Factory closures in Japan batter tech industry

Last week, chips that store 8 gigabytes of data — for digital cameras, smartphones and other devices — cost as little as $7.30 each on the spot market, where many manufacturers buy components. On Monday, the cost was around $10.

That price increase illustrates how the disaster in Japan has immediately affected the supply of all sorts of components used in consumer electronics and other products. The earthquake and tsunami there have damaged factories and disrupted the country's power and transportation infrastructure.

Factory closures are already creating problems in the tech industry. Toshiba, which produces roughly a third of the world's chips used to store data in cameras, smartphones and tablet computers, said Monday it had closed some factories and that its production would be affected.

Analysts said small companies in Japan, China and other Asian countries would bear the brunt of those price increases, as larger companies tend to have long-term contracts for parts. But even giants like Apple could be affected.

Over the last year, Apple has had a difficult time meeting demand for the iPad and the iPhone, and the new iPad 2, which went on sale Friday, sold out quickly.

"Toshiba, which is one of their suppliers, has been impacted, and I think it will create more of a challenge in meeting their demand," said Dale Ford, vice president for market intelligence at IHS iSuppli, a research firm.

Apple declined to comment.

At the same time, nearly all the world's automakers could be forced to halt production of some models in the weeks ahead if Japanese suppliers can't quickly resume making electronics or other parts, analysts said Monday.

Toyota and other Japanese automakers said they hoped to restart production at most of their domestic plants this week, but that they were still evaluating damage.

If shipments cannot be made, U.S. dealerships in the United States could start to run short of some small cars, hybrids and luxury models.