At about 8:43 a.m. on July 27, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake occurred in the northern part of Luzon Island, Philippines, with a focal depth of 25 kilometers, and the tremor was felt in the capital Metro Manila.
The earthquake is expected to have aftershocks and damage. There are no reports of casualties from this earthquake. According to the Ministry of Natural Resources, the preliminary earthquake parameters of the Tsunami Warning Center indicate that the earthquake in Luzon, the Philippines may cause a tsunami, but it will not cause disastrous effects on the coast of my country. The houses in the area were severely damaged and the power supply has also been interrupted, which may affect the power supply demand of semiconductor production bases. The strong earthquake may also affect the global semiconductors. As one of the main production bases of passive components (especially MLCCs) in the world, the Philippines is one of the world's leading production bases. The three major MLCC manufacturers Murata, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, and Taiyo Yuden all have factories in the Philippines.
As early as 2011, Japan's Murata Manufacturing invested about 620 million yen to build the largest factory in Asia at that time in Batangas, south of Manila, Philippines, mainly producing capacitors for electronic products such as smartphones. And put into production in January 2013. In 2018, Murata also increased production at its Philippine plant.
In 2015, Samsung Electro-Mechanics invested 288 billion won to build an MLCC factory in Laguna, south of Manila, Philippines, covering the front and rear processes.
Taiyo Yuden also has an MLCC factory in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu, Philippines (not on Luzon Island).
According to a previous report by Taiwan Business Times, the world's top two MLCC factories, Murata Manufacturing and Samsung Electro-Mechanics, both have considerable production capacity in the Philippines, accounting for 15% and 40% respectively.
In addition to MLCC, there are many packaging and testing manufacturers in Luzon, the Philippines, such as Amkor, Nexperia, Intel, Texas Instruments, etc., all of which have built semiconductor factories in Luzon.
As an important part of the semiconductor supply chain, the earthquake news in the Philippines has attracted the attention of industry insiders. The specific damage caused by the earthquake has not yet been known, and no official notification has been received from semiconductor manufacturers, but many semiconductor giants are located in Luzon Island, the earthquake site. The factory will be set up in Metro Manila, where the earthquake was felt, and industry insiders can follow up on the dynamics of relevant factories to understand the impact of the earthquake on the semiconductor supply chain.
