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[News] 6.4 Magnitude Earthquake Hits Southern Taiwan, TSMC Evacuates Factories, Impact Under Review
A 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck southern Taiwan early Tuesday, at 12:17 a.m., raising concerns about its impact on foundry giant TSMC. According to Commercial Times, the Economic Daily News and Reuters, TSMC evacuated staff from its central and southern Taiwan facilities, ensuring all employees were safe.
The reports, citing TSMC, notes that the extent of the impact is currently under assessment.
Notably, TSMC’s fab 18 in the Southern Taiwan Science Park is a key production site for its advanced nodes, featuring 3nm.
The quake, which was also felt in Taipei, caused buildings to shake shortly after midnight. With a depth of 9.4 km, it was centered in Dapu Township, Chaiyi, Southern Taiwan. Nearby fabs include TSMC’s Fab8, Fab14, Fab18, and UMC’s Fab12A in Tainan, as well as TSMC Fab15 in Taichung.
According to TSMC, the largest tremor recorded at its fabs in the Southern Taiwan Science Park was level 5, while the Central Taiwan Science Park recorded a level 4 tremor. The fabs in the Hsinchu Science Park, including those in Longtan and Zhunan, experienced a level 3 tremor.
As its fabs in the Central and Southern Taiwan Science Parks met evacuation thresholds, the company implemented emergency response procedures, evacuating personnel indoors and outdoors, and is conducting safety checks, as highlighted by a Technews report.
According to the Economic Daily, since most of TSMC’s equipment is designed with anti-vibration features, significant damage is not expected. However, the prolonged shaking raises concerns about potential equipment misalignment, requiring shutdowns for repositioning and recalibration before restarting, the report adds.
On the other hand, industry insiders cited by Commercial Times revealed that following the earthquake, supply chain partners and engineers across Taiwan have been mobilized to TSMC’s facilities in Central and Southern Taiwan Science Parks to conduct recovery efforts, aiming to restore production as soon as possible.
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(Photo credit: TSMC)
