A severe power shortage triggered by a fire at a power plant in southern Taiwan is affecting TSMC, the world’s largest foundry for semiconductor manufacturing. Taiwanese media, including China Times and United Daily News, reported this on the 18th local time, citing sources.
On the evening of the 9th, a fire broke out due to an explosion at Hsingda Power Plant in Kaohsiung, Taiwan’s third-largest city in the south. In response, Taiwan Power Company (TPC) issued an ‘Alert for Power System Guarded Operations’ to prevent a massive blackout.
It’s known that TSMC is cooperating with government efforts by reducing power usage and operating emergency generators. Sources have indicated that this has caused disruptions in some of TSMC’s processes and affected cleanroom operations in semiconductor manufacturing, leading to complaints within the company.
In 2023, TSMC’s energy consumption was 24.775 billion kWh, representing 8.96% of Taiwan’s total electricity consumption and 16.2% of the total industrial electricity usage in Taiwan.