TSMC Briefly Hit by "Power Supply Dip," Production Unaffected

[btarunr]

TSMC on Thursday (May 13), was briefly hit by what the company described as a "power supply dip" caused by an island-wide power outage. The outage caused concerns that production at TSMC could be hit, worsening the chip supply situation. Semiconductor fabrication is a highly power-sensitive operation, and any power-loss could result in tremendous loses to the fab from the running batches going to waste. The fabs have redundant power backup to cope with such situations, but these can only pull through until power from the grid is restored. TSMC and UMC have each reported that their fabs located in science parks (special economic zones) throughout Taiwan, have been unaffected by the outage, and that their power-backup measures have come through. Power supply from the grid was restored by Thursday evening.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[R-T-B]

I'd be more concerned with why there was an "island wide power-outage"

 

[Caring1]

Hmm, chips and a power supply dip, there's a pun in there somewhere.

 

[TheLostSwede]

It wasn't Island wide, bad reporting by the original source. It was one of the major powerplants down south, but not everywhere was affected. There was no blackout where I live, but there are no fabs here either so...
That said, several local websites and even Facebook was affected at times.

I'd be more concerned with why there was an "island wide power-outage"

Power goes out across Taiwan due to power plant failure | Taiwan News | May. 13, 2021 15:31

www.taiwannews.com.tw

 

[AsRock]

OOh that was close, bad enough with the current prices of every thing going up never mind this too. Now were getting reports when it nearly went off ?, dam don't even get those updates here.

 

[Flanker]

Not sure if there is an English version of the news. Apparently it was caused by someone who flipped the wrong switch

513大停電原因出爐 台電人為誤觸設備開關 - 自由財經

〔記者林菁樺／台北報導〕513因匯流排設備故障，釀成全台400萬用戶，執行六輪分區限電，時間長達5.5小時，每戶幾乎停電2至3次，影響超過千萬戶次限電；經濟部長王美花下午對外說明，原因是配合興達

ec.ltn.com.tw

 

[Tardian]

However, leave the Power Station ON.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Oh and science parks in Taiwan aren't really special economic zones, they're just areas that are zoned for tech companies to build factories.

Hsinchu Science Park - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Turmania]

You would expect them to have the lastest high tech electricity infrastructure over there.

 

[R-T-B]

You would expect them to have the lastest high tech electricity infrastructure over there.

And the latest high tech "off" switch, apparently.

 

[TheLostSwede]

You would expect them to have the lastest high tech electricity infrastructure over there.

Why? Taiwan is no different from most countries in that aspect. In fact, until recently, Taiwan had the world's largest coal powerplant.
There's a "brand new" nuclear plant on the north east coast, but it has never been switched on, courtesy to delays, Japan and the "no nukes" protests, among other things.
Taiwan is slowly moving towards "green" energy, but it's going slow. On top of that, most homes and businesses aren't all that power efficient, as you got air-conditioning everywhere, but insulation, double glazing or other things that could improve energy efficiency isn't even a thing.
Much the same with water here, it's the third cheapest country in the world when it comes to water costs, so people don't care, they just leave the taps running when they do the washing up at all the little sidewalk eateries and then they hose down the sidewalk as an extra measure, as it's so cheap.
Even though it has been a drought for months now, the community I live in decided it was a good thing to wash the sidewalks here with a pressure washer, because the draught is down south and not here... Uhm...

 

[Turmania]

Why? Taiwan is no different from most countries in that aspect. In fact, until recently, Taiwan had the world's largest coal powerplant.
There's a "brand new" nuclear plant on the north east coast, but it has never been switched on, courtesy to delays, Japan and the "no nukes" protests, among other things.
Taiwan is slowly moving towards "green" energy, but it's going slow. On top of that, most homes and businesses aren't all that power efficient, as you got air-conditioning everywhere, but insulation, double glazing or other things that could improve energy efficiency isn't even a thing.
Much the same with water here, it's the third cheapest country in the world when it comes to water costs, so people don't care, they just leave the taps running when they do the washing up at all the little sidewalk eateries and then they hose down the sidewalk as an extra measure, as it's so cheap.
Even though it has been a drought for months now, the community I live in decided it was a good thing to wash the sidewalks here with a pressure washer, because the draught is down south and not here...

I understand you and agree with you. However, a black out even in a short time frame will cost millions of dollars to these tech companies and TSMC is not the only one there. A loss of income is a loss of income to government as well. So, it makes sense for the government to secure those income generating companies with best infrastructure available.

 

[Luminescent]

Wow, dogged a bullet there, this could've quadrupled the current prices, maybe next time.

 

[TheLostSwede]

I understand you and agree with you. However, a black out even in a short time frame will cost millions of dollars to these tech companies and TSMC is not the only one there. A loss of income is a loss of income to government as well. So, it makes sense for the government to secure those income generating companies with best infrastructure available.

