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Analysis |
Many foundry facilities lie directly within Ring of Fire
Researchers estimate that there are about 80'000 earthquakes globally each year, but most are too minor to notice.
The Great East Japan Earthquake (a.k.a., 2011 Tohoku Earthquake) and subsequent tsunami that struck east of Sendai on March 11, 2011 caused substantial loss of life and destruction to infrastructure. It was the most powerful earthquake ever to hit Japan and the fifth most powerful in the world since records started being kept in 1900. Many semiconductor fabs, as well as other facilities that support the industry, were significantly damaged by the quake (some were shut down permanently as a result).
Since the earliest days of IC production in Silicon Valley, the IC industry has always had much of its fabrication facilities located in seismically active regions. Moreover, as of December 2015, roughly half of the world’s total IC wafer production capacity was located in seismically active areas (defined as areas having moderate to high risk of being significantly impacted by earthquake tremors).
Some facts:
- Taiwan and Japan accounted for 39% of global IC capacity in December of 2015. Both countries are considered entirely seismically active, and have large amounts of IC capacity exposed to potential earthquake damage.
- Even though Southeast Asia is generally considered very active seismically, Singapore and Malaysia are actually considered relatively safe from earthquake damage. In China, Beijing is considered to have moderate-to-high seismic risk, but other cities such as Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Wuxi are considered to be “on solid ground.” Similarly, while the Southern part of France has moderate seismic risk, the Central and Northern areas do not.