In the early hours of a recent morning, Taiwan experienced a significant jolt — a 6. 4-magnitude earthquake that rippled through the southern county of Chiayi. The shockwaves reached as far as the cities of Tainan and Taichung, but the impact on the tech sector was particularly notable. TSMC, the globe's top chip producer, had to pause operations and evacuate workers at its plants in these cities' science parks.

The good news? The vital equipment seemed to have survived the quake pretty well. TSMC reported that most of its equipment is designed to withstand such shocks. By the afternoon, more than 70% of the production tools were back up and running. But it's not all smooth sailing. Some production lines may still face delays, and it might take several days before everything is back to normal capacity.

You might be wondering, why is this a big deal? Well, the chipmaking process is incredibly delicate. Even a small tremor could introduce errors that reduce the number of usable chips. And TSMC has a lot of orders from big-time customers in the U. S. These delays could disrupt the carefully planned production schedules that go back months, or even years.

Taiwan isn't unfamiliar with earthquakes. In 2024, a stronger quake near Hualien County temporarily suspended operations at TSMC and other major chipmakers. And in 2021, another shakeup halted TSMC's productions, adding more strain to the global chip supply chain already battered by the Covid-19 pandemic.

All this makes you think: how resilient is our tech supply chain? And what can we do to make it stronger against such natural disasters?

Earthquake in Taiwan Causes TSMC Chip Production Delays

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