Apple chipmaker TSMC said that the quake that hit southern Taiwan earlier this month caused damage that will impact production, but has not yet given a clear indication of the scale of the problem. However, according to Digitimes, TSMC says that the damage is much “worse than originally assessed”.
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Following the natural disaster, the company originally estimated that more than 95% of the tools would be fully restored to normal in two to three days. These are most advanced foundries the company has, as TSMC is spending $20.6 billion on Fab 12/12B, Fab 14/14B and Fab 15 complexes. Innolux has shifted partial production from factories at STSP to a factory in northern Taiwan to minimize the impact on shipments, the company said. TSMC, the only provider of A10 chipsets for iPhone 7, could have fewer wafer shipments than anticipated and this could hinder Apple’s plans.
Despite the decrease in wafer shipments, TSMC expressed confidence that it would hit the revenue target of $5.9-$6 billion in the first quarter of 2016.
Customers hold the iPhone 6S during the official launch at the Apple store in central Sydney, Australia, Sept. 25.
TSMC now supplies Apple’s A9 chip, which powers the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, alongside Samsung that also produces a version of the chip.
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The Cupertino based Apple is believed to have chosen TSMC as its exclusive supplier of its A10 chips partly because of TSMC impressive 16-nanometer process, which delivers more stable performance as compared to Samsung’s 14-nanometer process.
