An earthquake measuring 6.4 on the Richter Scale hit southern Taiwan around 4am on the 6th of February, affecting the Southern Taiwan Science Park (STSP). Several chip and panel makers have buildings here, including Innolux, TSMC and UMC.
At least 46 people were killed in the earthquake, and almost 100 more were missing as of 1pm local time on Wednesday. Most of these casualties were caused by a collapsing apartment building in the city of Tainan, close to STSP – the developers of which have been arrested. There were no major injuries at the Park.
Innolux says that all of its equipment was automatically shut down when the quake hit. A small fire began in one of the production rooms, but was extinguished shortly after. Production lines are now slowly resuming their normal flow.
Because of the automatic shut-down, Innolux will need to evaluate the state of the semi-finished products and scraps, and so the total loss is unclear at the time of writing. The company says that its buildings (five LCD panel fabs and three touch fabs) were insured and so there should be little worry of financial loss.
TSMC has also said that the quake caused minimal damage, and that 95% of its tools can be restored to working order in a matter of days. UMC was in a similar position; its production shut down automatically, and wafer production will not be affected.
Analyst Comment
I visited the then CMO plant in Tainan a number of years ago, so my thoughts are with those affected. BR
