The world's largest contract chip manufacturer faced a brief power outage

Taiwan's semiconductor manufacturer Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world's largest contract chip manufacturer, said some of its operations on Thursday faced a brief power outage due to supply problems across the island. This raises concerns that the global chip shortage could worsen. The carmakers first experienced problems with chips at the end of last year. Since then, they have gradually spread to other industries, such as smartphone and home appliance manufacturers. Many automakers around the world have had to reduce or stop production due to a lack of these components. The shortage of chips was also exacerbated by a fire at a Japanese chip plant and power outages in Texas, where several chip manufacturers have factories. It is not yet clear to what extent the power outage in Taiwan will affect the production of TSMC chips and whether it has affected other chip manufacturers on the island, which is a key link in the global supply chain. "Some TSMC facilities experienced a brief power outage on the afternoon of 13 May local time due to a failure at the Hsinta thermal power plant," the TSMC said in a statement. "Electricity is currently supplied as usual. TSMC has taken emergency measures and prepared the generators to minimize the potential impact," the company added. TSMC, whose clients are Apple and Qualcomm, reiterated that resolving the chip shortage problem remains its top priority. Last month, TSMC announced that it has been working with customers since January to redistribute more capacity to support the automotive industry.