TSMC warns of chip deliveries delayed after virus outbreak – update

TSMC warns that the virus infection, which the company has been struggling with since Friday, is leading to delayed chip deliveries and lower quarterly sales than forecast. The chipmaker has recovered eighty percent of its affected systems.

TSMC now expects its systems to be fully operational again on Monday. Earlier, the Taiwanese company mentioned Sunday as the day when everything would run properly again. Quarterly revenue is expected to be three percent lower than forecast due to the problems and the incident will lead to higher costs, the chipmaker warns.

TSMC reports that it is confident that the resulting delays in chip deliveries this quarter can be made up for in the fourth quarter of this year. It is not known what the consequences will be for the company’s customers. Apple is TSMC’s largest customer and is reportedly in the process of producing new iPhones, which should be released in September. TSMC is the exclusive manufacturer of processors for the iPhone, after Apple previously had processors made by Samsung.

As for the cause of the outbreak, TSMC only reveals that it was the result of an error during the installation of software on a new machine. After this machine was connected to the corporate network, the virus was able to spread. The infection would not affect sensitive company data.

Update, Tuesday 11.00: TSMC informed Bloomberg that the malware was a Wannacry variant.