TSMC's power outage has halted some of its automotive semiconductor production processes, exacerbating the recent shortage of automotive semiconductors.

According to Taiwanese media, on the 14th, TSMC's Fab-14A P7 in the Southern Taiwan Science Park (STSP) suffered a production halt due to a power outage.

According to TSMC, the outage was caused by a problem with a 161kV underground cable under construction at a nearby ODM/JDM plant, which resulted in a cable failure at an ultra-high voltage substation.

Afterwards, electricity was supplied by a diesel generator and normalized in cooperation with the power company, but it is said that it took a considerable amount of time.

In particular, the factory where this accident occurred is a factory that mainly produces and supplies automotive wafers, and the manufacturing process includes 12-16nm and 40-45nm, but it is reported that 12-16nm was operating normally, and the 40-45nm was the main problem.

In particular, the 40-45nm process is a key process for automotive semiconductors, and it is estimated that approximately 30,000 wafers could be damaged due to this incident, and the total damage could amount to up to 1 billion Taiwan dollars.

To make matters worse, there are growing concerns that the current power outage could lead to a shortage of automotive semiconductors.

Earlier this year, Samsung Electronics' Austin plant, Factories in Texas, USA, including NXP in the Netherlands and Infineon in Germany, have halted operations due to the cold wave.

Also, at the end of last month, a fire broke out at a 12-inch wafer factory of Renesas, the world's third-largest Japanese automotive semiconductor manufacturer, and the 12-inch production line was halted, with no plans to restart it yet.

According to production officials, the fire incident is expected to reduce production of vehicles that use Renesas semiconductors by 1.2 million units.

There are also rumors circulating that Taiwanese wafer foundry UMC is adjusting production due to factory overload, but UMC is currently denying these.

Accordingly, US President Biden recently held a video conference on semiconductors at the White House, and Intel announced that it would begin producing automotive semiconductors in the US within 6 to 7 months.

TSMC is also investing $36 billion in the United States to build a semiconductor manufacturing plant.