Disaster whether the supply chain is indirectly impacted by the supply chain among the key components, special materials, special gases, etc. supply? Taiwan's semiconductor industry said it is actively understanding the situation.

Ishikawa Prefecture, one of the three prefectures in Hokuriku, Japan, is located in the central part of Honshu on the coast of the Sea of Japan, and Niigata Prefecture, Toyama Prefecture, the formation of scientific and technological materials and electronic equipment manufacturing related to the cluster, including EIZO Corporation, SB Technology, KEC, International Electric, etc., Ishikawa Prefecture, the information technology industry and the mechanical, textile, and food industries side by side, is not a large-scale technology enterprises. The information technology industry in Ishikawa Prefecture, along with the machinery, textile, and food industries, is not dominated by large technology companies, but rather by small and medium-sized enterprises with excellent technology in specific fields.

What is certain is that as of 7:30 p.m. on the evening of the 1st, MLCC maker Murata had not issued a press release on its official Web site. The industry pointed out that the epicenter is not in Murata's main plant, and should have no impact on MLCC (Multilayer Ceramic Capacitor) supply and demand. In addition, Murata also for the Apple supply chain, Kanazawa Murata Manufacturing is currently the main production of silicon capacitors, optimistic about the demand for silicon capacitors, will spend to expand silicon capacitor production capacity, because there are a number of factories in Japan, coupled with the current crop rate has not yet been full, the production capacity of the scheduling should be no worry.

Toshiba also has a power semiconductor plant in Ishikawa County, a new 300mm wafer fab room is expected to be put into mass production in 2024, whether the impact of the production process, or existing capacity to be followed up to note. However, because of Japan's new plant will be built using earthquake-proof structure, have experience in dealing with natural disasters, the impact is estimated to be preventable and controllable.

The other local neighboring nuclear power plants were not affected by the earthquake, and there was no more news about the industry chain. Japan's semiconductor cluster is gradually taking shape in Kyushu, and the impact on Taiwan factories is not significant at this stage. However, the Taiwan industry has another concern, TSMC in the earthquake-prone Japan actively set up factories, if the plant is concentrated close to the Aso volcano Kumamoto Prefecture, will test TSMC and supply chain to build the design of the plant, and the face of the natural disaster resilience.

Japan is the world's semiconductor materials and semiconductor equipment town, but also has a large number of chip makers, Japanese companies in the global semiconductor materials market share of about 52%. Of the 19 major materials used to make chips, Japan ranks first in the world in 14 of them.

In terms of semiconductor equipment, according to information released by VLSI Research, a U.S. semiconductor industry research firm, seven of the world's TOP 15 semiconductor equipment vendors in 2020 are from Japan, reflecting Japan's strong advantage in the semiconductor equipment field. Among them, Japan's Nikon and Canon are also the world's top 3 lithography suppliers after ASML.

The report said that although in the logic chip field, Japan does not have advanced process fab (currently TSMC Kumamoto plant is still under construction), but in the 45nm process node above the logic chip production capacity, Japan has a share of about 13%. In the NAND Flash flash memory chip market, Japan's Armor Man occupies about 20% of the market share; in analog/discrete devices, Japan's share is up to 27%. Therefore, whenever a major earthquake of high intensity occurs in Japan, it will probably affect local semiconductor manufacturers, thus triggering a global semiconductor supply chain crisis.

For example, in 2011, Japan experienced a major earthquake of 9.0 on the Richter scale, with the epicenter located in the Pacific Ocean east of Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. At that time, Toshiba's chip factory in Iwate Prefecture, which is located closer to the epicenter, shut down production, Renesas' eight production facilities were forced to shut down, Fujitsu Semiconductor Factory and Motorola's semiconductor factories in Japan were also affected, which at that time also caused a wave of rising semiconductor chip prices.

April 14, 2016 Kumamoto Prefecture, Kyushu, Japan had a strong earthquake of 6.5 on the Richter scale. Semiconductor companies that closed their factories due to the earthquake included Sony, Renesas Electronics and Mitsubishi Electric. Caused by the semiconductor market at the time, especially the CMOS sensor market fluctuations, a number of cell phone manufacturers have to Sony rival Samsung order to grab goods.2022 March 17, Japan had a strong earthquake of magnitude 7.4, Miyagi Prefecture and Fukushima Prefecture, the scale of 6 or more earthquakes. At that time, Murata, Sony, Renesas, Shin-Etsu and many other factories had a work stoppage.

The report pointed out that usually a major earthquake in Japan, the semiconductor industry, the first reaction of the people are: chip is not another price increase? As the earthquake mainly affects the west coast of Japan related cities, and the main focus of the Japanese semiconductor industry is located in Japan's east coast around the Kyushu area, the earthquake is expected to Japan's semiconductor industry, the impact is relatively small.

Data shows that Japan's semiconductor industry is mainly concentrated in the Kanto and Tohoku regions located in Honshu, Kyushu, and Hokkaido region is currently only a Rapidus. Among them, the semiconductor industry chain enterprises in Japan gathered in Kyushu are the most, like Toshiba, NEC, Renesas, Sony, Sheng Gao factory. The Tohoku region includes Sendai and Fukushima in the vicinity, Renesas Electronics, Katsushika and Shin-Etsu also have factories. As of press time, Renesas Electronics, Toshiba Semiconductor, Armor Man, Sony Semiconductor and other Japanese semiconductor manufacturers have not issued a statement related to the earthquake.