Last weeks earthquake in Japan had a magnitude of 7.3, creating power shortages in the impacted districts. Market experts have confirmed reports of a rapid effect on semiconductor output following the earthquake, including factories run by Kioxia, Micron, and Sony.
While delays to production appear to have been mild overall, the earthquake had far more serious and tragic consequences. The earthquake, which had its epicenter off the shore of Fukushima, struck at midnight local time, killing at least four people and injuring more than 100.
Kioxia's NAND manufacturing lines have been shut down owing to contamination concerns in recent weeks. A manufacturing mistake has had a significant influence on the availability of this critical component of SSDs and is predicted to have a minor impact on price, maybe as much as 10%. However, owing to the cautious restart of manufacture, Kioxia's K1 facility (located in Kitakami, Japan, the epicenter of the magnitude 5 earthquake) was not working at full capacity. Following this latest stoppage caused by the earthquake, it appears that resuming operations at the K1 facility at full production capacity will require some more time.
According to reports, Sony has three facilities in locations around the earthquake's epicenter that may have been impacted. As a precaution, Sony has temporarily ceased operations at its Storage Media Plant, Laser Semiconductor Plant, and Image Sensor Plant.
Sumco and Shin – Etsu, two lesser-known firms, manufacture semiconductor wafers in the Richter zone. Because wafer fabrication requires "very high stability," its output is likely to have been impacted.
Finally, Renesas, which operates mostly in the automation industry, was forced to temporarily close and conduct an extensive investigation of its facilities. Four wafer plants, including two 12-inch wafer operations, were located in earthquake zones with a magnitude of 1 to 3 and had no severe interruptions. We will keep you updated on how this affects the market, and if we receive any information, we will notify you as quickly as possible.
Earthquake of magnitude 7.3 suspends the operation of some semiconductor factories in Japan
