Semiconductor shortage looming: major chip maker TSMC's plant damaged by Taiwan earthquake

A series of powerful earth tremors occurred in Taiwan today, with a magnitude of 7.7 on the Richter scale.

The earthquake has already been called the most powerful earthquake in the region in the last 25 years.

Many buildings on the island were damaged, including the plant of the world's largest semiconductor manufacturer, TSMC.

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Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co manufactures chips for a huge number of IT-corporations, among its customers are Apple, AMD, NVIDIA and other global tech giants.

As a consequence of the cataclysm, some semiconductor production lines are significantly damaged, because of which the company's work may be suspended for several weeks. Most likely, it will cause a shortage of chips, because of which video cards, processors, smartphones and other equipment may become more expensive.

TSMC currently estimates the damage at $60 million.

Source: Bloomberg