Chinese supply lines show shoots of recovery

It’s easy to forget that while the West is closing down and putting itself into hibernation to beat Coronavirus, China has been going through the nightmare since thew New Year.

“The supply chains are all coming back. That is not our real issue. 

As some of their large provinces begin to emerge from lockdown, while it would be a stretch to suggest things are back to normal, there are some thankful signs that some form of recovery and normality is taking place.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told CNBC, “The supply chains are all coming back. That is not our real issue. I think the bigger issue is what happens in Europe, the United States and other developed markets in the demand side going forward. But we feel good about where we are.”

Nadella was responding to whether the situation could hit deadlines for the new Xbox Series X console as well as new Surface models – a scenario he couldn’t confirm wouldn’t be the case. It certainly seems unlikely with the upheaval that knock-on effects have to be felt somewhere – even if the supply chain is working as needed, there is still the question of whether people will be able to actually go and buy the hardware, or even that shops will be open to sell it.

Meanwhile, Nvidia CFO Colette Kress has gone on record saying there has actually been an increased demand for laptops in China – fed mainly by people being forced to work at home and that this increase in demand has actually allowed the company to see a profit in the mobile GPU market.

These are indeed strange times.