…And Speaking of Taiwan Semi…
Yesterday we noted that a power outage at TSM’s Nanke plant caused at least part of the line to shut down, putting ~30,000 wafers at risk, and while the plant is now operational, the company is still evaluating what portion of those wafers on the line could have to be scrapped. Industry estimates are for up to $35m in potential losses from the outage. It seems that the problem was caused by a contractor working at the nearby Wistron (3231.TT) plant, which is undergoing expansion. It seems that the contractor accidentally cut the 161KV underground powerline, which caused systems to trip at a number of locations. While details are not known yet about the impact on other manufacturing facilities sourced by the same cable, it seems that voltage drops at Innolux (3481.TT), UMC (UMC), Corning (GLW) and others were part of the same issue, although the extent of any damage is still being evaluated.
For whatever reason, the semiconductor space seems to be having a bad run of luck, at a time when the industry is seeing great demand. Just yesterday, a fire broke out at a plant in Taiwan that makes copper-clad substrates, which shut down the entire facility, following a string of natural disaster occurrences that have caused production problems at various fabs around the globe, along with an unusually large water shortage in Taiwan that has caused 7 of Taiwan’s primary reservoirs to be at less than half of capacity, causing certain regions to reduce water consumption by 7% to 10%, although the government insists that such shortages have not affected companies in its many science parks. TSM has begun to transport water to some of its facilities by truck.
For whatever reason, the semiconductor space seems to be having a bad run of luck, at a time when the industry is seeing great demand. Just yesterday, a fire broke out at a plant in Taiwan that makes copper-clad substrates, which shut down the entire facility, following a string of natural disaster occurrences that have caused production problems at various fabs around the globe, along with an unusually large water shortage in Taiwan that has caused 7 of Taiwan’s primary reservoirs to be at less than half of capacity, causing certain regions to reduce water consumption by 7% to 10%, although the government insists that such shortages have not affected companies in its many science parks. TSM has begun to transport water to some of its facilities by truck.
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