2nd UPDATE: Technology Companies Assess Japanese Quake Impact

Technology companies Friday were assessing the impact of the Japanese earthquake on component supplies and on their local plants, staff and sub-contractors, with no one reporting any serious damage or impact so far.

The 8.9-magnitude earthquake struck northern Japan, causing deaths and damage to the northeast and panic as far south as Tokyo, with an ensuing tsunami devastating coastal areas.

Japan is a major exporter of electronic goods and chips. The total global semiconductor market alone is worth around $298 billion, with Japan contributing around 24% to that total and Taiwan 30%, according to data from U.K.-based semiconductor market research firm Future Horizons. Japan exports half of the semiconductors it produces.

While major chip fabrication plants may not have been directly hit by the earthquake, any disruption caused by a power supply outage, for example, will mean "anything being processed at the time will definitely not be worthwhile," and will have to be discarded, said Future Horizons' Chief Executive Malcolm Penn. He said in such cases at least a day's production will be lost, and with inventory management very tight right now, that would cause "instant disruption" to supplies.

Penn noted that Japan is also a major supplier of micro-controllers to the automotive industry, which control electronic wing-mirrors, seat adjustment, engine function and anti-lock breaking systems.

Meanwhile, companies in the broader technology space were still coming to grips with the unfolding situation in Japan.

International Business Machines Corp. (Ibm) said some of its facilities in Japan suffered damage but that it was still too early to assess the full impact of the situation.

"There are no serious injuries being reported, and no reports of serious system outages," IBM spokesman Doug Shelton said. "But we don't have enough information to be more specific at this time."

Sony Ericsson, the joint mobile phone venture between Sony Corp. (SNE) and Swedish telecom equipment and services firm Telefon AB L.M. Ericsson (ERIC), said it is closely monitoring the situation in Japan but that so far there hadn't been any reports of major damage from its suppliers.

Ericsson, which has around 900 workers in Japan, said no damage had been reported to its buildings or facilities and its chief concern was the safety of its employees. Company spokesman Tobias Gyllenius said it will assess if there has been any impact on its operations.

Emc Corp. (EMC), a data-storage company with operations in Japan, said there are no reported injuries to local or traveling employees in Japan. The company said there has been "minor damage" to its Tokyo offices, but operations haven't been impacted.

Finnish mobile phone giant Nokia Corp. (NOK1V.HE) said the commercial impact on the business in terms of direct manufacture and component supplies is still being determined. It would be "inappropriate to speculate at this time," on the detailed impact, Nokia spokesman Tomi Kuuppelomaki told Dow Jones Newswires.

Nokia's direct presence in Japan consists of only a small number of administrative staff. It has no manufacturing units there but does source components from subcontractors in the country.

Xerox Corp. (XRX), which has a joint venture with Fujifilm Holdings Corp. (FUJIY, 4901.TO) in Japan, said it is still assessing the situation.

"We have not received any reports of safety concerns, injuries or damage to any facilities," the company said, noting most of Fuji Xerox's operations are in Tokyo and west of Tokyo. The northeast area of Japan is whether the earthquake and tsunami hit the hardest.

Eastman Kodak Co. (EK) said none of its employees have sustained injuries and the company is still assessing its operations. The company said it has some printing plate manufacturing operations in the region and employs about 100 people in Japan.

Chip maker Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) said it has a small operation containing less than 100 people in Tokyo that was evacuated following the earthquake. The company doesn't expect a direct impact from the conditions.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) said all of its employees are accounted for and its office operations were "unaffected" by the earthquake and tsunami.

ASML Holding NV (ASML.AE), which makes lithography systems that map out electronic circuits on silicon wafers, said it isn't affected by the earthquake.

U.K.-based telecommunications firm BT Group PLC (BT.A.LN) said it is working to get a small number of customer sites working again after they were damaged following the earthquake.

-By Ruth Bender, Dow Jones Newswires; +33 1 4017 1740; ruth.bender@dowjones.com

(Arild Moen in Helsinki, Jens Hansegard in Stockholm, Lilly Vitorovich and Adrian Kerr in London, Archibald Preuschat in Amsterdam and Steven Russolillo in New York contributed to this article.)