Japan: Bismaleimide Shortage Lurks, Says FBR

FBR Capital’s Craig Berger today reiterated his positive view on several semiconductor makers, despite what he sees as a likely hit to the electronics supply chain from the disaster in Japan, including a potential shortage of image sensors, NAND flash memory chips, and touch-screen displays that could be bad enough to slow production of Apple’s iPad 2.

But the most intriguing part of Berger’s note is his report that Asian sources indicate a compound called “Bismaleimide Triazine Resin,” which is used in the packaging of many chips, could be constrained given that most of the supply comes from Japan’s Mitsubishi Gas Chemical. A shortage of BT resin would hurt Xilinx, which is “50 percent exposed,” he writes, Altera, which has 40 percent exposure, and Qualcomm which has 30 percent exposure.

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