Earlier this year, Renesas Electronics Corp’s chip-making plant in Naka, Japan suffered from fire damages. The company had said that 11 machines were damaged but now the company’s spokesperson says that it believes the damage was more extensive than first thought.
While the Renesas spokeswoman would not confirm a specific number, she added that the chipmaker would share the extent of the damage by Tuesday. As per the latest reports, it is believed that the number of inoperable machines was now believed to be around 17.
The company says that it will take at least a month for the production to resume at its 300mm wafer line at the fire-hit plant, but replacing damaged machines could take several months. An extended outage could add to a global shortage of chips which is disrupting some production of cars and electronic devices.
Renesas account for about 30 percent of the global market for microcontroller units used in cars, and two-thirds of the chips produced at the facility are for the auto industry.
The fire was reportedly caused by a power surge in one of the machines. This comes after an earthquake stopped production for three days last month. In 2011, the plant shut down for three months after the deadly earthquake that devastated Japan’s northeast coast.
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