Production at Hsinchu Science Park unaffected by quakes

Three quakes measuring 3.9, 4.4, and 4.9 on the Richter Scale hit the mountainous Jianshih Township in Hsinchu County on Wednesday, while another measuring 3.7 rocked the county's Guansi Township the following morning.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world's largest wafer foundry service provider, said that the firm's wafer foundry facilities in the Hsinchu Science Park were not affected by the quakes, with its daily wafer output remaining at the normal level of 30,000 to 40,000 pieces on Wednesday. There was also a normal, single-digit number of broken pieces.

A TSMC spokesman said the firm's highly sensitive wafer fabrication equipment would automatically stop operations in case of an earthquake, but the situation was soon back to normal after the quake, indicating the equipment was not damaged and its shipments were not affected.

Meanwhile, United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) and Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp., an affiliate of TSMC, also stressed that their production and shipments managed to remain normal despite the quakes.

The Hsinchu Science Park Administration said that the wafer foundry equipment may break down in cases of power outages or earthquakes measuring 6.0 or higher, but this wasn't the case on Wednesday.

Administration officials said that TSMC's wafer foundry equipment can survive quakes measuring 6.0 to 7.0 on the Richter Scale, and the UMC's can withstand those with a scale of 6.0. Even if the precision of the equipment is affected, it can be easily adjusted without causing any disruptions to production.

Meanwhile, professor Wu Yi-ming of the Department of Geosciences at National Taiwan University said that the Hsinchu Science Park, home to nearly 40 high-tech firms, has come through the series of quakes well, and that the vast majority of manufacturing plants feature anti-quake designs.

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