Tour of Hsinchu shows fabs closed, but probably not seriously
damaged by quake
By Jack Robertson and Sandy Chen
Semiconductor Business News
(09/21/99, 12:13:28 PM EDT)
HSINCHU, Taiwan -- The 28 semiconductor fabs located in the Hsinchu Science Park here remained closed Wednesday
morning local time, following the major earthquake that jolted the island early Tuesday. Wafer fabs and other business
operations were shut down after losing electrical power, and interviews with company officials here today indicate that it
could be days before plants are fully evaluated and ready for production again.
A tour of the Hsinchu Science Park hours after the quake struck showed no visible structural damage to buildings.
Administrative offices were open today at semiconductor companies here, but no one is being allowed inside wafer-fab
cleanrooms until power was restored.
A spokesman for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. said engineers must inspect gas pipes and distribution
systems in fabs to make sure there are no leaks. However, electrical power is needed to resume gas distribution in the
pipelines to make sure there are no leaks, he added.
One wafer fab, operated by Powerchip Semiconductor Corp., has electricity, furnished by a new power generation
company, Hsin Yu Cogeneration Co. Ltd. in Hsinchu. Ironically, Powerchip suffered a 40-minute blackout after the quake
struck because it uses electricity from Taipower Co. Ltd. at night to get lower utility rates. Powerchip quickly switched
back to power from Hsin Yu, but today managers were still assessing the impact on silicon wafers being processed by
its frontend.
For the other 27 fab lines in the Hsinchu Science Park, the loss of full electrical power could result in production lines
being closed for several days. An official at Winbond Electronics Corp. said the total loss of production wafers will not be
known until regular power is restored. Some chip makers also said it could take days to inspect sensitive production
equipment. Capital equipment suppliers were standing by to help fabs assess the condition of their tools and restart
them again.
Officially, the Taiwanese chip makers were attempting to put a positive spin on the impact of the quake, emphasizing
that buildings did not sustain structural damage. No deaths were reported in the semiconductor plants.
But private conversations with officials in Hsinchu indicated that chip companies were concerned about the condition of
sensitive photolithography equipment, which could have been thrown out of alignment by the strong quake. Some said
photolithography track systems also may need to be readjusted before production can resume. Other fab systems and
tools--such as deposition gear and wafer furnaces--also will be inspected for damage and requalified for production.
Officials had no estimates on how long this could take.
The Hsinchu area was especially hit hard by massive power outages because it is served primarily by one main
transmission path from the Tien Luen generation complex in Central Taiwan. The quake shut down that facility and
transmission towers were knocked down, said a representative for the Hsinchu Science Park. A new power grid around
Hsinchu has been planned for a long time to help prevent a total loss of power--such as the case with the quake or a
half-day blackout last July when a transmission tower fell.
The Hsinchu Science Park representative said the lack of a power grid complicated the restoration electricity to plants.
Most of Taipei--Taiwan's capital and largest city--was blacked out much of today because it also is served by the Tien
Luen generation center. Power outages shut down dozens of PC motherboard operations as well as plants producing
electrical subsystems and passive components.
If Taiwan's silicon foundries and chip companies do not come back on line quickly, the world's semiconductor market
could be sharply impacted. Based on some industry estimates, Taiwan's foundries now account for about 15% of the
semiconductor produced in the world. Taiwan has about two-thirds of the world's independent silicon foundries, according
to the Fabless Semiconductor Association, citing data from last week's Semicon Taiwan conference.
Taiwan's DRAM makers had a 6% global market share last year, but that portion is increasing because of growing
capacity. The mere threat of this capacity being offline for a short period is likely to have an impact on DRAM spot
prices, which have been increasing in recent weeks.
Many chip firms in Hsinchu said they have limited emergency power to maintain cleanroom environments with air flowing
through the facilities. But until engineers can measure the cleanroom air accurately, it will not be known if the back-up
systems were able to prevent contamination of wafer fabs.
Many companies said their engineers rushed to the wafer fabs to see if they could help in the early hours after the quake.
Trucks carrying heavy electrical generators were seen moving equipment to Hsinchu 18 hours after the earthquake.
Chip companies said they did not anticipate any problems shipping finished ICs to Taiwan's airport since the highway
system was open. The airport was operational hours after the quake struck.
Further south in Taiwan, the impact of the quake was apparently not as severe. ASE Test Ltd., which performs final tests
on assembled ICs, said it does not expect any loss as a result of the earthquake, which was centered in central Taiwan.
ASE Test's facility in Kaohsiung City--south of the most heavily damaged regions--only felt quake intensity of 4.0 on the
Richter scale, according to the company. ASE Test said it has not stopped its operations, and all of its buildings,
equipment, and plant infrastructure were intact. |
