Taiwan quake affects TSMC manufacturing

Silicon wafers have been damaged during an earthquake in Taiwan, according to Apple Inc supplier Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd.

Apple Inc supplier Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC) said silicon wafers were damaged at a plant in southern Taiwan where a quake hit, affecting no more than one per cent of first-quarter shipments.

The world's biggest contract chipmaker has one of its largest and latest 12-inch wafer production facilities in the city of Tainan, where a 6.4-magnitude tremor early on Saturday led to the collapse of a 17-storey building and at least seven deaths.

TSMC, whose customers also include Qualcomm Inc, is so far the only major Apple supplier in southern Taiwan to report damage from the earthquake. Acting spokeswoman Elizabeth Sun said wafers in the process of manufacture were seen broken.

"Damage to wafers in progress remains under assessment, but TSMC's initial estimate is that more than 95 per cent of the tools can be fully restored to normal in two to three days," the chipmaker said in a statement.

"The company ... does not expect the earthquake to affect first quarter 2016 wafer shipments by more than one per cent. TSMC will soon notify affected customers and will recover any lost production as soon as possible."

Staff were safe and the firm's Tainan facilities were structurally intact, Sun said.

"We will increase production activity," she said.

Catcher Technology Co Ltd, which makes casings for Apple's iPhones, iPads and MacBooks, said its Tainan manufacturing facilities were not damaged by the quake.

Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (ASE), which tests chips before they reach device assemblers, said operations in Kaohsiung, 50 km south, were also unaffected.

Analysts said ASE supplies components for iPhone fingerprint sensors as well as for the Apple Watch.


Share
2 min read

Published

Updated

Source: AAP


Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world
Taiwan quake affects TSMC manufacturing | SBS News