Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said operations at all of its plants had returned to normal after an early morning magnitude 6.6 earthquake near Hualien caused sporadic evacuations and minor machine damage.
Technical hiccups triggered by the earthquake, which struck off the coast of Hualien County at 1:41am, had been rectified following an inspection, TSMC said.
The world’s largest contract chipmaker said that temporarily evacuated workers had all returned to production lines with the effect on operations expected to be minimal.
Photo: I-Hwa Cheng, Bloomberg
TSMC runs advanced wafer plants at the Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區), the Central Taiwan Science Park (中部科學園區) and the Southern Taiwan Science Park (南部科學園區).
The earthquake reached “6 weak” on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale, which gauges the actual effect of a quake, in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), hitting 5 in other parts of the county and in Hualien County.
United Microelectronics Corp (聯電), a smaller contract chipmaker with wafer plants in Hsinchu and Tainan, said that some of its production equipment had been affected by the earthquake, but that self-protection mechanisms had nullified the impact on its operations.
Fellow contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電), based primarily at Hsinchu Science Park, said the earthquake had caused a loss of only two to three hours of production.
Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進) said it has been checking for possible effects of the earthquake at its wafer plants in Hsinchu.
Flat panel maker AU Optronics Corp (友達光電) said the quake had caused temporary suspension of some of its production, but operations had returned to normal.
Rival Innolux Corp (群創光電) also reported a temporary halt to production due to the triggering of anti-shake mechanisms.
However, the firm said the impact was expected to be minimal, with all employees safe and operations returning to normal.
Administrators at the three science parks said they had not received reports of damage from tenants, with only Southern Taiwan Science Park reporting that machines were affected, but no material impact was expected.
BYPASSING CHINA TARIFFS: In the first five months of this year, Foxconn sent US$4.4bn of iPhones to the US from India, compared with US$3.7bn in the whole of last year Nearly all the iPhones exported by Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) from India went to the US between March and last month, customs data showed, far above last year’s average of 50 percent and a clear sign of Apple Inc’s efforts to bypass high US tariffs imposed on China. The numbers, being reported by Reuters for the first time, show that Apple has realigned its India exports to almost exclusively serve the US market, when previously the devices were more widely distributed to nations including the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. During March to last month, Foxconn, known as Hon Hai Precision Industry
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and the University of Tokyo (UTokyo) yesterday announced the launch of the TSMC-UTokyo Lab to promote advanced semiconductor research, education and talent development. The lab is TSMC’s first laboratory collaboration with a university outside Taiwan, the company said in a statement. The lab would leverage “the extensive knowledge, experience, and creativity” of both institutions, the company said. It is located in the Asano Section of UTokyo’s Hongo, Tokyo, campus and would be managed by UTokyo faculty, guided by directors from UTokyo and TSMC, the company said. TSMC began working with UTokyo in 2019, resulting in 21 research projects,
Ashton Hall’s morning routine involves dunking his head in iced Saratoga Spring Water. For the company that sells the bottled water — Hall’s brand of choice for drinking, brushing his teeth and submerging himself — that is fantastic news. “We’re so thankful to this incredible fitness influencer called Ashton Hall,” Saratoga owner Primo Brands Corp’s CEO Robbert Rietbroek said on an earnings call after Hall’s morning routine video went viral. “He really helped put our brand on the map.” Primo Brands, which was not affiliated with Hall when he made his video, is among the increasing number of companies benefiting from influencer
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) yesterday expressed a downbeat view about the prospects of humanoid robots, given high manufacturing costs and a lack of target customers. Despite rising demand and high expectations for humanoid robots, high research-and-development costs and uncertain profitability remain major concerns, Lam told reporters following the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Taoyuan. “Since it seems a bit unworthy to use such high-cost robots to do household chores, I believe robots designed for specific purposes would be more valuable and present a better business opportunity,” Lam said Instead of investing in humanoid robots, Quanta has opted to invest
RSS