They should also have had better preparedness when it comes to water supply. On the plus side, they've been able to "dredge" the catchment areas now, as it's easy to do when there's no water there.
If it doesn't rain soon, that's going to be a much bigger issue than just supplying power.

 

[Wirko]

Much the same with water here, it's the third cheapest country in the world when it comes to water costs, so people don't care, they just leave the taps running when they do the washing up at all the little sidewalk eateries and then they hose down the sidewalk as an extra measure, as it's so cheap.

Does this also describe semiconductor fabs in Taiwan, which [most of the time] have little incentive to save on water, at least when compared to those in Arizona?

 

[TheLostSwede]

Does this also describe semiconductor fabs in Taiwan, which [most of the time] have little incentive to save on water, at least when compared to those in Arizona?

I posted about this in another thread, the short answer is no.
You can find a lot of details about TSMC here

Our Focuses: A Practitioner of Green Power - TSMC Corporate Social Responsibility

 

[AsRock]

And the latest high tech "off" switch, apparently.

Maybe with a backup switch asking are you sure ?, maybe treat it like requiring two people ha.

 

[R-T-B]

Maybe with a backup switch asking are you sure ?, maybe treat it like requiring two people ha.

Like the ICBM codes where they have to turn it at the same time?

Man, you might be on to something... no two idiots could manage that.

 

[AsRock]

Like the ICBM codes where they have to turn it at the same time?

Man, you might be on to something... no two idiots could manage that.

hehe, although it might make it twice as hard to turn back on, meaning there would of been a price hike HA.

 

[Space Lynx]

@TheLostSwede It's amazing to me how people look at Japan's nuclear disaster, the only one in recent modern history, and take it entirely out of context... THE IDIOTS BUILT IT ON A FAULT LINE AND IN A TSUNAMI ZONE POSSIBILITY AREA... and then Germany shut down it's plants... Germany had neither of those to worry about it where its plants are to my knowledge... entirely out of context... it's amazing to me how dumb humans have become.

Funny how ancient philosophers were more smart with basic use of logic and fallacy arguments than modern day scientists and politicians. hehehe tickles me funny.

 

[TheLostSwede]

@TheLostSwede It's amazing to me how people look at Japan's nuclear disaster, the only one in recent modern history, and take it entirely out of context... THE IDIOTS BUILT IT ON A FAULT LINE AND IN A TSUNAMI ZONE POSSIBILITY AREA... and then Germany shut down it's plants... Germany had neither of those to worry about it where its plants are to my knowledge... entirely out of context... it's amazing to me how dumb humans have become.

Funny how ancient philosophers were more smart with basic use of logic and fallacy arguments than modern day scientists and politicians. hehehe tickles me funny.

Ah, but Germany has clean, lovely lignite to burn...

The protests here were "no nukes" which seems to suggest they were against nuclear weapons...

 

[Vayra86]

I understand you and agree with you. However, a black out even in a short time frame will cost millions of dollars to these tech companies and TSMC is not the only one there. A loss of income is a loss of income to government as well. So, it makes sense for the government to secure those income generating companies with best infrastructure available.

Makes sense and reality are not connected in any way. That only starts happening when the shit actually hits the fan and you can't keep it from flying in your face for months on end. Or years. Or there's just feces airborne perpetually and we keep shoveling poop wearing gas masks.

Case in point: agriculture in the Netherlands. For several years now we're a super wet country having draught in the weirdest places because farming is so intensive and our water management is still set on 'need to prevent flooding'. Years, now. Several summers have passed with reduced water pressure and messages that 'we should limit water use'. So farmers can keep farming and management of water doesn't need to change... which it obviously does need to anyway. Wtaf?

@TheLostSwede It's amazing to me how people look at Japan's nuclear disaster, the only one in recent modern history, and take it entirely out of context... THE IDIOTS BUILT IT ON A FAULT LINE AND IN A TSUNAMI ZONE POSSIBILITY AREA... and then Germany shut down it's plants... Germany had neither of those to worry about it where its plants are to my knowledge... entirely out of context... it's amazing to me how dumb humans have become.

Funny how ancient philosophers were more smart with basic use of logic and fallacy arguments than modern day scientists and politicians. hehehe tickles me funny.

Gotta cut the Japanese some slack, there's not many places that aren't tsunami risk area and still an abundant water supply over there I think

I'm in agreement on the general idea that nuclear power really should be one of the things in our energy mix, and a bigger thing than it is today. But... move to fusion ASAP. ITER etc. is the way forward.

At the same time, fault lines and dumb humans aside... there is also this, and it is still going. Dumb humans were involved, and dumb humans will be building and manning any plant we'd build in the future, too Anything we make, could fail.

Science | AAAS

www.sciencemag.org