Operations little affected by fire at Taoyuan plant: VIS

Taipei, Aug. 28 (CNA) Taiwan-based contract chipmaker Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp. (VIS) said on Friday that operations at one of its facilities in Taoyuan were little affected by a fire late Thursday night.

In a statement, VIS, in which Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) owns around a 19 percent stake, said the fire broke out on the top floor of its Fab 3 in Taoyuan at 11:28 p.m. Thursday.

The fire immediately activated the company's emergency response procedures and the roughly 200 on-site personnel evacuated safely, VIS said.

According to the Taoyuan Fire Department, firefighters brought the fire under control at 12:14 a.m. Friday.

The department said the fire, which spanned around 20 square meters on the top floor of the four-story plant, was fully extinguished at 12:21 a.m. Friday, with no reported injuries.

VIS, which specializes in mature wafer production, said staff returned to their production lines once the working environment was confirmed safe.

As the fire did not damage the plant's main facilities, power systems and production equipment, most production lines are running normally, VIS said.

The chipmaker added that the air pollution control equipment and certain connected equipment affected by the fire are expected to be reconnected by the end of this week.

VIS said it was investigating the cause of the fire and other possible impacts.

VIS currently runs five eight-inch wafer fabs worldwide, with four in Taiwan and one in Singapore. It said it plans to roll out 3.30 million 8-inch wafers in 2026.

According to Taipei-based market advisory firm TrendForce, VIS is the world's ninth-largest contract chipmaker, with a market share of 0.8 percent in the first quarter of this year. TSMC is top with 72.3 percent.