Apple chip supplier Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) says that a problem involving substandard chemicals resulted in more than 10,000 wafers of defective chips at its factories.
The issue caused a temporary shutdown on the production line. It’s not clear exactly which clients’ chips were affected by the issue, although Apple may not be among them.
“TSMC has discovered that a shipment of certain chemical used in the manufacturing process deviated from specifications and caused wafers to have lower yields,” the company said in a Monday filing with Taiwan’s stock exchange. “We are carefully investigating the root cause and are communicating with affected customers regarding remedial actions.”
The chemical problem seems to have involved a shipment of photoresist material used as part of the chip manufacturing process. The vendor has worked with TSMC previously without problems, although this batch of chemicals was described as “significantly below the quality of its previous shipments.”
In another statement, TSMC disclosed that the yield problems affected its 12 and 16nm production. If that’s true, it is unlikely that Apple was among the customers affected by the issue — with Nvidia, MediaTek and HiSilicon reportedly the main buyers of these chips from TSMC. TSMC thinks it can make up for lost time between Q1 and Q2.
Other problems for TSMC
This isn’t the first time that the usually very reliable TSMC has suffered production problems. Last August, a computer virus infected the fabrication tools and computers at one of TSMC’s factories. While the manufacturer insisted that “data integrity and confidential information was not compromised,” the issue nonetheless caused production delays.
TSMC is also reportedly working to cut its operating costs as customers slow down their orders in the first half of 2019. To try and lessen the impact, the company is talking with equipment and materials suppliers about lowering their prices by as much as 10 percent.
Source: Digitimes
