When the house leaked, it rained all night . At the climax of the car's "core shortage" crisis, TSMC suddenly "lost water".
Exterior view of TSMC's production base in Nanke Park, Tainan City
According to the latest news from Taiwan media "China Times News Network" this afternoon (October 21), around 11 a.m. this morning, TSMC's circulating water plant in Nanke Park, Tainan City suddenly A fire broke out and 2 workers were trapped. According to photos posted on social media, a large amount of smoke billowed out of the scene.
According to eyewitness information on social networks, the fire occurred in the circulating water workshop under construction in the factory. According to the description of witnesses at the scene, the fire was suspected to be the sound insulation material used to wrap equipment in the workshop. After the
fire broke out, TSMC immediately reported the fire alarm. The Tainan City Fire Department and hospitals mobilized a total of more than 20 fire vehicles and ambulances to provide rescue operations.
As can be seen from the photos at the scene, the fire was only in the ancillary equipment next to the circulating water workshop.
According to follow-up news from Taiwanese media this afternoon, when firefighters put out the fire at the scene, they found two construction workers who were trapped due to the fire in the stairs. The two men were immediately rescued by firefighters using a ladder. Fortunately, they were not seriously injured.
It is understood that the accidental fire caused about 270 people in the factory to be evacuated. However, except for the reclaimed water workshop under construction that caught fire, there has been no other damage to property and equipment, and no casualties have been found.
This afternoon, workers who were temporarily evacuated during the fire have returned to work one after another.
Under the chip crisis, the sudden fire at TSMC naturally stung everyone's sensitive nerves. It must have reminded many people of the serious accident in which 100,000 wafers were scrapped by TSMC in April 2019. If the fire spreads to the wafer production line, and there is another accident such as "thousands of wafers are scrapped" or even the entire production line is paralyzed, the consequences will be simply unimaginable.
However, it is basically certain that today’s fire will not have any practical consequences for chip production.
An investigation by the commune found that the facility where the fire broke out was an independent circulating water plant. It was a supporting facility for the Nanke Park factory where the TSMC Taiwan accident occurred, and it was far away from the wafer processing workshop.
In addition, during the fire and the subsequent firefighting process, it did not affect other surrounding facilities, nor did it cause water or power outages in the production line or personnel evacuations. The 270 people who were evacuated urgently at noon today were all construction workers involved in the construction of the circulating water plant and had nothing to do with wafer processing.
Shortly before the deadline of this article, Taiwan firefighters announced preliminary investigation results, believing that the cause of the fire was suspected to be caused by the accidental ignition of foam ( plastic particles foamed building materials) during electric welding operations.
Rendering of the completed circulating water plant
According to official data, after the completion of the circulating water plant, it can provide TSMC with 20,000 tons of recycled water every day, thus ensuring that the wafer factory can maintain normal operation during droughts like the first half of this year. start. The construction of the circulating water plant is currently in the final stages, but water supply has not yet started.
