A Huawei Supplier Explains How It Plans to Survive Trump's Ban
- Taiyo Yuden gets less than 10% of revenue from Huawei: CEO
- Demand for its condensers outstrips supply as cars go electric
Among the thousands of companies that supply the Chinese communications giant Huawei Technologies Co. is a virtually unknown Japanese company called Taiyo Yuden Co. When President Donald Trump targeted Huawei on May 16, the company’s stock plunged as much as 10%, wiping out the gains from record earnings and a share buyback just days earlier.
Chief Executive Officer Shoichi Tosaka isn’t happy about this: He contends investors got it wrong. In an interview in Tokyo, he explained that Taiyo Yuden gets less than 10% of sales from Huawei and his company will be able to replace any lost revenue easily because of chronic shortages. Demand for its capacitors -- microscopic components found by the hundreds in electronic devices -- outstrips supply by such a margin that it would have no problem finding other buyers.