Dell, HP to Face Notebook Battery Shortage After LG Chem Fire

The recent fire that devastated LG Chem's battery production unit in Ochang on March 3rd triggered a battery shortage in the notebook PC industry. The company is the second biggest South Korean battery manufacturer and supplies its parts to major notebook vendors such as Dell and Hewlett-Packard.

In order to fight the tight battery supply, Dell had to artificially increase pricing for its separately sold batteries. Another affected industry player is Asustek, who had to delay its upcoming 9-inch Eee PC sub-notebook until the battery supply goes back on track.

Dell officials refused to detail upon the company's revenue in selling standalone battery packs, although it is believed that the short supply won't affect the vendor's revenue.

"We sell battery packs. The prices of those battery packs for people ordering extra batteries have gone up," Dell spokesman Jess Blackburn said. "The company is not commenting on what impact, if any, that this is having on the prices of our products," Blackburn continued.

LG Chem used to compete with Samsung SDI and Sony on the notebook battery market. The company expects to resume production at the Ochang facility in two to three months. In the meantime, Dell will look for alternative partners to keep the batteries rolling.

"Pricing is being impacted by current availability. But we are working with our partners throughout our supply chain to reduce the impact on our customers," concluded Dell's Blackburn.

Hewlett-Packard, world's number one notebook vendor seems to be facing the same problem. However, the company already announced that it is currently in talks with other battery manufacturers to fight supply shortages.

"The full extent of the impact to HP and other OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) is still being determined," claimed HP spokesman Mike Hockey. "We are aggressively working within the battery cell industry to secure additional supply of battery cells," he continued.