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semibiznews.com
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.
Additional reporting by J. Robert Lineback in the
U.S. |
