Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tony Viola who wrote (32549)	9/21/1999 10:06:00 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 70976

Re: Taiwan tragedy Can anyone please explain why TSM was up today? siliconinvestor.com I am at a complete loss on this one since things have only gotten progressively worse throughout the day. BK

To: Tony Viola who wrote (32549)	9/22/1999 9:38:00 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

Taiwan's power outages already affecting DRAM supply By Jack Robertson Semiconductor Business News (09/22/99, 09:18:28 AM EDT) TAIPEI, Taiwan -- The majority of Taiwan's electronics firms will remain hamstrung by power outages until at least Friday, including 28 fabs in Hsinchu Science Park whose doors remained closed Wednesday. Those affected include DRAM suppliers, some of which use Taiwan's foundries for additional capacity. Although few Japanese suppliers use these lines, those that do will be forced to requalify their lines before production resumes, which will take at least a week after power is restored. Motherboard makers also will be hurt by the outages. Taiwan Power Co. announced today that residential electricity will be restored first and power won't return to industrial sections until Friday. Some of the huge array of small Taiwanese electronic houses located in the midst of residential areas might in fact receive power, but suffer haphazard power outages during the rolling blackouts that TaiPower plans throughout the next few days. Taipei also continued to experience building-shaking aftershocks Wednesday, in some cases a half hour apart. No industrial plants were reported among the several collapsed buildings within the city. However, electronics companies, which remained closed for a second day, are only beginning to assess the structural integrity and the impact on their equipment of the continuing seismic activity. Japan's DRAM suppliers spent today assessing the possible loss of chips from their Taiwanese foundries. A spokesman for Mitsubishi Electric Corp. in Tokyo said its partner, Powerchip Semiconductor Corp., has received power form an independent generating station in Hsinchu. Even so, he estimated it would likely take Powerchip at least a week to requalify production lines and return to normal output. Mitsubishi contracts out about 40% of its production to Powerchip. Nan Ya Technology Group also reported that the power was on, thanks to the large power complex of its parent company, Formosa Plastics. Like Powerchip, however, Nan Ya is now requalifying its Fab 1; a second, Fab 2, is still being equipped. A Fujitsu Ltd. spokesman said the firm uses Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) in Hsinchu for only a limited amount of DRAM production, and hadn't started receiving output from a subsidiary and second foundry, TSMC-Acer Semiconductor Inc. Yesterday, TSMC reported no problems with its facilities or production, but later said it expects production output to drop 10% in the short term. Rival UMC Group said yesterday it needs another day to assess losses, although it reported only minor damage to equipment and its six fabs. The company said it is working with a local power company and was able to restore partial power to four of the facilities (see Sept. 21 story). Toshiba Corp. employs Hsinchu's Winbond Electronics Corp. as its DRAM foundry, but was already cutting back 64-megabit DRAM production sharply, while Winbond was only running test silicon on its 128-Mbit devices. In a statement, Winbond executives said their facilities were undamaged, but with only minimal power. "We are relieved and happy to announce that no injuries have been reported at Winbond, as our first concern was the safety and well-being of our team," said Jock Ochiltree, president and chief operating officer of Winbond Electronics Corp. of America in San Jose. "In addition, when the electrical power outage occurred, backup power immediately came on-line according to plan. This ensured the environmental integrity of the most sensitive fab areas -- a key concern in maintaining uptime throughout the production process once power returns." Most motherboard makers remained closed. A continued loss of board production could have a major impact on the global PC industry, as Taiwan manufactures an estimated 40% of the world's supply. Even when normal power is restored, motherboard firms must undergo their own calibration and requalification of equipment before production resumes. Although board manufacturing is not as sensitive as Hsinchu's chip fabs, the companies increasingly use advanced pick-and-place component inserting tools and often use finely-aligned multilayer interconnects.