1 - 4 of 4 Posts. He was the co-founder of Pro Tools Expert and is now COO of Production Expert Ltd. On October 20, a fire began at the AKM manufacturing facility in Japan and grew out of control, ultimately burning for 82 hours before it was extinguished on October 23. Reply. AKM Factory Fire Could Affect Supply Of A to D And D to A Convertors For At Least 12 Months We have become aware of a fire at the Asahi Kasei Microsystem (AKM) semiconductor factory in Nobeoka city in Japan on 20th October 2020. AKM was one of the best manufacturers of audio ICs in the world, in particular, A/D and D/A converters. Nobeoka City is a historic industrial town on the coast of Japan’s southwestern main island and home to one of Asahi Kasei Microsystem’s (AKM) most important chip manufacturing facilities. In the wake of a massive three-day fire at the Nobeoka City factory of semiconductor producer Asahi Kasei Microsystems (AKM), pro-audio manufacturers around the globe are now facing anticipated shortages of crucial DAC and ADC chips used in their products." Modi, Modius, Fulla, Hel are all pretty AKM-centric. AKM Factory Fire—A Pro-Audio Industry Disaster “I still have close to zero information as far as the AKM prognosis is concerned,” said Chris Hollebone, sales and marketing manager at … Same form factor. Top audio brands such as Denon, Marantz, Anthem, Onkyo and Tascam use AKM DAC’s in their AV receivers and processors. Wayde is a tech-writer and content marketing consultant in Canada s tech hub Waterloo, Ontario and Editorialist for Audioholics.com. The fire is reported to have burned for more than two days and caused extensive damage across multiple levels of the building. “Let our rigorous testing and reviews be your guidelines to A/V equipment – not marketing slogans”. Yes, the fragmented information we’re getting indicates that AKM will be out of the high-end DAC and SPDIF receiver chip business for a long time (some say 1 year, don’t take this as gospel.) Many of that community’s favorite DAC/Amps and DAPs for both stationary in-home and portable hi-fi headphone listening are likely to feel shortages in coming months. And now the after-market brokers are selling AKM parts at horrific mark-ups. Copyright (C) 2020, http://www.pro-tools-expert.com/default-image.jpg, Plug-in Subscription Plans - Free Calculator, Pro Tools Carbon - Hardware Product Of 2020 - Julian Rodgers' Choice, Audient EVO4 - Hardware Product Of 2020 - Audrey Martinovich's Choice, Avid MTRX - Hardware Product Of 2020 - James Richmond's Choice, AKM Factory Fire Could Affect Supply Of A to D And D to A Convertors For At Least 12 Months, Audio Interface - What Are The Important Things To Consider? The AKM factory in Japan has had a fire and there are early indications there will be no high end DAC chips made at AKM for 6-12months. The Aries II DAC is an R2R or ladder DAC that uses laser-trimmed resistors to do its digital to analog conversion. Beloved brands like Schiit, JDS Labs, SMSL, Topping, Monoprice and Fiio are all well-known for making excellent products that use AKM chips to bring high-end sound to headphones at a variety of price ranges. Only a week ago a pro-audio equipment manufacturer out of Germany, SPL released a new line of monitor controllers featuring AKM semiconductors, the Control One and Marc One, let's hope they've got plenty of stock in the pipeline, because it may be awhile before they're making new units. Asahi Kasei Microdevices (AKM) offer a variety of advanced sensing devices based on compound semiconductor technology and sophisticated IC products featuring analog/digital mixed-signal … We will be re-designing the ADC circuit in case AKM is not back by 4Q21, assuring no disruption in HV-316 shipments.”, We are also aware that Merging use chips made by AKM in their Horus, Hapi and Merging+Anibus products. However, considering that the ICs produced by AKM are not common processors, flash memory, memory, etc., it will not affect the overall IC market, but there may be price increases and shortages in specific industries, including the pro-audio sector. A good thing. semiconductor factory in Nobeoka City, on October 20th. Firefighters battled the factory inferno that raged all the way to October 23rd. Having been long-time partners and personal friends with the AKM team in North America and in Japan, we sympathize with AKM as they work through this challenge. But…we’re also pretty paranoid about stocking. The Shanling M8 is a flagship digital audio player featuring a dual AKM AK4499EQ DAC, up to 840mW of power, and interchangeable headphone sockets. Meanwhile, the firefighters had to protect themselves against a strong gaseous chemical believed to be hydrogen chloride created by burning electrical cables. On the second straight day of struggle, another fire ignited elsewhere in the building’s fifth floor as sections of the walls and roof collapsed into the factory. As reported in ProSound News on Thurs : (Thanks rmc001 for highlighting this.)" Most other DACs use a conversion architecture called Delta-Sigma modulation. This factory mainly produces large-scale integrated circuits (LSI) used in audio equipment, home appliances, TCXO oscillator, and other products. But sadly, the music could not be saved. The R2R conversion method is generally thought to produce better sound, but the claim is, as yet, still in dispute. Fire destroys AKM Semiconductor factory, Japan "Inside Imaging has been told that Canon, Nikon and Sony have already pulled back support for Black Friday promotions ‘as there will be a shortage of stock due to fire in (the) Japan factory,’ according to the source." The AKM fire broke out at the semiconductor manufacturing plant on Tuesday, October 20, and took three days to put out. And because it would likely take AKM many months to perhaps a year or more to recover – these product shortages were … Join the discussion. After a major fire destroyed the Asahi Kasei Microdevices (AKM) semiconductor factory in Nobeoka, Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan, the company still has to provide a report on the disruption that this major disaster will cause to its business, particularly affecting the supply of critical DAC and ADC chips that are used by many high-end audio and studio equipment manufacturers. Pro-audio manufacturers around the globe are now facing anticipated