Quake update: WSMC reports minor fire; TSMC expects reasonable production in one week
Semiconductor Business News
(09/23/99, 08:36:19 AM EDT)
HSINCHU, Taiwan--Silicon foundries and other chip-making operations here continued racing the clock to restart production facilities and wafer fab equipment following Tuesday's powerful earthquake. While semiconductor officials say they are now making progress in evaluating manufacturing lines and work-in-progress, the recovery efforts have not all gone smoothly.
On Wedenesday, a fire broke out at Worldwide Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. (WSMC) after a backup power generator overheated. The pure-play silicon foundry company said the generator was separated from its wafer-processing cleanroom, and no damage was sustained by fab's production equipment. WSMC said the fire was extinguished within an hour. The loss from the fire was placed at $630,000.
As of early today local time, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) has secured partial electrical power, and the foundry giant said it had begun assessing the condition of its fabs. U.S.-based officials for TSMC on Wednesday said company's facilities had restored 10-20% of its normal power, which was enough to allow it to begin evaluating wafers in process and to begin equipment recovery.
TSMC said it believed it would not have to wait for repair and equipment recalibration to be completed before starting operations. A very preliminary estimate indicates that it will take approximately one week after power is fully restored to achieve a reasonable level of production.
The foundry company said it has established an emergency customer response task force to analyze the condition of work-in-progress and account managers are updating TSMC customers on the status of their individual lots on at least a daily basis.
Chip makers and suppliers are also pitching in with the general recovery efforts in Taiwan, where more than 2,000 people died as a result of the earthquake.
TSMC said the company and its employees have contributed $8.25 million to earthquake relief efforts, with about a quarter of the amount coming from employees. Applied Materials Inc. in Santa Clara, Calif., said it will contribute $100,000 to assist earthquake victims. The donation was being made to the Red Cross on behalf of the company and its employees.
"As a company with close ties to and a decade of customer service in Taiwan, we believe it is very important to help Taiwan's people get back on their feet as quickly as possible," said Dan Maydan, president of Applied, the world's largest fab equipment supplier.
Applied Materials Taiwan employs 600 people at three sites, in Hsinchu, Nan-Kan, and Tainan. The company said there have been no reports of injuries to employees or significant damage to its facilities.
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