Thursday, May 27th 2021
Second TSMC Fab Worker Detected with COVID-19, Chip Shortages on the Anvil?
Taiwan's most valuable company, and chipmaker of the world, TSMC, confirmed that at least two of its fab workers have been diagnosed with COVID-19, but maintains that it doesn't affect operations at the plants. Most regions around world, including Taiwan, are bracing for successive waves of the disease, and a spread of COVID at TSMC could spell big trouble for the tech-giants dependent on the company for contract-manufacturing of their cutting-edge logic chips. Taiwan has been mostly spared from the Corona epidemic, but is now experiencing its largest wave of COVID-19 infections, with its medical infrastructure under strain. The latest outbreak has the potential to throw operations at TSMC off gear, affecting the supply chains of tens of billions of Dollars worth devices and vehicles around the world.
TSMC maintains an internal epidemic prevention committee, which has conducted contact-tracing of the the two employees, and discovered 10 contacts. Some of these have been sent to home-isolation, while others are closely monitoring themselves for symptoms. TSMC pledged that it will monitor the health of its employees on a daily basis. It has also completed the disinfection of the affected employees' workplace, and public areas visited by them. It once again emphasized that the incident will not affect company operations.
Taiwan is experiencing a spike in new COVID-19 cases since around May 10, sending more of the country's workforce on home-isolation or quarantine. Most countries hit by spikes in COVID cases have had to institute lockdowns to curb spread of the disease. For Taiwan, this means either factories being shut, or working under-capacity. The prospects of both of which could horrify TSMC's clientele that include AMD, Apple, Qualcomm, and Intel. Pat Gelsinger last week stated that the company received its first 7 nm wafers from TSMC, and could be exploring the fab for its next-gen products.
Source:
Taiwan News
TSMC maintains an internal epidemic prevention committee, which has conducted contact-tracing of the the two employees, and discovered 10 contacts. Some of these have been sent to home-isolation, while others are closely monitoring themselves for symptoms. TSMC pledged that it will monitor the health of its employees on a daily basis. It has also completed the disinfection of the affected employees' workplace, and public areas visited by them. It once again emphasized that the incident will not affect company operations.
46 Comments on Second TSMC Fab Worker Detected with COVID-19, Chip Shortages on the Anvil?
(1971)
Thankfully we dont have a super mutant that is as (or more) contagious that the British and evades antibodies as good (or better) the the SA variant.
Tho i supect that if covid19 not eradicated within a few years everywhere (including poor 3rd world contries) then it will continue to mutate to be far worse and this whole thing (lockdowns, vaccinations) could start all over. Lets hope that does not happen as it would be a major demoralizing blow.
"But in response, Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council said China had not used any of the existing channels between the two to provide information about its vaccines, and implied that Beijing was behind Taiwan's difficulties in getting more shots.
"Every time Taiwan's internal epidemic heats up, it [China] criticises our government for obstructing the import of mainland vaccines," it said in a statement sent to Reuters."
This is expected though, it's china after all. This is the country that portrays Uighers as happy after they rounded them up and put them in camps: www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-staff-fret-over-chinas-ads-portraying-happy-muslims-in-xinjiang-11617366096
They've been doublespeaking for decades.
How are people meant to become experts if they don't discuss and research things?
Oh that's right, just get a degree and become an instant expert.
China blocking aid to Taiwan and then offering that same aid with strings attached is not help in any form of the word.
On the whole I'm certainly right. The only kind of argument that would state otherwise is one that takes piece bits out of context pointlessly without looking at the whole. It's intentfully misleading.