Apple Suppliers Took an $18 Billion Stock Hit After the China Hacking Report
Barrons
By Al Root
Updated Oct. 5, 2018 4:45 a.m. ETThursdays report from Bloomberg Businessweek that Chinese chips were installed in the hardware of companies like Apple and Amazon.com could have significant implications for tech supply chains.
Consider: Apple (ticker: AAPL) is a $1 trillion company, and its hardware supply chain amounts to another trillion or so in market cap. Those companies have about $1 trillion in assets listed on the books. Though its difficult to get precise numbers, Apples suppliers domiciled outside Southeast Asia probably own about $300 billion in assets there.
For instance, Intel (INTC) lists 15% of assets in other locations outside of the U.S., Europe, and Israel. Presumably, those assets are in Southeast Asia, but Intels filings dont provide the details. If the security zeitgeist begins to require more technology production to be done in the U.S., the implied shift in capital spending by the region could be material.
The market, however, has taken just $18 billion or so in value from the hardware suppliers since the story broke earlier today, with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM), down 3.5% to $42.43, among the hardest hit. To put that in perspective, Equifax (EFX) remains down about 12% from its all-time high, presumably because of the impact from its September 2017 data breach.
There are good reasons not to jump to conclusions. Apple and Amazon (AMZN) are denying the reports, and the market might be having a difficult time pinpointing whos to blame. Its not entirely clear which point of the chain was breached and just how much it will hurt suppliers. We can also envision a scenario where this hack turns into a bargaining chip for the U.S. during trade negotiations with China. Still, that less-than-2% stock value hit could be too small, given the implications of the news.
There are still more questions than answers. But the issue is sure to become a hot topic during the coming third-quarter earnings season.
If this is fake news, its a massively impactful story that will cause major lawsuits.