TSMC, Nanya, ProMos Say Quake Hurt Chip Equipment (Update3)
By Iain Pocock
quote.bloomberg.com
Taipei, April 1 (Bloomberg) -- Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp., the world's biggest producer of made-to-order chips, and other semiconductor makers said equipment was damaged by yesterday's earthquake, forcing the companies to delay production by as much as a five days.
TSMC said it was recovering from a shutdown of less than a day. Nanya Technology Corp., Taiwan's largest computer-memory-chip maker by market value, said it's accelerating an annual overhaul of its equipment originally scheduled for next week to reduce lost production time and replace damaged parts, spokesman Charles Kau said.
``All the plants are evaluating damage,'' Kau said. ``Even if there's no damage, it takes two or three days to cool down the equipment to inspect it, so we're saving time by pooling together annual maintenance with the repairs.''
ProMos Technologies Inc. said it lost less than a day's worth of production after equipment shut down automatically when the 6.8-magnitude earthquake hit the island, killing five people and injuring more than 270 others. Water and electricity supply to the island's chipmakers was unaffected, and companies are checking equipment for damage caused by vibrations. |
