On 3^rd April 2024, Taiwan was hit by the largest earthquake the country had seen since 1999.

The earthquake was registered in Hualien County on the eastern seaboard. TSMC’s manufacturing locations are on the North-West and South-Western portions of the Island near Hsinchu, and Taichung. The facilities are located over 100km from the epicentre, and thanks to strict building regulations, appear to be intact and unaffected.

TSMC, the world's most advanced semiconductor manufacturing company capable of producing the 3nm chip, stated they had evacuated workers at the facility and were already returning some to factory lines after the earthquake hit. A TSMC spokesperson stated that construction sites were normal upon inspection, however, the company has decided to suspend work for the remainder of the day.

Work will resume at the site until inspections have been completed evaluating the impact of the earthquake. It remains unclear to what extent exactly the earthquake has impacted the facility. However, these fabrication facilities operate on extremely delicate machinery which are sensitive to many disruptions.

It is anticipated that production will cease for a short period to ensure manufacturing units have not been severely damaged or calibrated. At this current time, no significant damage has been reported and wafer losses are still being calculated.