TI Offers Update On Miho Facility Damaged In Japanese Earthquake

The scale of the catastrophe in Japan is hard to fathom and with so much industry within the nation, the hard times are spread all around the world for many technology companies. TI has offered an update about its facilities in Japan that were damaged in the earthquake. According to TI, its Miho, Japan manufacturing site suffered substantial damage. Miho is about 40 miles northwest of Tokyo.

According to TI, it expects to reinstate production at the plant starting with several lines in May and the factory should be back to full capability by mid-July with full shipment capability in September. However, TI notes that the schedule could be delayed if the power grid is unstable or complications arise when the equipment is restarted.

TI is moving to change its production to other fabs and has found alternate sites for about 60% of the wafer production that was conducted at the Miho plant and the company is working to increase the capacity in other areas by moving the production of additional products. The Miho plant has damage to the infrastructure systems that deliver chemicals, gasses, water, and air to the manufacturing facilities and repairs will take about three weeks. Impact to some systems is still unknown with power still unreliable in the area. The Miho fab produces DLP chips and some analog chips.