Regarding the timing of the crisis, the 921 Quake and the subsequent power outages occurred right in the middle of the busiest part of the year for Taiwanese firms as this is traditionally the Christmas season ramp up period. They claim however that this is a good thing for many companies as they had a lot of inventory on stock in preparation for this ramp up. Others are saying that their company is not in too much trouble as they have factories in China, but still many of the components must be sourced from factories in Central Taiwan that might have been damaged in the quake, but now must be sourced overseas. However, the Taiwan Electronic Manufacturer's Society records show that only 2.2% of their thousands of members are located in the main quake damage zone. It is actually possible as we have heard from some companies that just one little chip or connector sourced from these areas might be either holding up shipments or its price rising so high that it causes the price of the end product to rise. Thus, it doesn't matter if a company has large assembly lines in China. I have been informed by more than one motherboard manufacturer that prices will rise or have already risen from 3% to 10%. This scenario is repeated again for CDROM drives which have seen a rise in prices of US$5 already. Also, about 70% of the global CD-R discs are made in Taiwan, and smaller non-contractual clients will have to absorb a 5%-10% price rise here as well. It has also been reported that of course desktop PC prices are likely to rise as well as notebook PCs prices, but this could be due to continual increases in DRAM prices before and after the quake. HP has already admitted to being affected, and there are stories being written that DELL will likely suffer as well. However, it might be the smaller companies that will suffer the most in the USA and Europe, as they may have to wait longer for their shipments than say DELL or HP. Although the price rise of motherboards and graphic cards, or CD-ROM drives may be marginal, this combined with the continual rise in DRAM prices will surely affect the consumers sooner or later, if not already.

Besides 13,000 buildings being demolished, the 921 Quake also destroyed the main power line linking Southern Taiwan power stations to Northern Taiwan. Here is where it gets interesting. As mentioned above, it was reported a couple of days ago by the government of Taiwan, that the direct damage from the quake is actually much smaller than the loss to businesses in Northern Taiwan due to power rationing. What was all of this power rationing like for the Taipei area? Well there are reports that some employees of famous computer companies had to walk up 20 flights of stairs to get to work in the morning. Once they get to work many of them have to sweat in the dark without AC in tropical Taiwan trying to read the paper or look like they are being productive until the power gets cut on at 1:00PM. Others have to work late hours and also sit in the dark for 2 hours for the 6:00-8:00PM power outage. (Power was cut from 8am-1pm for some and from 1pm-6pm for others, then again from 6pm-8pm or 8pm to 10pm. While still other areas more intelligently had power on every other day.) Getting to work can be a hassle too as all of the traffic lights in some areas are out. All of this should be back to normal by October 10.

One benefit to all of this is that Taipei is looking more romantic at night as many of the brightly-lit restaurants have been transformed into candle-lit cafes. Also after your candle-lit dinner you can stroll around the dark streets and, you can actually see the stars in the skies over Taipei. If you have a Chinatown in your city you know how brightly lit everything is, this is completely magnified for a real Chinatown like Taipei, and it is incredibly strange to walk around candlelit streets which are usually bustling and brightly lit almost 24 hours a day.