Citing sources, Taiwan media including China Times and United Daily News reported on the 29th that the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that struck the waters off northeastern Taiwan on the night of the 27th will inevitably affect the advanced processes of TSMC, the world's largest foundry (contract semiconductor manufacturing) corporations.
The source said that because of the strong quake that occurred off the coast of Yilan on the 27th, some TSMC plants in the Hsinchu Science Park reached the evacuation threshold, and, under emergency procedures, workers and others evacuated outside as a precaution, and stated accordingly.
The source said that the quake did not cause structural damage to buildings, but precision equipment such as extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines, which are essential for advanced semiconductor production, automatically shut down to protect the equipment when vibrations occur.
At the same time, it noted that advanced wafers being produced at the time of the quake need to be scrapped or re-inspected.
In the case of TSMC's plant in Tainan in the Southern Taiwan Science Park (Nanke), the impact of this quake was limited to intensity 4, but it added that because there are advanced nodes such as 3-nanometer (nm; one-billionth of a meter) and 5-nanometer, any problem with Production yield (the proportion of good units among finished products) would directly affect revenue.
Unlike "magnitude," which refers to absolute strength, "intensity" is a relative concept that quantifies how people in the affected area feel and how much objects shake when an earthquake occurs. Intensity 4 is a level of shaking where most people are startled and ceiling-hung lights sway significantly.
Zhou Zuo-hui, a distinguished visiting professor in the Department of Materials Science at National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan, explained that the quake could affect chip production in the Hsinchu Science Park due to issues such as pipelines, and in particular, that shifts in the positions of equipment used to etch delicate patterns on silicon wafers and shutdowns due to power outages could affect as many as 100–200 subsequent steps, causing all wafers on the production line to be scrapped.
Accordingly, Professor Zhou Zuo-hui predicted that losses could exceed up to NT$100 million (about 4.5 billion won).
Losses TSMC suffered due to the magnitude 6.4 earthquake that struck the southern Tainan area in Jan. reached NT$5.3 billion (about 242.2 billion won).
Taiwan media said the quake is drawing market and industry attention to TSMC's 2025 fourth-quarter earnings briefing scheduled for Jan. 15 next year.
According to the Central Weather Administration (CWA), at 11:05 p.m. on the 27th (local time), a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck the waters near Yilan County, Taiwan. The epicenter was 32.3 km east of Yilan County, and the focal depth was 72.8 km.
Taiwan media reported that this quake is the seventh earthquake of magnitude 7.0 or higher since the magnitude 7.6 quake in Nantou, Taiwan, on Sept. 21, 1999, which left 2,496 people dead.