Taiwan earthquake tests readiness of world’s chip-making hub
The world’s most important semiconductor-manufacturing hub is also one of the world’s biggest earthquake hot spots, and it was put to the test Wednesday after a powerful quake. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing—which makes chips for customers such as Apple and occupies a critical place in the global electronics supply chain—has prepared for years for a quake, drawing on lessons from a 2011 disaster in Japan among others. TSMC briefly evacuated some of its locations Wednesday and suspended work at some plants after an estimated 7.4-magnitude quake struck eastern Taiwan.
It said initial inspections found safety systems were operating normally and no one was hurt. Information wasn’t immediately available about any possible damage to equipment or monetary losses from the work suspensions. TSMC was fortunate in this instance because its main facilities are located near the capital of Taipei in the north and in other areas in the middle and southern parts of Taiwan that are relatively distant from the epicenter on the eastern side of the island.
On a 7-point scale often used in Asia to show how much shaking an earthquake caused, the shaking level in parts of Taiwan near the epicenter was 6-plus—near the maximum—while at TSMC’s Hsinchu Science Park headquarters near Taipei, the highest level recorded was 5-minus. That figure is usually associated with minor or no damage to buildings. Still, the delicacy of the equipment and materials used to make semiconductors means that even if a building is intact, less-visible damage is possible.
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