Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and the nation’s major electronics makers yesterday increased their workplace anti-COVID-19 measures to the highest level as local infections spread to Hsinchu City.
TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, is headquartered at the Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區).
The chipmaker said that its workforce has begun operating in separated teams to minimize the risk of COVID-19 infection.
Photo: Grace Hung, Taipei Times
Except for special cases, all non-essential vendors are to be restricted from entering its facilities, TSMC said in a statement.
Employees and long-term vendors must avoid moving from region to region within Taiwan, it added.
The chipmaker said that it has prohibited employees from holding face-to-face meetings, suspended domestic and overseas business travel, and canceled cross-site shuttle buses.
Shuttle buses are to operate according to the planned separation of work areas and movement flow, it said.
The prevention measures were last implemented when the nation entered a level 3 COVID-19 alert in May last year.
United Microelectronics Co (UMC, 聯電), the nation’s second-largest contract chipmaker, yesterday began similar COVID-19 prevention measures, with employees divided into two work groups and required to work in different zones, UMC spokesman Liu Chi-tung (劉啟東) said.
UMC has not activated a remote work policy yet, he said, but no visitors are allowed on the site.
Headquartered in Taoyuan, Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦), the world’s largest laptop maker, has increased its vigilance after the city became the epicenter of the latest outbreak of domestic infections in Taiwan.
Quanta yesterday said that it has raised workplace measures to their highest level.
“Food courts in the factories have been shut down. Employees are encouraged to order food via food delivery apps instead,” a company spokesperson said.
“Employees are required to eat lunch at their cubicles, as all public areas are closed,” the spokesperson added.
At Quanta, employees have already been working flexible hours for a while to avoid infection.
With the heightening of virus prevention measures, workers must avoid gatherings and remain in their designated work group and area, the spokesperson said, adding that meetings are to be conducted via videoconferencing.
Quanta’s move came after laptop contract maker Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶電腦) was forced to suspend factory operations in Taoyuan’s Pingjhen District (平鎮) for one week after an employee tested positive for COVID-19 yesterday.
The 1,800 employees underwent rapid COVID-19 tests over the weekend after the company discovered positive cases among its workforce. Those workers must undergo polymerase chain reaction tests on Wednesday.
Wistron Corp (緯創) and Inventec Corp (英業達) have also launched similar COVID-19 prevention measures, and their Lunar New Year parties have been canceled, the companies said.
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