TSMC, UMC unaffected by magnitude 6.4 earthquake

Taipei, June 11 (CNA) Two major Taiwanese pure play wafer foundry operators, TSMC and UMC, said on Wednesday that their operations remain normal in the wake of a magnitude 6.4 earthquake off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan earlier in the day.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world's largest contract chipmaker, said the impact resulting from the temblor did not reach the company's standard to evacuate employees around Taiwan.

TSMC runs facilities in Hsinchu, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung that roll out advanced chips for its clients.

At the same time, United Microelectronics Crop. (UMC), a smaller contract chipmaker, specializing in mature chip production, said its operations in Hsinchu and Tainan were not affected by the quake.

The temblor occurred at 7 p.m. with its epicenter located at sea, about 69.9 kilometers south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9 km, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA).

The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County's Changbin, where it measured 5 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale, the CWA said.

The quake measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as in Taichung and other areas of Taitung County, the CWA added.

It also recorded an intensity of 3 in Taipei, New Taipei, Taoyuan, Tainan and Kaohsiung, as well as in Chiayi City and Yilan, Pingtung and Hsinchu counties, according to CWA data.

Meanwhile, Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower), the sole state-run electricity supplier in the country, said its power plants and electricity grid networks around Taiwan were also unaffected by the earthquake.

Earlier in the year, TSMC booked about NT$5.3 billion (US$177 million) in losses after a magnitude 6.4 earthquake rattled southern Taiwan on Jan. 21 and triggered a series of aftershocks.

The Jan. 21 quake forced TSMC to temporarily suspend its operations and evacuate employees in the Southern Taiwan Science Park, where the chipmaker rolls out chips made using the 3 nanometer process, the company's most advanced technology in mass production.