Influence of earthquake on Japanese semiconductor industry
Direct loss of Japanese semiconductor industry caused by earthquake
After the earthquake, the Japanese government and semiconductor companies quickly launched emergency mechanisms to inspect and evaluate semiconductor factories and equipment in the affected areas. According to the statistics of Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, as of January 3, 14 production bases of 11 semiconductor companies have been affected to varying degrees, including Toshiba, TPSCo, Xintang, Nippon Electric, Nippon Electronics, Denso, Japan Telecom, Japanese electronic materials, Japanese monitors, Japanese chemical industry and Japanese optoelectronics.
In addition, Murata Fukui Takeshi Factory, which accounts for 20% of Murata's production capacity, mainly produces MLCC (Multilayer Ceramic Capacitors). Murata is the largest MLCC manufacturer in the world.The products of these enterprises cover power devices, automotive chips, RF chips, high-performance analog chips, integrated power management chips, CMOS image sensors, liquid crystal displays, semiconductor materials and many other fields. The affected production bases are mainly distributed in Ishikawa Prefecture, Niigata Prefecture and Fuji Prefecture, all of which are important gathering places of Japanese semiconductor industry.
Among them, the most concerned is a new power device wafer factory built by Toshiba in Ishikawa Prefecture. This factory was invested and built by Toshiba to meet the needs of the semiconductor market. It is expected to be put into mass production in 2024, mainly producing power devices used in automotive, industrial and consumer electronics fields, such as IGBT and MOSFET. These devices play an important role in power conversion and control, and are high value-added products of semiconductors.
However, this earthquake may affect the production process of this plant and adversely affect Toshiba's performance. In addition, TPSCo is also an important semiconductor enterprise. It is a joint venture between Toshiba and Israel's TowerJazz. It mainly produces automotive chips. The products cover RF, high-performance analog, integrated power management, CMOS image sensors and other chips. The manufacturing process is 45nm and above, and there are also packaging and testing services.
Indirect influence of earthquake on Japanese semiconductor industry
The earthquake will affect the supply chain of Japanese semiconductor industry. Semiconductor industry is a highly division of labor and cooperation industry, which involves many links, such as design, manufacturing, packaging, testing, materials, equipment, etc., and these links depend on each other and influence each other. If there is a problem in one link, it will affect the operation of the whole industrial chain.
The earthquake also broke Japan's semiconductor industry chain, which not only affected Japanese semiconductor enterprises, but also affected Japan's semiconductor cooperation with other countries and regions. For example, Japan is the world's largest supplier of semiconductor materials, which provides a large number of materials such as silicon wafers, photoresist, chemicals and gases to semiconductor manufacturers around the world. The supply of these materials has been affected by the earthquake, which has limited the global semiconductor production capacity.
In addition, Japan is also the world's largest supplier of semiconductor equipment, which provides a large number of cutting machines, polishing machines, cleaning machines, inspection machines, packaging machines, testing machines and other equipment for semiconductor manufacturers around the world. The supply of these equipment has also been affected by the earthquake, which has hindered the global semiconductor investment. Secondly, the earthquake will affect the market demand of Japanese semiconductor industry.