After the earthquake, the Japan Meteorological Agency issued a tsunami warning for the Pacific coast of Kyushu and Shikoku, with a predicted wave height of 1 meter. Subsequently, tsunami waves of up to 50 cm were detected in parts of the southern coast of Kyushu and Shikoku. The Japan Meteorological Agency immediately issued a tsunami warning for the coasts of Miyazaki, Kochi, Oita, Kagoshima and Ehime prefectures.

As we all know, Japan is a major center for semiconductor materials and semiconductor equipment in the world, so every earthquake will trigger global concerns about the semiconductor supply chain.

Kyushu Island is known as Japan's "Silicon Island", with Fukuoka, Oita, Miyazaki, Nagasaki, Kumamoto, Kagoshima and Saga prefectures. Well-known semiconductor manufacturers including TSMC, Sony, SUMCO Rohm, Shin-Etsu Chemical, etc. all have manufacturing plants on Kyushu Island. In addition, Renesas, NEC, Mitsubishi Electric, etc. also have factories in Kumamoto Prefecture, while Texas Instruments and Toshiba have factories in Oita Prefecture.

Distribution map of major semiconductor companies in Kyushu Island

01 Earthquake in Japan

The northern part of Miyazaki Prefecture, which is close to the earthquake sea area, is adjacent to Kumamoto Prefecture. According to data from the Kyushu Economic, Trade and Industrial Bureau, from April 2021 to June 2024, there were 100 semiconductor-related investment projects on Kyushu Island, of which Kumamoto Prefecture led 52 projects. TSMC's Kumamoto plant (Plant 1 and Plant 2) accounted for more than 60% of the total investment. At the same time, Miyazaki Prefecture is also becoming an important base for Kyushu's semiconductor industry, especially in the field of power semiconductor production.

Data from November 2023 showed that the semiconductor output value in Kyushu accounted for 56.3% of Japan's national total, with an annual output of more than 1 trillion yen.

Therefore, the earthquake has aroused great concern in the semiconductor chain, but fortunately no major disaster has been reported.

In addition, the earthquake did not trigger a tsunami, and the Japan Meteorological Agency has lifted all tsunami warnings.

02 TSMC, Rohm and other companies responded

In response to the industry's concerns about the impact of the earthquake, TSMC has issued a statement saying that the Kumamoto plant in Kikuyo Town, Kumamoto Prefecture is not seriously damaged, "the magnitude of the earthquake did not reach the evacuation standard, and it is not expected to affect operations."

Rohm Semiconductor's factory in Miyazaki Prefecture was temporarily shut down due to the earthquake, but no casualties were reported. A representative of the company said, "Once it is confirmed to be safe, we will resume operations immediately."

Sony and Shengko, which operate chip-related factories in Kyushu, said they are collecting information on damage caused by the earthquake.

Asahi Kasei said it has not suffered any losses.

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