According to Xinhua News Agency, at 7:58 a.m. on April 3rd, a 7.3 magnitude earthquake occurred in the sea area off Hualien County, Taiwan (latitude 23.81 degrees north, longitude 121.74 degrees east), with a depth of 12 kilometers, followed by continuous small-scale aftershocks. Netizens from Xiamen, Fuzhou, Hangzhou, Taizhou, and other places have all expressed significant tremors on social media platforms.

The situation in Taiwan is more severe, with Taipei's metro system halted for 40 to 60 minutes. In two locations in Hualien City, including North Bin Street and Xuanyuan Road, buildings with more than five floors are leaning, and the ground floor of both buildings has collapsed. In Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County, the hub of the semiconductor industry known as the "Taiwan Silicon Valley," the maximum intensity reached level 4, with Taiwanese media comparing its shaking to the 921 earthquake (the earthquake that occurred on September 21, 1999).

TSMC and UMC have halted some equipment operations. Semiconductor damage situation summary.

Taiwan, China, is a global semiconductor hub. The Hsinchu Science Park is known as the "Silicon Valley of Taiwan," spanning across the Eastern District of Hsinchu City and Baoshan Township, Hsinchu County. The park primarily hosts manufacturers engaged in electronic contract manufacturing services, making it one of the major technological hubs in the global high-tech contract manufacturing industry. Notable semiconductor foundries such as TSMC, UMC, and Powerchip are all established here.

According to the disaster prevention regulations of semiconductor and panel factories, when an earthquake of magnitude four or higher occurs in the factory area, it is necessary to evacuate personnel from the cleanrooms to prevent accidents such as toxic gas or liquid leaks.

According to reports from Taiwanese media, due to the earthquake, personnel in the Zhunan Science Park, including those from companies such as AU Optronics, Powerchip, TSMC's advanced packaging AP6 factory, and Crystal Applied Technology, were evacuated. Some machines were shut down as a precautionary measure, but there were no abnormalities reported.

Additionally, manufacturers in the Yilan Science Park and the Hsinchu Biomedical Science Park reported normal operations. The Hsinchu Science Park Administration reported that there were no abnormalities in the park's water, electricity, wastewater treatment plants, experimental schools, kindergartens, and construction sites under its jurisdiction.

Related semiconductors, panels, and other manufacturers have evacuated personnel, and the actual impact is still under investigation.

TSMC: Details are yet to be confirmed

TSMC issued a statement this morning stating that to ensure personnel safety, some factory areas have been evacuated by the company's internal procedures and that the industrial safety system is normal. Details are yet to be confirmed. According to an investigation by Taiwanese media, in the Hsinchu Science Park, one of TSMC’s main bases, where multiple TSMC wafer factories including advanced process factories are concentrated, Zhuke Nanke personnel were evacuated by operating standards. The personnel were safe, the factory facilities were normal, and the machines were Part of the machine is down, and engineering colleagues are working hard to take inventory and restore it. Industry insiders said that the earthquake may cause TSMC to lose part of its production capacity.

UMC: Engineering staff are working hard to inventory and restore machines

Zhuke and Nanke personnel were evacuated by operating standards. All personnel are safe, factory facilities are normal, and some machines are shut down. Engineering staff are working hard to take inventory and restore machines.

Innolux: Little impact on factory operations

Innolux, which has factories in Zhuke Zhunan Park and Nanke Tainan Road Zhuyuan Park, said that it has immediately followed standard procedures to confirm the safety of personnel in the factory. Parts of the factory have been evacuated. People are currently safe; some machines in the factory are safe. The protective automatic shutdown is started and the system is being inspected, which has little impact on the operation of the factory.

Yaohua Yilan: PCB production line will be suspended for inspection and will resume work before this afternoon

Yaohua, a major HDI manufacturing company, has a production line in Lize, Yilan. Production was slightly affected this morning. Yaohua pointed out that the earthquake did not cause major damage. The production line is currently suspended for compliance inspection and is expected to resume work before noon.

Memory manufacturer Winbond stated that all personnel are currently safe, the factory is operating normally, and the actual impact is being assessed.

The Zhuke Administration Bureau has inspected the six parks under its jurisdiction: Yilan Park, Longtan Park, Hsinchu Park, Zhuke Biomedical Park; and Zhunan Park and Tongluo Park in Miaoli County. The power supply is normal. However, Biomedical Park and Tongluo Park reported abnormal water supply and further investigation is underway.

The Zhuke Management Bureau stated that Hsinchu Park: AU Optronics, UMC, Macronix, and Power Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. reported normal returns. Zhunan Park: Partial preventive shutdown of Power Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd., and TSMC, partial shutdown of Innolux Optoelectronics.

What impact does TSMC's shutdown have on chips?

As of current news, the earthquake caused the shutdown of some machines in semiconductor wafer factories such as TSMC, UMC, and Power Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd., which is expected to affect some production capacity. In addition, many of the fab inventories are semi-finished products, which are parts that are in the manufacturing process but have not yet been completed. This part of the inventory may need to be re-run due to an earthquake, thus causing supply delays. According to the detailed inventory data at the end of 2023, TSMC has a high proportion of this type of inventory, and UMC has a similar proportion. The world's most advanced companies have a smaller proportion of this type of inventory, with Macronix having the most.

Small-scale aftershocks are still occurring in Taiwan, and the Tsunami Warning Center of the Ministry of Natural Resources has issued a tsunami level II alert (orange). Based on preliminary earthquake parameters, the Tsunami Warning Center of the Ministry of Natural Resources determines that the earthquake may trigger a local tsunami around the earthquake source. It is expected to cause disastrous impacts to some areas along the coast of Taipei East, Pingtung East, Pingtung East, Southeast Taipei, Northeast Taipei, Hualien, and Yilan. Therefore, subsequent effects should continue to be observed.