What just happened? A 6.4-magnitude earthquake that hit Taiwan a few hours ago led to evacuations at TSMC, the world's largest chipmaker. The company has reported minimal damage to its critical equipment, but some production lines are expected to face delays, and it could be several days before full production can resume. The earthquake hit Taiwan's southern Chiayi county at 12.17am local time. According to Taiwan's Central Weather Administration, the epicenter was located 38km (23 miles) southeast of Chiayi County Hall, at a depth of 10km (6.2 miles).The quake reportedly resulted in 27 injuries and minor damage, though it was felt 25 miles away in the city of Tainan, and even in the city of Taichung 124 miles away. Both cities are home to Science Parks where TSMC has fabrication facilities, which were evacuated as per standard emergency procedures. Workers returned to the plants several hours after the quake.TSMC is now checking for damage. It has reported minimal impact to its critical equipment, most of which have a shockproof design, and a recovery of over 70% of its tools shortly after the quake.Electronics Weekly reports that the director of the Southern Taiwan Science Park, where TSMC's Fab 18 (5nm and 3nm processes) and Fab 6 (eight-inch wafer fab) are located, said there were no injuries. He added that equipment at major plants in the science park is designed to stop during earthquakes. // Related StoriesGiven the delicate and precise nature of advanced chipmaking machinery, there's a possibility that the earthquake could have introduced errors in the manufacturing process that might reduce the yield rate of usable chips. TSMC told Nikkei that it could be several days before production reaches full capacity, which could impact its many US customers who have orders with the company booked months and even years in advance.There have been previous earthquakes in Taiwan that impacted the global technology supply chain. A magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck Taiwan's eastern coast near Hualien County in April 2024, leading to temporary suspensions of operations by major chipmakers such as TSMC and UMC. These halts were necessary to inspect facilities and ensure employee safety, causing short-term disruptions in production.There was also a magnitude 6.2 earthquake in 2021 that halted TSMC operations, further straining the global chip supply chain that was already struggling enormously due to disruptions from the Covid pandemic.