January 24, 2025 /SemiMedia/ — According to reports, while a 6.4-magnitude earthquake on January 21 caused no major structural damage to TSMC’s facilities, some production lines were halted and may require recalibration. The company estimates that up to 20,000 wafers currently in production could be affected, with some potentially needing to be scrapped.

Following the earthquake, TSMC evacuated employees from its central and southern Taiwan facilities and suspended operations. Affected plants include the Tainan Science Park's TSMC 18A fab (a key 3nm production site), the 200mm wafer fab 8, and the 14A fab, which uses 4nm and 5nm technologies. While some of the affected wafers may be completed, most are expected to be discarded, disrupting chip supplies for certain customers and potentially leading to reduced availability of some products.

Although the 20,000 wafers represent only a small fraction of TSMC’s total output — with the company processing 3.418 million 300mm-equivalent wafers last quarter, or about 37,000 per day — the earthquake is not expected to have a significant impact on TSMC's overall financial performance. However, clients without sufficient stock may experience sales disruptions due to the lost processors.

TSMC stated that, while the earthquake’s impact is not expected to be substantial, the company's precision equipment may require recalibration, which could delay the return to full production. The company is working to resume operations as soon as possible. This is not the first such disruption; a similar incident in April 2024 caused TSMC an estimated $92 million in losses, with equipment recovery taking three days.