The earthquake in Japan on March 11th has caused unimaginable disruptions in power supply and problems in transportation of products

Japan is also the world’s largest supplier of silicon, used to make semiconductors; and the recent quake has affected the pricing of components like NAND flash memory chips.
Toshiba Corp. (6502), which makes flash-memory chips has stopped operations in five factories due to power shortages.
Source-Medindia