Massive 7.4-magnitude earthquake strikes Taiwan, threatens tech supply chain

[Shawn Knight]

In brief: A 7.4-magnitude earthquake that struck Taiwan on Wednesday morning (8 pm Tuesday Eastern Time) has claimed nine lives as of writing, injured hundreds others, and threatens to disrupt the tech supply chain.

According to NBC News, the quake hit roughly 11 miles south-southwest of Hualien at a depth of about 21 miles, and triggered tsunami warnings for Taiwan, Japan, and the Philippines that were eventually lifted.

Bloomberg said some local chipmakers, including market leader Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., have halted operations. The company told the publication it has moved staff out of specific areas and is assessing the situation.

United Microelectronics Corporation, another chipmaker in the region, said the quake triggered automatic safety measures at fabs in Hsinchu and Tainan that affected some wafers on the production line. All staff are safe, however, and there was no material impact on the company's operations. As such, business and shipments are resuming as normal, UMC said.

WATCH: Strong earthquake causes landslide in eastern Taiwan pic.twitter.com/SQZFyd7zgj

– BNO News (@BNONews) April 3, 2024

TSMC is the leading contract manufacturer for some of the world's largest tech companies including Apple and Nvidia. Disrupting a key cog in the supply chain could have a sort of trickle-down effect.

Bum Ki Son and Brian Tan, analysts with Barclays, said some high-end chips require seamless 24/7 operations in a vacuum state for weeks at a time. Halting operations could potentially ruin chips that are midway through the production process.

It is too early to know for sure, but most don't believe the quake will totally derail the tech supply chain like we've seen with other major events.

Unlike Covid where everything worldwide came to a sudden stop, Taiwan is only one part of the tech supply chain, and it does not sound like infrastructure was totally wiped out like we saw with the devastating floods in Thailand in 2011 that caused hard drive prices to soar.

In the case of TSMC, analysts with Bloomberg Intelligence suspect demand for its advanced process nodes should cushion any sort of short-term financial impact.

Image credit: Pixabay

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Massive 7.4-magnitude earthquake strikes Taiwan, threatens tech supply chain

 

[Dimitriid]

You know I get that this is a tech site but if I open the front page and all you can comment is how its 'exposing the fragility of the tech supply chain' you basically failed as journalists: 9 people have lost their lives, that we know of so far I think we can give that priority and let the audience infer of the possible consequences on the tech side while acknowledging the lost of lives first and foremost, the actual tragedy here: We should be able to say we're ok with billionaires having their precious 'tech supply lines disrupted' if it would save even just one life let alone a huge tragedy that's probably bound to be even worst as the news develop.

Just be better than being so callous.

 

[yRaz]

You know I get that this is a tech site but if I open the front page and all you can comment is how its 'exposing the fragility of the tech supply chain' you basically failed as journalists: 9 people have lost their lives, that we know of so far I think we can give that priority and let the audience infer of the possible consequences on the tech side while acknowledging the lost of lives first and foremost, the actual tragedy here: We should be able to say we're ok with billionaires having their precious 'tech supply lines disrupted' if it would save even just one life let alone a huge tragedy that's probably bound to be even worst as the news develop.

Just be better than being so callous.

Stop pretending to care about human lives. Millions of people die every year in unnecessary conflicts. If you actually cared you'd stop. Buying electronics. From the child slaves mining cobalt for batteries, the sweatshops that make your clothes, the Chinese slave labor that makes cheap goods for use to buy in stores.

Noone gives a **** about human life and the sooner we stop lying to ourselves about the problem the sooner we can fix it. 9 people died, so what? Each person in the first world contributes to the deaths of hundreds of people every year so that we can buy consumer goods. People only care when it's convenient.

 

[drjekelmrhyde]

The earthquake happened because DEI
Or CRT
Or Woke

 

[yRaz]

The earthquake happened because DEI
Or CRT
Or Woke

"Thanks Obama"

Obama had the best memes

 

[anastrophe]

I get that this is a tech site

I'm not so sure that you do.

 

[kiwigraeme]

I would imagine the new plants are built away from major fault lines . Taiwan being on the Pacific ring of fire .
Plus newer factories will be built to a higher standard

Given that a earthquake proof building does NOT mean the building will survive , it just means humans should not die .

The other problem is like the Christchurch quake in NZ. Many spiderweb flatlines close to surface are not as well known about . An such earthquakes can continue for a long time. For us over 2 years . Where if one of our major fault lines goes off and is over 8 on the richter scale , will normally settled own in a couple of months or 3 .
These shallow earthquakes can have a very high local intensity . ie the Chch one was over 9 on the intensity scale.

Do not run out of tall buildings in a EQ , more chance to be hurt from falling glass etc , stay near ground floor door , if building collapses (very unlikely)- the compression waves should throw you clear