Apple hopes to see a big jump in MacBook demand with launch of new models in June. The company is planning to see about 50% jump this year and plans to ship 16.24-19.2 million units compared to 12.79 million units in 2011, because of the new thinner and lighter MacBook models. According to DigiTimes, this increase in demand is causing labor shortage in upstream supply chain players. Aaron Lee wrote on DigiTimes:

As Apple's new MacBooks are expected to launch in the near future, related upstream supply chain players are reportedly facing labor shortages because of strong orders from Apple, while some supply chain makers are even outsourcing their orders to meet shipment schedules, according to sources from the upstream supply chain.

Component manufacturing plants in eastern China have been suffering from labor shortages for a long time, and although May and June are the IT industry's traditional slow season when shortage issues are usually not as significant, the strong orders from Apple's new MacBook are leaving many upstream makers unable to satisfy demand. The MacBook supply chain started delivering products in April with shipments for chassis seeing obvious growth in May.

It is rumored that Apple will announce the new MacBook Pro lineup at WWDC 2012 on June 11, along with next generation OS X Mountain Lion and iOS 6. June is going to be a big month for Apple with WWDC and new hardware launches.