iPhone 7 Chip Supplier to Reduce Output Due to Earthquake [Digitimes]

TSMC, the manufacturer that has allegedly been chosen to supply the A10 chips in the forthcoming iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, has reduced its shipping estimates, as its facilities have been hit by an earthquake.

On February 6, a 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck the south of Taiwan, and TSMC’s plants were also affected. While the manufacturer was initially confident that the damages weren’t that serious, and said in the early morning of February 6 that wafer shipments in the first quarter of 2016 would drop by 1%, six days later it updated its estimate, saying that the decrease in wafer shipments would be more than 1% because damage to Fab 14 was worse than originally assessed, reports Digitimes.

TSMC originally estimated that more than 95% of foundry machines could be restored to normal conditions in 2-3 days following the earthquake. Machines at Fab 6 and Fab 14B have already been fully restored, the company said.

The company is still confident that it will hit targeted revenues for the first quarter of 2016, but the report doesn’t mention how this will affect processor chip production, which is expected to commence in June.