Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world's largest made-to-order chipmaker, said yesterday in a press statement that the company's operations in Hsinchu were unaffected by the quakes.
But at the company's Tainan site, TSMC said it had halted operation of several pieces of equipment to protect materials and to conduct inspections, but production lines quickly resumed.
Geologists have warned that more and perhaps stronger earthquakes may follow.
"The stratum [where the epicenter is located] has accumulated too much stress, and this is unusual," said Hongey Chen (陳宏宇), a geology professor at National Taiwan University. "The stress has now been released. What concerns us is that it might induce a hidden source of energy inside the layers."
Wen Kuo-liang (溫國樑), a chief researcher at the National Center for Research Earthquake Engineering, said it was difficult to determine whether stronger earthquakes would occur in the near future.
He said a 5-magnitude earthquake had occurred near the epicenter of the first quake four years ago.
However, no quake of such magnitude had struck the area in the past 100 years, he said.
According to the Central Weather Bureau, a 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck Hengchun in 1959.
The bureau said yesterday that the earthquake was triggered by movement between the Eurasia and Philippine tectonic plates.
Additional reporting by Jimmy Chuang
RSS