TSMC/Shutterstock
The chip company Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company or TSMC for short, the world's leading processor manufacturer, which produces processors for Apple, Nvidia, Qualcomm and other companies announced that production has returned to operation less than 24 hours after it halted operations and evacuated workers - this following the severe earthquake that struck Taiwan yesterday (Wednesday). TSMC also announced that there was no damage to the main production machines for the chips - the ultraviolet lithography machines.
Taiwan's largest chipmaker announced that it had restored between 70 and 80 percent of machines to operation, just ten hours after the earthquake hit. "There was no damage to our critical production tools, including all extreme ultraviolet lithography machines," TSMC Or announced Thursday. A small number of machines were damaged in some of the factories, the company states, but it is investing every possible resource to ensure a full recovery. In the meantime, Nvidia announced in an expression of confidence in the chip manufacturer - that it does not anticipate production delays following the earthquake.
The earthquake in Taiwan:
Powerful earthquake in Taiwan/Twitter
The quick recovery can be attributed to Taiwan's advanced construction technologies, which prevented widespread loss of life and property after a 7.4 magnitude earthquake hit the island yesterday. The current building regulations promoted by the government after an earthquake in 1999 that killed over 2,400 civilians. In the current earthquake, the worst in 25 years, it is currently known about nine dead, a thousand injured and about a hundred people trapped under the rubble.
Taiwan plays a central role in the global technology economy due to the fact that the country is responsible for the production of between 80 and 90 percent of the supercomputers, which are used in smartphones, electric cars and drive servers that are also responsible for AI models and services such as ChatGPT and others.
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