Japanese Earthquake affects LED supply chain?

The trickle-down effect of the Japanese Earthquake recently is just NOW starting to be felt by the electronic industry. I received a call from a customer I had previoulsy done a design using Nichia NESL064A . He is asking for help to redesign using other manufacturers of  LEDs due to 6 month delivery schedule. Of course, semiconductor facilities close to Fukujima suffered some devastating losses and may be down for months:  Renasis lost half of it factories, Hitachi is causing severe automotive component shortages, TI lost its DLP “cash cow” production, etc.

But what about companies away from the epicenter like Nichia? On their website    (http://www.nichia.co.jp/en/about_nichia/2011/2011_031802.html), Nichia has the following statement:

• There have been no damages to our equipment and buildings.
•  Meanwhile, in the affected areas, the unprecedented earthquake had a great impact on essential services and industries. (We have been struggling to make contact with some of the companies doing business with us in the aftermath of the earthquake.) 
• One of our critical issues is to understand the current situation (i.e. availability of major raw materials, components and parts) of our suppliers in the affected areas. We will continue to provide updates as new information becomes available.

So even IF your supplier’s factory is intact and undamaged, THEY may have problems getting RAW MATERIALS from THEIR suppliers in Japan. Japan has long been recognized for its high quality silicon and gallium wafers and other raw materials.