Worst is over: chip makers start recovery

According to IDG News Service Japanese chip makers have resumed their operations, first time after earthquake and tsunami hit Japan. While some Factories have started recovering others are coping with damage and power shortage.
Shin-Etsu Chemical, the world's second-largest supplier of 300-millimeter (12-inch) silicon wafers, vital to chip production, said that two of its four factories shut down after the earthquake are back and running. Company is assessing damage to other two factories. It further added that it will be transferring production equipment from one of its plant to elsewhere in Japan.
Silicon wafers are the raw material on which chips are etched. Japan supplies 72% of the world's 300mm silicon wafers, according to investment bank.
Japanese DRAM maker Elpida Memory has said a chip testing and assembly plant located in northeastern Japan is back and running after an initial closure caused by power outages related to the earthquake. The company said the facility was not damaged by the earthquake.
Both of these companies said that power outages remain an issue.
The 9.0-magnitude earthquake and resulting tsunami knocked several power plants offline in northeastern Japan, according to Tokyo Electric Power Co. The company continues to work to restore power to companies and residents, and started rotating power outages from Monday due to a shortage of capacity.
Chip makers that fabricate chips, the sensitive etching work that takes the most time in chip production, would not be able to resume operations until the earthquake activity settles down in northeastern Japan, according to IHS iSuppli.
"Earthquakes ranging from 4 to 7 on the Richter scale will make it impossible to fully restart these labs until the aftershocks stop happening with such frequency," IHS iSuppi said. "Every time a quake tops 5, the equipment automatically shuts down."
Northeastern Japan continues to be rocked by earthquakes, the latest a fairly strong 5.4-magnitude temblor Friday evening, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.
Japan continues to recover after the biggest earthquake in its history. On Friday, the National Police Agency of Japan published dead and missing figures almost double the numbers from Wednesday. The number of people confirmed dead now stands at 6,539 with 10,354 missing. The tsunami spawned by the temblor swept away entire towns, leaving hundreds of thousands homeless, while an emergency at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station caused by the tsunami continues to plague officials in Japan.