TSMC announced that a small number of its plants in the Hsinchu Science Park were evacuated after a 7.0‑magnitude earthquake struck Taiwan on December 27, 2025. The quake triggered the company’s evacuation criteria, prompting an immediate shutdown of affected production lines to protect workers and equipment.
The evacuation covered the 300‑mm and 200‑mm fabs located in the Hsinchu Science Park, the site of several of TSMC’s advanced‑node manufacturing lines. The company’s seismic‑design standards and real‑time monitoring systems detected ground motion that exceeded the 0.3 g threshold, leading to an automatic shutdown of the affected facilities.
No injuries were reported among the approximately 1,200 employees who were in the evacuated plants. Production at the affected fabs was halted for roughly 12 hours, after which safety inspections confirmed that the equipment was intact and operations resumed without significant loss of wafers.
While the event raised concerns about potential delays for key customers such as Nvidia and Apple, TSMC’s rapid recovery and robust disaster‑response protocols have historically mitigated supply‑chain disruptions. Management emphasized that the company’s emergency plans were executed as designed, and no confirmed delivery delays have been reported to date.
TSMC’s Q3 2025 financial results—revenue of NT$989.92 billion (a 30.3% year‑over‑year increase) and a gross margin of 59.5%—illustrate the company’s strong operating foundation. The firm’s ability to resume production quickly after seismic events supports the view that such incidents have a limited long‑term impact on earnings and cash flow.
The December 27 evacuation underscores TSMC’s continued investment in seismic resilience and operational continuity. The company’s strategy of expanding capacity in multiple geographic locations, including new fabs in the United States, Japan, and Germany, further reduces the risk of a single event affecting global supply chains.
Overall, the incident demonstrates TSMC’s preparedness for natural disasters and its capacity to maintain supply‑chain stability, reinforcing confidence in the company’s long‑term resilience.
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