A magnitude-6.4 earthquake struck southern Taiwan early yesterday morning, prompting staff evacuations at some production lines, which could cause disruptions in shipments of flat panels.
“Utility supplies were normal and there were no reports of casualties or damage, but production of some equipment was suspended temporarily,” the administration office of Southern Taiwan Science Park said in a statement yesterday.
“Following standard safety procedures, workers were immediately evacuated after the earthquake,” it said.
PHOTO: REUTERS/NATIONAL AIRBORNE SERVICE CORPS
The administration is in charge of Tainan Science Park and Kaohsiung Science Park — where 100-plus production lines, including solar cell maker Motech Industries Inc (茂迪), panel maker Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美電子) and chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) — are located.
The intensity of the quake at Tainan Science Park was 5 on the Richter Scale, while that at Kaohsiung Science Park was 4, the statement said.
“Most of Chi Mei’s production lines have resumed operations,” Chi Mei spokesman Eddie Chen (陳彥松) said by telephone. “Some still need parts or adjustments and we’ll have to clean up the mess.”
PHOTO: CNA
AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), the nation’s largest manufacturer of liquid-crystal-display (LCD) panels, suffered “no significant impact” on its finances and operations, the company said in a stock exchange filing.
However, global LCD supply could be disrupted, Bank of America Merrill Lynch analyst Frank Lee said.
Nearly all of Chi Mei’s fabs were affected, although the severity remains unclear, Lee wrote in a note to clients, quoting initial company feedback.
“We could see a pretty significant disruption to the overall LCD supply chain” during the second and third quarters, he wrote.
Meanwhile in Tainan County, firefighters were called in when a fire started in an automated storage warehouse at an Everest Textiles plant in Shanshang Township (山上) following the quake.
United Microelectronics Corp (聯電), the world’s second-largest custom-chipmaker, suffered damage estimated at NT$55 million (US$1.7 million), as production equipment crashed and some tools sustained minor damage, chief financial officer Liu Chi-tung (劉啟東) told Central News Agency.
Production at its 12-inch factory at Tainan Science Park will be delayed by one day and its factory in Singapore will help meet shipment demand, he said.
TSMC estimated losses would be the equivalent of one-and-a-half days of production.
“Assessment reports show that the earthquake had a minimal impact at the Hsinchu fabs. While fabs in Tainan were more seriously affected, they have gradually resumed production,” the world’s largest custom-chip maker said in a statement on its Web site.
Motech Industries and E-Tone Solar Tech Co Ltd (益通光能) said the earthquake would not have a major impact on shipments.
As solar cell production is not as sophisticated as that for panels and chips, employee evacuations and equipment shutdown didn’t hurt as much, they said.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors