Wednesday’s earthquake in Taiwan will hit at least one chipmaker in the wallet, but won’t weaken the overall silicon supply chain, according to analyst outfit TrendForce.

The firm found that foundry giant TSMC got off lightly, with just its R&D headquarters at Fab 12 suffering obtain significant damage.

The fab “suffered some water damage to equipment due to broken pipes, mainly affecting the not-yet-mass-produced 2nm process,” explained TrendForce.

“This is expected to have a short-term impact on operations, potentially necessitating the acquisition of new equipment, thus slightly increasing capital expenditures,” it concluded.

TSMC’s CoWoS (Chip-on-wafer-on-substrate) plants, particularly the Longtan AP3 and Zhunan AP6, also experienced impairment, this time in the form of water damage in chiller units. The facilities were able to resume operations unaffected thanks to backup units, TrendForce wrote.

“Due to the advanced packaging requirements of AI chips, TSMC’s 2.5D advanced packaging CoWoS technology is currently the primary technology used for AI chips,” the firm suggested in February.

Beyond TSMC, the firm noted earlier this week the DRAM industry “sustained minimal initial damage” resulting in memory suppliers suspending pricing.

Micron is one of the suppliers noted be evaluating its pricing strategy.

On Thursday, TrendForce delivered news that Micron’s Linkou plant had been “notably affected.”

“Micron's Linkou and Taichung plants, internally merged into one system, serve as critical sites for DRAM production, already deploying the latest 1beta nm process technology. Both are expected to fully recover within a few days, with subsequent productions, including HBM, continuing in Taiwan,” stated the firm.

Nanya’s Fab 3A, which mainly focuses on 20/30nm processes, and developing its 1Bnm, was similarly affected, while smaller Taiwanese chipmakers PSMC and Winbond reported no damages. ®

https://www.theregister.com//2024/04/05/tsmc_earthquake_capex/