Land Of The Rising Core Temperature, Part 23

Another major aftershock rocked Japan yesterday, knocking Sony and other chipmakers offline in Northern Japan again as the nation's power grid suffered another wave of rolling blackouts.

The stoppages are the latest blow to manufacturers, who had hoped to quickly restore supply chains after the devastating earthquake and tsunami last month savaged the region and halted distribution.

"It (an earthquake) could happen again and that means you can't really proceed with reconstruction," said Yuuki Sakurai, CEO of Fukoku Capital Management, adding that many firms were hesitant as to how to proceed.

"They have to be very careful. They need thoughtful planning. They need to be doubly, triply solid against the next earthquake. So it will cost a lot and you have to consider whether it is worth rebuilding," he said.

Renesas, the world's largest maker of microcontroller chips and a supplier to the auto industry, said four plants in northern Japan, including two microcontroller factories, had been halted by the power blackout.

A company spokeswoman said it was not clear when manufacturing would resume, although power had been restored to one plant.

Japanese automakers however are eager to get production restarted.  The problem is that as Japanese production continues domestically, over here in the US, that means fewer parts available abroad and more chance of work stoppages.

Oh yes, and Japan is heading back into a major recession as a result of the triple whammy of the quake, the tsunami, and the continuing nuclear crisis.  Have a nice day.