According to a Nikkei report, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) has been hit by a gas contamination leak at its Fab 18 factory that produces processors for Apple products such as the Mac and iPhone. The contamination was discovered on Thursday night with the issue being reported today, TSMC said that it quickly replaced the gas supply.
TSMC told Nikkei that the gas contamination leak should not cause significant delays to the chip manufacturing but it still has to take time to carry out checks to ensure there are no issues with production quality. According to sources speaking to Nikkei, the issue only affected manufacturing in a limited way and those employees who had gone home were called to return to the factory to get the situation under control.
Commenting on the incident, TSMC said:
“Some TSMC production lines in the South Taiwan Science Park received certain gases from suppliers that are believed to be contaminated. These were quickly replaced with other gas supplies.”
The chips being manufactured at Fab 18 are destined for the latest iPhones and Mac which are expected to begin final assembly by the end of August. Currently, Apple is working with suppliers to finalise the components for its upcoming devices.