Battery Shortage Drives Up Prices and Causes Shipment Delays

A worldwide recall of about 8 million laptop batteries using lithium-ion cells made by Sony creates a battery shortage that’s driving up prices and causes delays in shipments, Bloomberg.com reports according to executives from Taiwanese manufacturers.

The notebook battery shortage may last until next June and customers are waiting an extra two months for shipments, said managers at manufacturers which make battery packs from cells supplied by companies such as Sony, Sanyo and others.

It is reported that prices for battery cells have risen for about 15 percent in the past three months because of the shortage. More increases may come this quarter, according to Cheng Uei Precision Industry, which supplies notebook batteries to Sony, Dell and HP.

“Prices will increase around 10 percent in the fourth quarter,” said Linda Ho, a sales manager at Cheng Uei. The company is facing a shortage of battery cells, she said, without giving details.

Sony currently replaces batteries used in notebooks sold by large notebook vendors, such as Dell, Apple, Lenovo, Toshiba, Fujitsu and others. The largest laptop battery recall came after several fire incidents caused by overheated Sony-made lithium-ion battery cells.

Bloomberg.com