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Taiwan is suffering the « island’s worst drought in decades », according to Nikkei. And this is terrible news for semiconductor manufacturers, who are being forced to make cuts on water usage while at the same time desperately trying to scramble and play catch-up with a drought of their own.
Taiwan is now planning to « further tighten water use in several cities that are home to a cluster of important manufacturers, » including plants in Taoyuan, Taichung, Hsinchu and Miaoli. They are going to be asked to cut consumption by up to 11%. Chiayi and Tainan, where Taiwan Semiconductor is based, will be asked to take a 7% cut.
All of these cuts come on top of another 7% cut already put into effect last month.
One chipmaker executive told Nikkei: « All the industries are concerned whether the situation will be alleviated soon. … No one wants to see the worst-case scenario of anyone being forced to dial back production capacity due to water issues. »
Companies like TSMC use 156,000 tons of water a day. Water quality is « is extremely critical to chip production lines and the processes. … It could affect product performance, so that needs to be handled very carefully, » one insider told Nikkei.
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Tech/Semiconductors/Taiwan-s-chip-industry-under-threat-as-drought-turns-critical