An earthquake with a magnitude of up to 6.4 was recorded in southern Taiwan this morning, forcing TSMC and UMC to evacuate staff from their factories in the southern and central parts of the island. As TSMC representatives noted, there was no structural damage to the buildings, all employees are safe, and local businesses have now resumed operations.
Image Source: TSMC
At the TSMC facilities that were evacuated, the premises are being inspected and possible damage assessed, but no damage has been reported yet. In such cases, some of the products are often damaged, since an emergency shutdown of the equipment leads to its rejection, but it will take some time to analyze the possible consequences. Power and water supply lines required for TSMC’s operations were not damaged by the earthquake.
UMC, which also produces chips for contractors at its events in Taiwan, also evacuated employees, but did not report any possible material losses. In total, at least 27 people were injured in the earthquake in southern Taiwan, and about 30,000 households were left without electricity for several hours. Until recently, up to 92% of chip production sites using advanced lithography technologies were concentrated in Taiwan. This region is prone to earthquakes and hurricanes, so thoughts about diversifying chip production by geography are beginning to occur to the current management of TSMC. In addition to the USA, the company’s new enterprise has begun operations in Japan, and another one is due to appear in Germany.