December 10, 2003 – Taiwan’s biggest quake of 2003, a 6.6-magnitude earthquake near Taitung which struck on Dec. 10, was reportedly strong enough to rattle buildings 180 miles away in Taipei but did not significantly disrupt local chipmaking operations.

Workers at TSMC’s facilities in Tainan briefly evacuated the building, but the fab was not shut down, and “there was no obvious impact,” according to a TSMC PR representative. At UMC’s 300mm facility in Tainan, a few machines were automatically knocked offline, but the situation was quickly brought back up to normal, said communications director Alex Hinnawi.

Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE) Inc. also reported no material damage in its facilities in Kaohsiung.