Japan quake: Tracking the status of fabs in wake of disaster
The following is the most up-to-date information available about the status of chip fabs and other facilities that have been impacted by damage to structures, equipment and infrastructure stemming from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The first two pages are chip makers, listed alphabetically by company, with subsequent pages detailing the status of equipment and materials suppliers, consumer electronics companies and automakers, and test and measurement companies. Most of the information on the fabs was provided by companies that operate them.
Click on image to enlarge.
Elpida Memory Inc., Japan’s sole DRAM maker, reported that manufacturing was halted at its Akita Elpida plant due to power outage following the April 7 aftershock. There was no damage to the manufacturing equipment at Akita, Elpida said. On April 8, Elpida said it resumed operations at Akita following restoration of power. Because Elpida outsources more than 90 percent of its packaging and testing operations to overseas firms, the impact on company earnings due to the shutdown of Akita Elpida is expected to be minimal, the company said. Elpida's Hiroshima Plant suffered no impact because it is located in Hiroshima in the southwest of Japan, far from the northeastern regions hit by the earthquake, Elpida said. Elipda reported on March 28 that its Hiroshima plant, its Rexchip Electronics Corp. subsidiary in Taiwan and its assembly and test subsidiary Akita Elpida were operating at near normal levels. Based on several internal inventory adjustments conducted between Elpida group companies and information gathered from suppliers, Elpida senior officials have concluded that plants have sufficient parts and materials to continue with product supplies to customers until the end of July, Elpida said.
Freescale Semiconductor Inc. said Wednesday (April 6) it will not re-open a 6-inch fab in Sendai, Japan, which sustained serious damage in the earthquake. Freescale, which had at one time put the Sendai fab up for sale, was preparing to close the facility in December. But the company said Wednesday that when personnel first reentered the fab 10 days ago they found equipment severely damaged, broken ducts, pipes and windows and discovered that chemicals had leaked. Freescale had said on March 31 that restoration of power supply at the Sendai fab remained insufficient to meet the fab's operational requirements. The Sendai fab produced microcontrollers, analog ICs and sensors products. In anticipation of the previously announced closure, Freescale had been building buffer inventory to support end-of-life products and the transfer of production from Sendai to Freescale’s other fabs and outside foundry partners, the company said. Some products produced in the Sendai facility have also been qualified in other Freescale locations, while other products are in the process of being transferred, the company said. Freescale said it is continuing to assess the impact
of this natural disaster on its entire supply chain in an effort to
minimize the effect on its customers’ operations and has initiated a
number of actions to address supply gaps. Freescale previously issued a statement saying that all employees of then Sendai were accounted for and safe. The fab, formally known as Tohoku Semiconductor Corp., is located at Izumi-ku Sendai, about 8 miles from the coast that was devastated by tsunami wave following the earthquake. Freescale put the fab up for sale in 2009.
Fujitsu Group reported on April 20 that all seven of the Fujitsu Group manufacturing facilities that were idled in the aftermath of the quake had resumed operations at 100 percent of capacity. Five Fujitsu Semiconductor Group plants were damaged as a result of the March 11 quake and aftershocks on April 7 and April 11, Fujitsu said. Operations at both the Iwate plant of Fujitsu Semiconductor Ltd. (Iwasa-gun, Kanegasaki-cho, Iwate prefecture) and Fujitsu Semiconductor Technology Ltd. (Aizu-Wakamatsu, Fukushima prefecture) resumed April 18 and April 20, respectively, Fujitsu said. The remaining facilities had all restarted operations previously, Fujitsu said. A portion of the production line of desktop PCs was transferred temporarily from Fujitsu Isotec Ltd. (Date-shi, Fukushima prefecture), a Fujitsu subsidiary manufacturing PC servers and desktop PCs, to Fujitsu Shimane Ltd. (Hikawa-gun, Shimane prefecture), the company said. But as of April 18 desktop PC production has been transferred back to Fujitsu Isotec and hence, Fujitsu Isotec has resumed regular operations, the firm said. Fujitsu said it confirmed the status of all its employees. One employee died as a result of the disaster, Fujitsu said. The company did not name the employee. "We offer our deepest condolences to our fallen colleague and his family," Fujitsu said in a statement.
Hitachi Group said on April 6 that its Power Systems business plants had resumed operation March 29, with the exception of some production lines at the Hitachi Ltd. Power System Co.'s Hitachi Works plant in Ibaraki prefecture, which produces turbines and power generators. The company said it had dispatched staff from its Information & Telecommunications business to affected regions of Japan to help recover customers' systems. Hitachi said it recovered most manufacturing operations that produce automotive systems the week of March 28.
On March 17, Maxim Integrated Products Inc. reported that its partner facility, Seiko Epson, incurred no structural damage from the quake, but said that production has been affected by regional power outages. The Seiko Epson, located in Sakata, Japan, provided about 15 percent of Maxim's wafer starts last quarter. Maxim said all the products it has manufactured at Seiko Epson can be made elsewhere, provided there is sufficient capacity available. The company said it has already begun shifting production to its internal fabs and other foundries.
U.S.-based passives giant Molex Inc. reported its employees in Japan were safe and that none of its three facilities were damaged in the massive earthquake. Molex has major operations in Shizouka, Kagoshima and Yamato City, none of which are in the northeastern part of the country that was hardest hit by the earthquake and tsunami. ‘’With the situation also evolving rapidly in regard to transportation and infrastructure issues, we do not yet know what the effect will be on Molex’s business. As we work to assess how this will affect Molex, our business continuity teams are working to ensure we continue to supply customers,” said Martin Slark, vice chairman and CEO, in a statement.
On Semiconductor Corp. said reiterated April 4 that at least partial operations had resumed at all of the front-end wafer fabs and back-end test and assembly facilities operated by the company that were impacted by the earthquake and tsunami. Infrastructure services such as fuel, electricity, gases, water, chemicals and logistics to ON Semiconductor's and SANYO Semiconductor's factories and those of its customers and suppliers in Japan have been impacted by the consequences of the earthquake and tsunami and the potential for intermittent supply of these services may cause temporary production disruptions, On Semi said. The company is identifying options to shift production to other facilities to support supply continuity for customers. On Semi reported March 24 that infrastructure services fabs it operates in Aizu, Fukushima prefecture and Gunma prefecture had been rendered idle had been restored and that both fabs were ramping back up. The company has provided no timetable for full recovery of manufacturing operations. Two front-end fabs operated by On Semi have remained in operation since shortly after the earthquake. One fab is in Niigata prefecture, near the northwest coast of Japan, and another leased from Sanyo Semiconductor in Gifu prefecture to the south. Two back-end test and assembly facilities in Kasukawa, Gunma prefecture and Hanyu, Saitama prefecture are also in operation, On Semi said. On Semi confirmed that there were no on-site injuries to its employees as a result of the quake and tsunami.
1.jpg)
207 comments
Tweet This