But the impact of even a small number of disruptions to supply chains can be highly significant, particularly for the Asia-Pacific region. Consider Renesas Electronics, a medium-size company, with ¥150 billion ($1.9 billion) in annual sales, which accounts for more than half of worldwide production of essential micro-computing components for automobiles.
但即便是供应链的其中一个小环节受损，所造成的影响都可能极为严重——分布在亚太地区的产业链尤甚。以日本瑞萨电子为例，这个年销售额1500亿日元（约合19亿美元）的中型企业负责为汽车提供某个必不可少的微电脑部件，供应量占全球一半以上。由于该企业受灾，丰田汽车5月初的产能利用率下降了超过50%。