A 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck Hualien county in Taiwan Wednesday morning, with the latest reports indicating that its impact on Taiwan’s semiconductor supply chain is relatively minor. Most wafer foundries are located in regions experiencing seismic intensity of level four, while chip factories are constructed with high standards and advanced internal damping measures. Taiwan’s chip manufacturers conducted shutdown inspections and resumed operations after the earthquake on April 3, according to market intelligence firm TrendForce. Despite potential losses from emergency shutdowns or earthquake-induced damages, most chip companies can rapidly recover the majority after resuming operations, as the current capacity utilization rates in mature process fabs range between 50% to 80%. [Icsmart, in Chinese]
