On the afternoon of April 20, local time, a powerful magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck off the coast of Sanriku in northeastern Japan. The tremor affected Iwate, Aomori, Miyagi, and Fukushima prefectures—a region that serves as a crucial global supply base for semiconductor materials, equipment, and memory chips. It hosts several industry leaders, including Kioxia, Tokyo Electron (TEL), Shin-Etsu Chemical, and SUMCO.

Semiconductor Industry Response

Following the earthquake, relevant companies promptly activated safety protocols. Memory chip giant Kioxia temporarily halted production at its two NAND flash memory plants in Kitakami, Iwate (collectively accounting for approximately 5%-8% of global production capacity) for inspection. Subsequently, Kioxia issued a statement confirming that its buildings and equipment were undamaged and that production had resumed as normal. Leading semiconductor equipment maker Tokyo Electron also reported that its facilities in Iwate and Miyagi were intact and operating normally.

In contrast, the upstream materials segment experienced more significant disruption. Tokyo Ohka Kogyo (TOK), a major global supplier of photoresist, has completely shut down its plant in Kōriyama, Fukushima. The suspension is expected to last 4 to 6 weeks, this facility accounts for about 25% of the global supply of advanced photoresist. Similarly, materials supplier Shin-Etsu Chemical has halted operations at its Shirakawa plant in Fukushima, estimating that recalibrating equipment will take 4 to 8 weeks. Regarding silicon wafers, Shin-Etsu Chemical and SUMCO have proactively stopped their 12-inch wafer plants in Miyagi and Fukushima for checks, but production is expected to gradually resume starting April 21.

Impact and Risk Assessment

Synthesizing available information, the earthquake's impact on the semiconductor supply chain appears differentiated. In the memory chip and semiconductor equipment sectors, where major factories reported no structural damage and resumed operations quickly, the effects are expected to be limited primarily to short-term logistics delays and fluctuations in equipment delivery cycles. However, the photoresist supply chain faces a severe test. As a critical consumable in chip manufacturing with highly concentrated advanced production capacity and limited alternative sources, the duration of the shutdowns at TOK and Shin-Etsu Chemical's plants will be a critical variable for global chip manufacturing capacity in the coming weeks.

Conevo Electronic Chips Distributor

Conevo Semiconductor Component Distributor, providing diversified chip spot stocks and supply chain services. It also strives to match popular components for customers, including power devices, RF chips, and power management ICs, to cope with market fluctuations and ensure production continuity. Here are several popular IC models.

● IMW120R030M1H: Infineon 1200V silicon carbide MOSFET, with 30mΩ ultra-low on-resistance

● IPP65R099CFD7A: Infineon 650V automotive-grade CoolMOS power MOSFET, integrating a fast body diode

● CLRC63201T/0FE,112: NXP 13.56MHz multi-protocol RFID card reader chip, can be easily integrated through SPI interface

● MP87290GMWTH-Z: MPS high-voltage DC-DC switching regulator, capable of efficiently converting high input voltage to stable low-voltage output

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