TSMC reported losses of $162 million as a result of the earthquake that hit southern Taiwan on January 21.
Although the chipmaker confirmed at the time that all personnel was safe and the fabs had swiftly resumed operations, a statement published by TSMC on February 10 said: “A certain number of wafers in the process were impacted and had to be scrapped due to the earthquake and aftershocks.”
The company, however, reiterated that there was no structural damage to its fabs, and “the water supply, power, workplace safety systems, and operations are functioning normally.”
The losses will be recognized by TSMC in Q1 2025, with the chipmaker adding that the scrapped wafers have resulted in the company downgrading its revenue forecast for the quarter; now expected to be closer to the lower end of the guidance range of between $25 – 25.8 billion.
“Despite this, the company maintains first quarter gross profit margin to be between 57 percent and 59 percent and operating profit margin is expected to be between 46.5 percent and 48.5 percent,” the statement read. “The company is making every effort to recover the lost production, and there is no change to our full-year outlook.”
TSMC is the world's largest contract manufacturer of semiconductors, producing chips for Nvidia, AMD, Apple, Qualcomm, and Broadcom, amongst others.
Headquartered at the Hsinchu Science Park in Hsinchu, Taiwan, the company has 12 fabs on the island.
This week, Taiwan’s Economic Affairs Minister Kuo Jyh-huei said that the Taiwanese government had sent government representatives to Washington in an effort to stop potential chip tariffs after President Donald Trump said he planned to impose a “100 percent tax” on foreign semiconductors.
Taiwanese chip companies produce about 60 percent of the world's chips, but more than 90 percent of leading-edge chips, including Nvidia's data center GPUs.
