① After the Hualien earthquake, TSMC basically resumed basic production on Friday, but some sources revealed that the earthquake still caused TSMC quite a bit of damage;
② On Saturday, TSMC said that the Japanese factory is expected to achieve 60% localized procurement by 2030, but what is worrying is that its Japanese factory is also located in the earthquake zone.
On Wednesday, a major earthquake occurred in the Hualien region of Taiwan, leading to a global chip manufacturing giant$Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM.US)$Production experienced a brief interruption.
However, TSMC pointed out that with the exception of some production lines in the more affected regions, the equipment at the Taiwanese fab had basically fully recovered as of Friday. However, the earthquake still had a major impact on TSMC's finances. According to some sources, TSMC's second-fiscal quarter results will lose 60 million US dollars as a result.
According to sources, some of TSMC's high-end chips require several weeks in a stable vacuum environment to complete production. Although the earthquake did not directly cause damage, it may still indirectly scrap some chips that have already been put into production.
This also highlights the importance of the manufacturer's geographical location for semiconductor supply. In particular, TSMC is responsible for nearly 90% of the world's most advanced processing chips.
At this point, TSMC quietly announced that it is expected that by 2030, its first chip factory in Japan will achieve 60% of local procurement. Unfortunately, Kumamoto Prefecture, where the factory is located, is also in the earthquake zone, which inevitably raises concerns about this.
TSMC of the head iron
In 2016, two strong earthquakes of magnitude 6.5 and 7.3 on the Richter scale occurred in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, almost the same magnitude as the strongest earthquake in 25 years before the Ching Ming Festival in Taiwan.
This made the factory that TSMC plans to invest a lot of money to build in the local area look like it was “born deficient,” yet TSMC did not agree with the negative factor of the earthquake zone.
While Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visited the new factory site on Saturday, TSMC spokesman Nina Kao said that it will vigorously promote the integration of Japan's local supply chain, use more local indirect materials in the manufacturing process, and that the goal of 60% localization does not include the use of machinery.
TSMC also said that the first factory in Kumamoto plans to start shipping before the end of this year. The main products are camera sensors and logic chips for automobiles.
This is also in line with the demands of the Japanese government. The Japanese government has allocated 476 billion yen (about 3.1 billion US dollars) for TSMC's first plant in order to stimulate the construction of TSMC's plant to promote the development of technology and business from local suppliers. In addition, the Japanese government also promised an additional 732 billion yen subsidy for TSMC to build a second plant.
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