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Science park impacted by earthquake

• Publication Date：03/05/2010
• Source： Economic Daily News

Operations at several high-tech firms in the Tainan Science Park have been affected by the March 4 earthquake, according to Chen Chun-wei, director-general of the Southern Taiwan Science Park Administration.

Chen said the magnitude-6.4 temblor had the force of a magnitude-5 earthquake at the Tainan branch of the STSP. It was the most severe shakeup in the park’s history, he noted.

The firms most severely impacted are Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp. and Hannstar Display Corp., both thin-film-transistor liquid display panel makers, and Sintek Photronic Corp., a color filter supplier.

A succession of aftershocks will likely prolong the time it takes for their production lines to return to normal, industry experts said.

These experts further pointed out that it generally takes panel makers about one month to produce and deliver their products. During March and April, the two affected panel makers could experience a delay in shipments as well as a corresponding loss in revenues.

Glass substrate supplier Corning Inc. said its Tainan plant is still running as usual and supply will not be affected.

Dedicated chipmakers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. and United Microelectronics Corp. both have 12-inch fabs at the STSP, which had been operating at close to full capacity before the tremor struck. Industry analysts expect the upheaval to aggravate the demand-supply gap in the semiconductor sector and cause an even tighter supply of certain integrated circuit products.

According to an official statement released by TSMC, the earthquake will set back the firm’s wafer production process by 1.5 days. Unnamed UMC officials said the firm’s Tainan plant is running at full capacity, and that the temblor will delay UMC’s delivery by only one day. Equipment suppliers estimated that the two companies will suffer losses of NT$400 million (US$12.5 million) and NT$160 million in revenues, respectively. (SFC-HZW)