Did the Taiwanese earthquake affect the production line of TSMC, the world's largest semiconductor manufacturing company?


by

Lee Ji-lin

On April 3, 2024, a magnitude 7.2 earthquake occurred off the eastern coast of Taiwan. Landslides caused major damage, including leaning buildings, mainly in eastern Taiwan, and TSMC, a semiconductor foundry based in Taiwan, also suffered damage.

TSMC Evacuates Factory Areas After Taiwan Earthquake, Tsunami Warning - Bloomberg
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-04-03/tsmc-evacuates-production-lines-after-major-taiwan-quake



TSMC resumes chip production following biggest earthquake in 25 years — began no damage to its critical tools | Tom's Hardware

https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/tsmc-resumes-chip-production-following-biggest-earthquake-in-25-years-incurred-no-damage-to-its-critical-tools

TSMC “still assessing” chipmaking facilities after 7.4-magnitude quake hits Taiwan | Ars Technica
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2024/04/tsmc-still-assessing-chipmaking-facilities-after-7-4-magnitude-quake-hits-taiwan/

The earthquake that occurred this time was the second largest earthquake after the 1999 921 earthquake , which had a magnitude of 7.6, and reportedly killed nine people and injured more than 1,000 people within 24 hours after the earthquake occurred.

In response to the earthquake, TSMC temporarily suspended its manufacturing operations, but reported that, although damage to some equipment was confirmed, there was almost no damage to important equipment.

A statement from TSMC, shared by Wen Yi Lee, a semiconductor journalist based in Taipei, said: 'To ensure the safety of our employees, we initiated an evacuation in accordance with our internal procedures, and now everyone is safe and has begun returning to work. 'Details have not yet been confirmed, but in the interest of safety, we have decided to suspend work at manufacturing sites across Taiwan and restart after inspection.'




According to the Central Meteorological Office of Taiwan's Ministry of Transportation , a seismic intensity of 5 or higher was observed in Chunan, where TSMC's factory is located in northwestern Taiwan, 4 on the Richter scale in Otake, and 3 to 5 on the Richter scale in Taichung and Tainan. According to Taiwan's scale , an earthquake with an intensity of 5 or higher is considered to be 'so much so that almost everyone feels fear and panic, making it difficult to move around.'



TSMC is a company that manufactures semiconductors for numerous technology companies such as Apple, NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel, and if it had suffered major damage, the manufacturing of each product could have been significantly delayed. .

TSMC said, ``Our company has extensive experience and capabilities in earthquake response and disaster prevention, and we regularly conduct safety drills to ensure full preparedness. The recovery rate for the wafer hub was over 70%, and the recovery rate for the new wafer hub was over 80%. Although some equipment was damaged and production lines were affected, including extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography equipment. There was no damage to any major machinery.'



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