Toshiba halts operations at chip plant after quake

[January 24, 2022]  (Reuters) -Toshiba Corp said on Monday that it had suspended operations at a plant in Oita, southern Japan that makes semiconductors used in cars and industrial machinery, after a strong earthquake hit the area at the weekend.

A staff member bows to a shareholder (not in picture) arriving a venue of Toshiba Corp's annual general meeting with its shareholders in Tokyo, Japan, June 25, 2021. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

Some equipment had been damaged and the company was still analysing the impact on production, Toshiba said in a statement.

The plant makes system LSI chips, around 60% of which are sold to carmakers and industrial machinery makers, a spokesperson for Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corp said.

Toshiba does not yet know when it can restart production and will likely provide an update on Tuesday, he added.

The company also makes system LSI chips at a factory in northern Japan, with other domestic producers, such as Renesas Electronics, also building the devices.

(Reporting by Mariko Katsumura and Tim KellyEditing by Chang-Ran Kim and Kim Coghill)

 

[© 2022 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2022 Reuters.  All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.