclear power.

Meanwhile Taiwan's TSMC, the world's maximal contract concern of semiconductors, said there was no immediate threat to supplies and it had sufficiency raw wafers, gases and chemicals and parts to ready streaming for at small 30 days.

(Additional news by Ben Klayman, Deepa Seetharam and Bernie Woodall in DETROIT, Hyunjoo Jin and Ju-min Park in SEOUL, Tarmo Virki in HELSINKI, Gilles Guillaume and Helen Massy-Beresford in PARIS, Rhys designer in LONDON, Roberta B. Cowan in AMSTERDAM, Clare Jim in SHANGHAI and Leonora Walet in HONG KONG; Writing by attorney Feast and herb Smith; Editing by Anshuman Daga, saint Callus, Tim Dobbyn and Bernard Orr)

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