Taiwan's recent quake may lead to significant wafer losses for major semiconductor exporter TSMC.
Taiwan TSMC logo. /Courtesy of AP News Agency
The world's largest foundry (semiconductor contract manufacturing) corporation, TSMC, has reportedly suffered greater damage from the recent magnitude 6.4 earthquake in southern Taiwan than from the previous year’s magnitude 7.2 quake in April. There are projections that the number of damaged wafers could exceed 60,000 in the future.
Taiwanese media, including China Times, reported on the 24th, citing sources, that the damage situation at the TSMC factory within the Southern Taiwan Science Park (Nankang) due to the magnitude 6.4 earthquake that struck the Tainan region on the 21st is more serious than expected.
The sources said that damage occurred to about 30,000 wafers at the 14 fabs (semiconductor manufacturing plants) producing 12-inch wafer products and 18 fabs. They added that the wafer damage at 14 fabs, which produce mature process semiconductors, is more severe than that at 18 fabs, which produce advanced 3-nanometer (1 nanometer is one billionth of a meter) and 5-nanometer process products, predicting that the total damage could exceed 60,000 wafers.
Earlier, the Taiwan Economic News predicted that the damage to TSMC's wafers would be between 10,000 and 20,000 units due to the earthquake, but the possibility of greater damage has been raised. The wafers produced from the 3-nanometer and 5-nanometer processes at Nankang are supplied to companies such as Nvidia, AMD, and Intel.
TSMC announced that most of its factories were normalized the previous day, although some production lines are still under recovery. Following the earthquake, TSMC evacuated factory workers in the central and southern regions of Taiwan as a precautionary measure. TSMC estimated that its total profit margin for the second quarter of the previous year dropped by about 0.5 percentage points due to the magnitude 7.2 earthquake in April.
biz.chosun.com

Taiwan TSMC logo. /Courtesy of AP News Agency
The world's largest foundry (semiconductor contract manufacturing) corporation, TSMC, has reportedly suffered greater damage from the recent magnitude 6.4 earthquake in southern Taiwan than from the previous year’s magnitude 7.2 quake in April. There are projections that the number of damaged wafers could exceed 60,000 in the future.
Taiwanese media, including China Times, reported on the 24th, citing sources, that the damage situation at the TSMC factory within the Southern Taiwan Science Park (Nankang) due to the magnitude 6.4 earthquake that struck the Tainan region on the 21st is more serious than expected.
The sources said that damage occurred to about 30,000 wafers at the 14 fabs (semiconductor manufacturing plants) producing 12-inch wafer products and 18 fabs. They added that the wafer damage at 14 fabs, which produce mature process semiconductors, is more severe than that at 18 fabs, which produce advanced 3-nanometer (1 nanometer is one billionth of a meter) and 5-nanometer process products, predicting that the total damage could exceed 60,000 wafers.
Earlier, the Taiwan Economic News predicted that the damage to TSMC's wafers would be between 10,000 and 20,000 units due to the earthquake, but the possibility of greater damage has been raised. The wafers produced from the 3-nanometer and 5-nanometer processes at Nankang are supplied to companies such as Nvidia, AMD, and Intel.
TSMC announced that most of its factories were normalized the previous day, although some production lines are still under recovery. Following the earthquake, TSMC evacuated factory workers in the central and southern regions of Taiwan as a precautionary measure. TSMC estimated that its total profit margin for the second quarter of the previous year dropped by about 0.5 percentage points due to the magnitude 7.2 earthquake in April.

TSMC estimates 60,000 damaged wafers after Taiwan's 6.4 magnitude earthquake
TSMC estimates 60,000 damaged wafers after Taiwans 6.4 magnitude earthquake Taiwans recent quake may lead to significant wafer losses for major semiconductor exporter TSMC.

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