Apple supplier, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. had to close several of its factories last night after a computer virus affected the systems. Bloomberg reports that TSMC was forced to shut down as the virus attack took down production at multiple factories. At this point in time, the details of the virus are scarce but the shutdowns prevailed as TSMC ramped up its chip production for the 2018 iPhone models. Let’s dive in to see some more details on the matter.
Computer Virus Infects Production Lines As TSMC Ramps Up Chip Production For The 2018 iPhone Models
TSMC is the largest chipmaker in the world which supplies components to companies like Apple, Qualcomm, Nvidia, and ADM. The chipmaker told Bloomberg that the computer virus had infected “a number of its fabrication tools” and the degree of impacts vary from one factory to the other. Meanwhile, several operations have been resumed, others would not be active until Sunday.
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Furthermore, TSMC does not believe that the computer virus was planted by a hacker. CFO Lora Ho told Bloomberg that the company has been attacked by viruses before but this time, the virus infected production lines:
“TSMC has been attacked by viruses before, but this is the first time a virus attack has affected our production lines,” Chief Financial Officer Lora Ho told Bloomberg News by phone.
“Certain factories returned to normal in a short period of time, and we expect the others will return to normal in one day,” the company said in its Saturday statement.
Lora Ho did not disclose any specific details on whether the infected lines were producing chips for this year’s upcoming iPhones. Moreover, details on revenue loss were not detailed as well. It was previously reported in May that the company had started mass production of the A12 chips, a 7-nanometer processor which will be part of the 2018 iPhone models. TSMC will continue to increase production as the release date for this year’s iPhones nears in.
There will be more to the story, so be sure to stay tuned in for more details. This is all for now, folks. What are your thoughts on the matter? Let us know in the comments section below.
