A serious earthquake in Taiwan has halted some TSMC chip manufacturing strains, probably impacting the manufacture of Apple units (through Bloomberg).
A 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck Taiwan within the early hours of the morning, killing at the least 9 individuals, injuring lots of, and inflicting vital injury to infrastructure, together with disrupting operations at a number of TSMC key manufacturing websites. Sources conversant in TSMC’s operations mentioned that the corporate’s N3 fab in Tainan suffered structural injury, with beams and columns damaged, resulting in an outright halt in manufacturing. EUV machines, important for manufacturing processes beneath 7nm, have stopped, and analysis and improvement labs have been topic to vital injury, akin to cracked partitions. One other fab in Hsinchu reported damaged pipelines and intensive injury to wafers, necessitating a halt in manufacturing.
A few of TSMC’s high-end chips, such because the 3nm A17 Professional within the iPhone 15 Professional and iPhone 15 Professional Max, require round the clock operations and a steady vacuum setting for a number of weeks. Because of this, some high-end chips already in manufacturing are prone to have been spoiled even when they weren’t broken straight.
All the customized silicon processors in Apple’s units are provided by TSMC. As such, the earthquake’s fast results on TSMC’s amenities have raised considerations about potential delays in Apple’s product provide chain. The chipmaker has taken fast motion to evaluate the injury and provoke restoration procedures, with some manufacturing strains anticipated to renew operation at this time, however the full extent of the impression on Apple’s provide chain stays unsure.
TSMC has traditionally positioned a robust emphasis on catastrophe preparedness, particularly following a serious earthquake in 1999. The corporate has since carried out rigorous seismic administration measures designed to mitigate the dangers posed by earthquakes, together with post-earthquake inspections, the set up of dampers and shock absorbers, and the mixing of apparatus vibration discount applied sciences.
Apple is within the midst of ramping up manufacturing for its upcoming product releases, so vital disruptions within the provide of TSMC-manufactured chips may probably delay product launches or restrict availability. That being mentioned, Apple is thought for its strong provide chain administration methods, which can doubtless assist mitigate the fast results of the earthquake on the corporate’s product timelines and availability.
