5 ms·

There was a few hours long blackout in Taiwan today night, that was way beyond the time UPSes can last. Expect last 6 month worth of wafers in production to go

There was a few hours long blackout in Taiwan today night, that was way beyond the time UPSes can last. Expect last 6 month worth of wafers in production to go down the drain in fabs which relied on battery backups only.

Alupis 5y ago
The backup power supplies for these types of facilities are actually generators powered off gasoline or diesel, not just batteries, and can theoretically run forever (or at least as much fuel you can get).
- baybal2 5y ago
  You cannot backup power a whole modern fab, unless you build a small power station just for it. UPSes there are just to keep cleanroom clean, and most critical processes which can't be gracefully shut down.
  - neltnerb 5y ago
    Although at these scales, a CCP at 400MW output is "only" ~$300M, so building that small power station might not be that big a deal compared with the cost of turning off?
    - baybal2 5y ago
      I believe things are moving progressively in this direction.