According to Reuters experts, in the areas of Seoul and Tokyio, the increasing of employees working from home to help slow the spread of the coronavirus, determines a demand surging for laptops and network peripherals as well as components along the supply chain such as chips, as companies rush to build virtual offices.
“Many firms – it is written in the Reuters website – have withdrawn earnings forecasts, anticipating a drop in consumer demand and economic slump, but performance at electronics retailers and chipmakers is hinting at benefits from the shift in work culture.
Over the past month, governments and companies globally have been advising people to stay safe indoors. Over roughly the same period, South Korea – home of the world’s biggest memory chip maker, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS) – on Monday reported a 20% jump in semiconductor exports”. 
Analyst Park Sung-soon at Cape Investment & Securities also explained that: “With more people working and learning from home during the outbreak, there has been rising demand for internet services … meaning data centers need bigger pipes to carry the traffic”
A South Korean trade ministry official told Reuters that cloud computing has boosted sales of server chips, “while an increase in telecommuting in the United States and China has also been a main driver of huge server demand.”
Reuter also indicates some interesting example of companies and sectors trends in different countries.
In Japan, laptop maker Dynabook reported brisk demand which it partly attributed to companies encouraging teleworking, while Australian electronics retailer JB Hifi Ltd (JBH.AX) also said it saw demand “acceleration” in recent weeks from both commercial and retail customers for “essential products they need to respond to and prepare” for the virus, such as devices that support remote working as well as home appliances.
China is leading chip demand, analysts said, as cloud service providers such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (BABA.N), Tencent Holdings Ltd (0700.HK) and Baidu Inc (BIDU.O) quickly responded to the government’s effort to contain the virus.
