TSMC and other major Taiwanese semiconductor foundries appear to have escaped relatively unscathed after the biggest earthquake in 25 years caused havoc across the East Asian country.
While chip production was momentarily halted, TSMC said it expects to resume production tonight. Smaller Taiwan-based chipmakers including United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) have also momentarily halted production.
“There is no damage to our critical tools including all of our extreme ultraviolet lithography tools,” TSMC said, although a “small number of tools” were damaged in the 7.2-magnitude quake.
Nine people are believed to have been killed in the disaster, though up to 100 remain trapped in collapsed buildings and tunnels.
Bloomberg analysts said “the robust demand for the firm’s advanced node processes will cushion any financial effects” from the earthquake, although there are concerns over a short-term interruption in manufacturing processes.
“Some of the high-end chips need 24/7 seamless operations in a vacuum state for a few weeks… Operation halts in Taiwan’s northern industrial areas could mean some high-end chips in production may be spoiled,” said analysts.
Wedbush analysts also suggested a negligible impact from the earthquake.
They stated: “With the earthquake's epicenter on the east coast, the impact on the semiconductor industry appears less significant.
“TSMC and UMC both noted production was halted at certain facilities, while Micron noted it is evaluating its supply chain and operations (65% of MU's DRAM output comes from its Taichung fab).”
TSMC shares have remained resilient in the face of the disaster, with the stock dipping 1.3% on Wednesday.