NXP Semiconductor, Samsung and Infineon chips factories were forced to close due to the Blizzard in the United States. In Monday Eastern time, Texas issued a snowstorm warning. Texas is the only state in continental United States that has its own power grid, About 23% of its electricity comes from wind power. Affected by the snowstorm this time, the grid facilities in Austin, Texas were unable to distribute power normally, and more than 4 million local households fell into a power outage. Some nearby semiconductor factories have also entered a shutdown state, including the world's two largest semiconductor manufacturers NXP and Samsung, and a large automotive chip supplier Infineon Technologies.
NXP is headquartered in the Netherlands. Except for the two plants in Texas, the other manufacturing plants are still operating normally; Samsung and Infineon have received power outage notices in advance and have taken protective measures, so the impact of power outages is relatively low.
If a power jump event occurs during the chip manufacturing process, it usually damages the silicon wafer. Generally speaking, the manufacturing process of silicon wafers takes about 8 to 12 weeks. If there is a power failure in the middle of the process, the silicon wafer is usually destroyed. The power jump in the fab is like an artificial heart power failure in the middle of an operation.
In addition, global automakers are trying to slow down production plans due to chip supply shortages. According to the report of the research organization IHS Markit, it is expected that the production of nearly 1 million light vehicles worldwide will be delayed in the first quarter of this year. NXP and Infineon are both important suppliers of global automotive chips. The power outage may aggravate the impact of chip shortages.