Brads Electronic Projects Forum

Nearly 25 percent of the world's semiconductor production capacity is in Japan, and more than 60 percent of the silicon wafers that semiconductor chips are created from are made in Japan, according to a March 24 report from Objective Analysis.

Renesas, the world's largest producer of microcontrollers, formed from the former Hitachi, Mitsubishi and NEC semiconductor operations, has six or seven facilities that have been hard hit or shut down.

Starnes said that Texas Instruments has reported sustained physical damage to one of its fabs that will limit production, if not put it out of operation, for three to six months.