TSMC bounces back after Taiwan earthquake — top chipmaker says its production is already back up to speed, despite devastating quake
70 to 80% of TSMC’s machinery was back online within 10 hours
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On Wednesday, 3 April, the strongest earthquake to strike Taiwan in 25 years killed at least nine people and injured or trapped hundreds more. The 7.4 magnitude quake was followed by more than 200 aftershocks, dozens of which were at least 6.5 magnitude or stronger.
Taiwan, which frequently experiences earthquakes due to its position on the Pacific Ring of Fire, produces 80-90% of high-end chips for advanced applications like smartphones and AI. Although the epicenter of the huge quake was on the eastern side of Taiwan, in Hualien County, it was strong enough to be felt in the capital Taipei about 90 miles south. This led to TSMC, the main contract chipmaker forApple,NvidiaandAMD, evacuating workers and suspending operations.
While it was feared this could have severe repercussions for the global smartphone industry, the firm was quick to alleviate concerns.
No major damage
In a statement issued late on the day of the quake and reported byBloomberg, TSMC said, “There is no damage to our critical tools, including all of our extreme ultraviolet lithography tools.”
A few toolsweredamaged at some facilities, but nothing to cause any significant delays. It is reported that 70 to 80% of TSMC’s machinery was back online within 10 hours of the earthquake hitting.
While TSMC may have got off lightly this time, concerns for the future remain.Tom’s Hardwarereports, “The quake came as governments worldwide have considered bringing chip production back home, and worry about consolidating production in a region that is both a potential military hot button and located near two tectonic plates. That’s part of why the United States has given massive CHIPS Act subsidies toInteland others to build and expand domestic fabs. TSMC is also building a U.S. fab in Arizona and is expecting over $5 billion in incentives.”
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Wayne Williams is a freelancer writing news for TechRadar Pro. He has been writing about computers, technology, and the web for 30 years. In that time he wrote for most of the UK’s PC magazines, and launched, edited and published a number of them too.
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