Taiwan Earthquake

[CHARizard]

My main two worries here:
1) How badly has this earthquake affected the TSMC fab?
2) If China actually invades Taiwan during this, boy will there be a massive shitfest around TSMC, and the fact that the entire West relies on it, and has all their design docs there. Intel, Nvidia, AMD, Qualcomm, Apple, absolutely every single semiconductor manufacturer relies on TSMC to make their shit, and the consequences of TSMC going out of order/getting taken over by China are incomprehensible.

Its probably really shitty of me to think of chip fabs as the first big issue. Just thinking back to the shortages during covid.

 

[No Batty Boys in Jamaica]

Seems like TSMC didn’t get hit that badly. But damage to ports and roads might be a problem.

 

[Slav Power]

Its probably really shitty of me to think of chip fabs as the first big issue. Just thinking back to the shortages during covid.

Chip shortages fucking over consumer goods availability is one issue, the other is that the entire world is so reliant on technology from companies that produce it in TSMC that if the worst happens and China gets their hands on all the documents for it, that'll open an entire Pandora's Box of issues later down the line.

 

[Probably An Autist]

Its probably really shitty of me to think of chip fabs as the first big issue. Just thinking back to the shortages during covid.

Don't forget the HDD shortage when the place flooded a few years back.

 

[Manu7]

1) How badly has this earthquake affected the TSMC fab?

By virtue of being a seismically active country, I just know for a fact Taiwanese civil/electrical/chemical engineers are taught in school how to properly design stuff around earthquakes (I know this because I also live in a seismically active country), guessing how much it would affect the inner workings would be impossible from my side, but I wouldn't worry too much about it if I'm being honest if it's just an earthquake. (keep in mind they've had like 13 earthquakes +5.0 richter scale in the last 10 years)

But what is the biggest problem would be a potential Tsunami, since according to google maps, their fabs are close to coast.

Generally speaking Tsunamis are actually the biggest danger from earthquakes by a mile in these countries.

 

[The giant penis of doom]

taught in school how to properly design stuff around earthquakes, guessing how much it would affect the inner workings would be impossible from my side

There's a difference between a building remaining structurally sound and micrometer precision machinery remaining in a working condition. Sure, they probably know what they are doing, but it's a question of tradeoffs. How much do they risk by skimping on earthquake protection.

 

[Male Idiot]

Making video game cards in Europe is RAYCIST!! We need to put them in China's wanted island, that will make sense! -your mind on globalism.

 

[FILTH Tourist]

Seems like TSMC didn’t get hit that badly. But damage to ports and roads might be a problem.

Kaohsiung (the largest port) is on the opposite side of the island from the epicenter of the earthquake and is fine and the important infrastructure for moving goods is on the west side of the island which is also fine. Taipei will also be back to normal in a few days outside of a few buildings and some MRT repairs. East coast is pretty fucked up, but it's mainly small communities and resort towns.

But what is the biggest problem would be a potential Tsunami, since according to google maps, their fabs are close to coast.

The fabs are on the west coast, any big tsunamis are going to be on the east coast.

So don't worry, you guys will still get your microchips and this isn't the make or break opportunity for the CCP to invade.

 

[Manu7]

There's a difference between a building remaining structurally sound and micrometer precision machinery remaining in a working condition.

Buildings can not only be made to "resist" earthquakes, they can also be made to absorb and dissipate the energy released.

About the machinery I have no expertise on it so I'm not going to comment about it but what can I say is that a company like TSMC definitely has multiple contingency plans in events of a natural disaster of all sorts, specially for earthquakes for being a Taiwan company. even assuming the scenario that their machinery broke, they do have a plan to how to deal with it and the steps they have to take to go back to production as soon as possible.

How much do they risk by skimping on earthquake protection.

We would've already found out years if not decades ago by the multiple earthquakes they've had.

 

[Bridge Burner]

I might be retarded, but can they repair the collapsed red apartment block? Like pull it back up? Or is it going to end demolished?

 

[sassblassted]

That was my first thought, but I don't think this will kickstart the Chinese invasion. Naval landings take months (years) of planning, and troops/equipment/vehicles need to be prepared well in advance for an assault.

If the PRC were to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it's either the most fortunate eve of attack in history, or a rushed job.

Thankfully China isn't known to make rushed decisions that ultimately lead to much worse outcomes

 

[FILTH Tourist]

I might be retarded, but can they repair the collapsed red apartment block? Like pull it back up? Or is it going to end demolished?

They will tear it down and rebuild. If it fell down like that, then it was clearly not up to modern building standards. A lot of old buildings there are not built to sway with earthquakes so you get situations like this.

 

[Kel1 shi1]

I might be retarded, but can they repair the collapsed red apartment block? Like pull it back up? Or is it going to end demolished?

The land will be worth more than the building that's sitting broken on it.

 

[Dicky Kicky]

This is a surprising dead thread for a natural disaster in a developed country. Figured more videos and articles would be getting posted, or at least some schizophrenic conspiracy theories.

 

[FILTH Tourist]

This is a surprising dead thread for a natural disaster in a developed country. Figured more videos and articles would be getting posted, or at least some schizophrenic conspiracy theories.

Well, the earthquake probably hit Taiwan in the best spot, if it was going to hit (East side is not that populated, the mountains dampened the quake for the population centers on the west side). Aftershocks are annoying as hell, and it sucks Taipei got hit hard, but not a lot of casualties fortunately. It also helped that Taiwan learned some lessons from the 1999 quake.

 

[No Batty Boys in Jamaica]

I might be retarded, but can they repair the collapsed red apartment block? Like pull it back up? Or is it going to end demolished?

It’s technically possible to repair but not worth the cost of the building. Like a totaled car.

 

[HarveyMCR]

Thankfully China isn't known to make rushed decisions that ultimately lead to much worse outcomes

Let me rephrase my earlier statement.

I pray to God China invades Taiwan preemptively.

 

[FILTH Tourist]

Checked my alerts. We had about 100 aftershocks in the level 3 to 5 range

 

[The Ghost of Kviv]

TSMC is reportedly up and operational. They're whipping the cheap labor engineers to get some work done overnight to catch up.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tsmc-evacuates-production-lines-major-011155332.html

 

[0gh]

I'm pretty sure TSMC's buildings are built to survive a nuclear explosion. Ok I'm over exaggerating, but given the importance of their fab and the 600 billion dollars their company seems to be valued at

I doubt they don't have at least half the shit nuclear plants in Japan have implemented to make sure earthquakes won't affect the core