Chip factory Samsung shuts down after a short power outage

A one-minute power outage has temporarily paralyzed dram and nand production at Samsung’s chip factory in Hwaseong. The production stop of two to three days could cost the company millions of euros.

The Korean Yonhap reports that the outage at the factory in Hwaseong, about 60 kilometers south of Seoul, lasted about a minute. Samsung is investigating the affected production lines and expects dram and nand production to resume two to three days after the outage. There would be little damage to equipment from the outage.

The cause was an incident at a nearby substation in the power grid, which left the entire neighborhood around the factory without power. Samsung’s S3 location in Hwaseong is one of the world’s largest chip manufacturing facilities. The company makes nand, dram and processors.

Last year, a power outage at Samsung’s chip factory in Pyeongtaek led to 50 billion won, or 38.57 million euros, in damage, according to Yonhap.