Contaminated gas problem hit key chip production line TSMC

TSMC’s Fab 18 suffered an issue last week where contaminated gas was used in the chip manufacturing process. TSMC makes, among other things, the processors for Apple at the location in Taiwan.

Last Thursday, TSMC discovered that a supplier had supplied gas with substances that do not belong there. The company confirmed this weekend to the Japanese newspaper Nikkei that this caused problems. “Some TSMC production lines in the South Taiwan Science Park have been supplied with some gases that we believe to be contaminated. These have been quickly replaced with other gas supplies.”

TSMC says it is taking steps to ensure there are no production quality issues and the company does not expect the incident to have “a significant impact.” Nikkei writes that TSMC is making the chips for iPhones and Macs in Fab 18 and is preparing to start production of the next generation of chips. According to rumors from an Apple analyst, it could be a successor to the M1 for Macs, the M1Xwhich has more cores, among other things.

The actual impact of the gas problem on production is not known. The incident comes at a time when TSMC and other chip makers are trying to ramp up production to end global chip shortages.

TSMC headquarters in Taiwan