shortages of crucial DAC and ADC chips used in their products. The three-day fire broke out at the semiconductor factory in Nobeoka City, on October 20th. While plague ravages the lands a cosmic war seems to have broken out between two of the ancient elements that humankind relies on most, for it is a battle of Fire vs. Music. Top audio brands such as Denon, Marantz, Anthem, Onkyo and Tascam use AKM DAC’s in their AV receivers and processors. According to an eye witness… "White smoke is rising from the automatic door on the 4th floor." A conflagration burned the AKM factory in Japan more or less to the ground. Mike has worked with Pro Tools since the mid-90s recording, editing and mixing documentaries, comedy and drama for both radio and TV as well as doing the occasional music project. AKM is one of the world’s largest suppliers of DACs and ADCs used in everything from recording, sampling and creating music by artists and DJs, recording albums and even creating digital sound-effects and soundtracks in film. It took over 80 hours to totally extinguish the fire. I personally prefer R2R DACs but AKM chips are found in everything from AV receivers to SPDIF interfaces. On Tuesday, October 20th, a fire broke out at the AKM Semiconductor factory in Nobeoka-shi, Japan. AKM is one of the largest semiconductor manufacturers in the world thanks to its IC components, which are used by many hi-fi and cinema stereo system companies. The podcast was speculating that it could take a year for the factory to come back online. To quote directly from the article " The Nobeoka plant of AKM is known for the production of high-end DACs/ADCs IC components for superior audio devices. Nobeoka City is a historic industrial town on the coast of Japan’s southwestern main island and home to one of Asahi Kasei Microsystem’s (AKM) most important chip manufacturing facilities. But in the closing moments of Day 3, the firefighters had fully extinguished the blaze at around midnight of October 23rd, that’s a full 82 hours of war against a determined force of nature. AKM DAC chip factory burns for more than two days. Now, fire has struck again in an inferno that raged for three straight days crippling the digital realm by claiming an AKG audio-semiconductor factory. As a matter of fact this is the only DAC I can A/B against my other ones and I can actually hear a difference. Senior VP of Product Development from Sound United told Audioholics. AKM Group has said that it will try to escalate outsourcing to meet some of the demand for its parts, but there will be shortages in the kinds of specialized audio chips the company made at the plant. Damn you, FIRE! The AKM fire will have a massive impact on the supply of high end audio devices. The fire burned for over two days, reportedly, and caused damage to several levels of the building. Luckily, we have enough stock to last us for roughly one year of demand. Continue with Google. The fire at the record/vinyl production plant was more of a concern for me and my LP buying. or sign up … Millennia Media reported on their Facebook page…, “A shock to the professional and consumer audio industries -- the largest provider of audio ADC and DAC chips "AKM" has experienced a fire in their fab line. Save Share. Millennia’s equipment is so widely embedded into the industries that make sound that the company’s unofficial motto says: “Millennia has likely played a role in some of the music you’ve listened to today.”. Monolith is well-known among headphone aficionados for its accessories, like the legendary Monolith portable headphone DAC/Amp and is already warning customers about possible shipping delays for select products that feature AKM DACs. That picture is coming into clearer view, but still requires much due diligence. Let's remember that after the 2011 Japanese earthquake there was significant damage to our Shirakawa factory, yet we bounced back from that in short order. However, the fire will likely cause a ripple effect across the audio industry as it directly compromises the supply chain for pro-audio components and certain parts of consumer audio, especially in higher-end equipment. We saw one $5 AKM part being offered at $110 each.”. Further, we're in talks with multiple parties to better understand the longer-term effect on our product supply with an eye towards mitigating potential shortages in the future. We will see…. This from their website…. Now Jason has said they'll keep the Modi MB in the line up, until AKM is back up and running. Can 2020 get any worse? Okay, I'll admit it, I love that flame gives us grilled meat and I need its warmth in the winter, but I love music and fine audio too. Speaking about the devastation to his company’s supply chain in the wake of the AKG fire, Grou recently said: “Every AKM part we use—ADCs, DACs, ASRCs and Receivers—is made exclusively in the Nobeoka plant… Of course, all AKM audio parts immediately disappeared from front-line distributors [such as] Digikey, Mouser, etc. The AKM Group are reported as saying that they would increase outsourcing production to meet market demand. The whole industry may begin to see some shortages and price hikes. We are already aware that Millennia will be affected by the loss of the supply of chips made in the AKM plant. Part of the roof and walls collapsed after a fire broke out on the 5th floor of the building. One niche in the consumer audio industry that will be particularly hard-hit by a temporary loss of AKM parts is the one that serves high-end headphone enthusiasts. Hopefully like Millennia, brands have built up a stock of these specialist products, but with reports of a 12-month break in manufacturing, maybe other brands will follow Millennia’s lead and have to redesign products to get round their reliance on AKM chips. AKM Semiconductor, a subsidiary of Asahi Kasei Microdevices (AKM), is known for its IC manufacturing, specifically for its production of high-end DACs/ADCs IC components used in … The AKM fire broke out at the semiconductor … Coronavirus COVID-19: Will it Tank the Audio Industry? The Nobeoka plant is responsible for DAC … So, if you've been thinking about buying any audio products that are liable to carry AKM's DACs, you'd better check for available stock and act fast, it could be awhile before we see them return to stores. 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