TSMC reportedly pauses production after strong earthquake hits Taiwan
- Reference: 1737437290
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/01/21/taiwan_earthquake_tsmc/
- Source link:
According to Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration Seismological Center, a [1]6.4-magnitude tremblor shook things up at seventeen minutes past midnight on January 21st (4:17PM UTC). A quake of that strength can cause significant local damage in built-up areas.
This one was centered in a mountainous region of Taiwan and [2]reportedly caused 27 injuries and minor damage such as glass bottles breaking after being shaken off supermarket shelves.
[3]
But it was still felt around 40km away in the city of Tainan, and 200km away in the city of Taichung. The Register mentions them as both house TSMC fabrication plants and, according to [4]local media [5]reports , the chipmaker was sufficiently worried about worker safety that staff were told to cease work and leave the building.
[6]TSMC plans to have 1.6nm chips in 'volume production' by 2026
[7]Hackers game out infowar against China with the US Navy
[8]Taiwan reportedly claims China-linked ship damaged one of its submarine cables
[9]Taiwan in talks to tap Amazon's Project Kuiper space broadband
TSMC is now apparently checking for any damage. Chipmaking equipment is extremely precise, so it’s possible an earthquake created small changes that could introduce errors that reduce the yield of usable chips. Recalibration could therefore be required before full-scale production can resume.
The chipmaker has not made a public statement about the situation at the time of writing but sources familiar with the situation [10]told Japan’s Nikkei it could be several days before production resumes at full capacity.
[11]
If correct, that will irk some TSMC customers as the company’s fabs are often booked well into the future.
Taiwanese media reports that TSMC suppliers have mobilized to ensure any pause in production is brief. Geological incidents are a near-daily occurrence in Taiwan, as are geopolitical rumblings. The latter this week came in the form of uncertainty about US President Trump’s policy position regarding the republic, which the Biden Administration regarded as a vital friend that America would defend should China attempt a forcible re-unification. Taiwanese contract laptop makers Compal and Inventec are [12]reportedly considering moving manufacturing facilities to the USA if threatened with import tariffs by the new administration. ®
Get our [13]Tech Resources
[1] https://scweb.cwa.gov.tw/en-us/earthquake/details/EE2025012100172764007
[2] https://apnews.com/article/taiwan-earthquake-ec33fde6218f097c2aec6aac2a697761
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Z49-Xh54Ytz0ztFCF7UCuAAAABE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://www.ctee.com.tw/news/20250121700438-430503
[5] https://udn.com/news/story/7240/8503685#goog_rewarded
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/16/tsmc_says_16nm_chips_volume_2026/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/20/china_taiwan_wargames/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/06/taiwan_china_submarine_cable_claim/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/12/18/taiwan_amazon_kuiper_broadband_talks/
[10] https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/Natural-disasters/TSMC-assessing-impact-of-6.4-magnitude-Taiwan-quake-on-chip-hub
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Z49-Xh54Ytz0ztFCF7UCuAAAABE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://archive.md/REe9e#selection-1353.37-1373.15
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Just to hazard a guess, but waking you up before the earthquake hits means your partially awake when the earthquake hits,which would then almost certainly wake you up fully when the earthquake actually hits. So if you then need to do something, you'll be able to react instantly.
If the earthquake is what wakes you up, it could take you critical seconds to work out what is happening and then you can't react as quickly as needed.
Then again it could just be useless. Or it could be aimed more at the people who are already awake like shift workers?
Either way, I hope you and all yours are safe!
In my experience (12 years in Japan) you get quite well conditioned as to when to roll over and go back to sleep and when you need to be wide awake ready for action. If its a strong one you feel the up and down p-wave first before the side to side s-wave arrives some seconds later. Its the p-wave that triggers the emergency notification and stops the bullet trains.
Was there for 3/11 which was very strong indeed even at distance and just kept getting stronger and stronger for what seemed like an age. I knew things were bad when my Japanese colleague ducked under his desk like he had been trained his whole life to do. Others of course had a far worse experience that day...
Took some time before I stopped subconsciously reacting to buses or lorries shaking the building after I moved back to the UK.
There are things I want to have jiggling at midnight and a fab line isn't one of them.
The alarm woke me up, still wondering what I'm supposed to do with a 10 second warning, well at least I get the full experience instead of just sleeping through it.