Taiwan manufacturing impact early report:
techweb.com
Earthquake Rocks Taiwan Chip Makers
(09/20/99, 6:40 p.m. ET)
By Mark Hachman and Andrew MacLellan, Electronic Buyers' News
A massive earthquake rocked Taiwan early Tuesday, though preliminary estimates from the island's chip makers are revealing more problems associated with lack of power than with serious damage to brick-and-mortar facilities or manufacturing lines.
The quake, which early reports said measured more than 7.6 on the Richter scale, was centered in Nantou in the center of the island, according to Reuters, which cited Taiwan state radio.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the industry's largest wafer foundry, said no reports of damage had been received.
?The plant is safe, the facilities are stabilized, and structurally, everything is in order,? said a spokesman for TSMC USA in San Jose, Calif.
The spokesman confirmed that power was lost at the island's center for electronics manufacturing, Hsinchu Science-Based Industrial Park, where TSMC's Fabs 2,3,4, 5, and corporate headquarters are located. More details are expected later this morning in Taiwan, when officials can assess the situation.
Foundry services provider United Microelectronics Corp., which is also located in Hsinchu, said an initial assessment revealed no disruption to the company's wafer manufacturing lines. The company also suffered a power outage, according to Jim Ballingall, vice president of worldwide marketing for UMC Group (USA), which is based in Sunnyvale, Calif.
According to Ballingall, a UMC employee in Hsinchu reported that as of 5 a.m. Tuesday-about three hours after the temblor struck-emergency power was functioning.
?We talked to one of the process engineers there who said things appear to be fine, though he's a pretty junior-level guy, so I wouldn't say that's the official report,? Ballingall said. ?The power went out as you might expect; however, the backup power was working, which is a good sign.?
Backup power will allow UMC to keep key tools, such as furnace annealing equipment, up and running. When it lost power during a huge outage that afflicted the island in July, UMC lost only about 0.5 percent of all in-process wafers, Ballingall said. The company said it expects to provide more details in a statement later Monday.
Meanwhile, word out of chip set maker Via Technologies' U.S. headquarters in Fremont, Calif., was that damage was slight.
"We have not much at this time to report, but there hasn't been much damage at the facility,? said Jonathan Chang, director of operations and sales at the company.
Chang said he was more concerned about the status of the company's foundry partners, which include TSMC and Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, Taiwan's largest test and assembly house. Chang said Via will have a better understanding of the extent of the damage by Tuesday.
A spokesman for Soyo Tek, in San Jose, the U.S. subsidiary of Taipei-based motherboard maker Soyo Computer, said the company ?came out unscathed.?
While structural damage to Taiwan's manufacturing infrastructure appears to be minimal, the power outages will delay board shipments to the United States by a number of days, according to observers.
Soyo Computer executives reported they are unable to secure DRAM modules because of the blackout, keeping them from stuffing their boards with memory.
?We are expecting DRAM prices to jump two to three times [their current price] in the short term,? the spokesman said. |
