An early-morning earthquake in Taiwan has put a halt to some TSMC chip production lines, potentially impacting the manufacture of Apple devices (via Bloomberg).
Taiwan was hit by a 7.4-magnitude earthquake in the early hours of the morning, resulting in significant damage, and disrupting operations at several TSMC key manufacturing sites. Bloomberg reports that its sources tell it that the company’s N3 fab in Tainan suffered structural damage, including broken beams and columns, leading to a halt in production. EUV machines, essential for manufacturing processes below 7nm, have stopped, and research and development labs have been subject to significant damage, such as cracked walls. The firm’s Hsinchu fab location reported broken pipelines and extensive damage to wafers, resulting in a halt in production.
TSMC fabricates several high-end chips for Apple, including the 3nm A17 Pro for use in the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. As a result of the earthquake damage, some chips already in production are likely to have been ruined if they were not destroyed directly.
TSMC has traditionally placed an emphasis on disaster preparedness following a major 1999 earthquake. The company has since implemented several measures, including post-earthquake inspections, the installation of dampers and shock absorbers, and the integration of equipment vibration reduction technologies.
If the disruption in production of TSMC-manufactured chips turns out to be significant it could potentially result in the delay of product launches or limited availability.