1999 Update: Taiwan Foundries Downplay Quartzware Shortage Forecast

In an October 1, 1999 report, EE Times described a dispute over how seriously a quartzware shortage might impede Taiwan’s semiconductor recovery after the previous month’s earthquake. TSMC and UMC offered comparatively reassuring accounts of replacement progress, while suppliers and an analyst warned that sudden demand could make quartz boats and tubes a production bottleneck. The report records those competing views; it does not establish which forecast proved right or how long any disruption lasted.

What quartzware does in semiconductor manufacturing

Quartzware in this report means quartz boats and quartz tubes used in chemical-deposition equipment. Boats hold wafers inside processing chambers; the largest configurations described by EE Times in 1999 held up to 126 wafers. Tubes line chemical-deposition furnaces. Both components operate under high heat and can break during ordinary processing.

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The report said the earthquake could also damage quartzware, including when a furnace cooled rapidly because backup power did not switch over promptly. This is the mechanism described in the 1999 article, not a claim that every furnace or fab experienced such damage. EE Times, October 1, 1999

Why the foundries downplayed the shortage

TSMC reported inspection and replacement coverage

A TSMC spokesperson in the United States told EE Times that quartz breakage was among the first things the company inspected. The spokesperson said TSMC either had replacement inventory or received priority deliveries. That account suggests the company believed it could address its needs; it does not quantify its damaged stock or show whether all specialized requirements were covered.

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UMC described breakage but said replacement was largely complete

UMC reported some breakage but did not elaborate on its extent. A spokesperson said the quartzware had largely been replaced. These were foundry statements reported at the time, not an independent accounting of damage across Taiwan’s fabs.

Why suppliers and an analyst warned of a bottleneck

Sudden orders could exceed ordinary supply

Roger Wood, vice president of operations for Tosoh Quartz Group’s U.S. subsidiary, characterized the incoming Taiwan orders as unusually large. In EE Times’ October 1999 report, he said the “instant order” avalanche was equivalent to demand from more than 30 new fabs coming online at once. This was his comparison for the sudden orders, not a count of new fabs or a measured forecast of the eventual shortage.

EE Times also reported that Won Ik Quartz Group, which had a Taiwan manufacturing facility, could not meet immediate demand and was seeking inventory from its U.S. subsidiary. The account highlights a distinction between supplying parts from existing inventory and making enough new quartzware to satisfy a surge.

Specialized parts were slower to replace

Vendors interviewed by EE Times estimated that an ordinary quartz boat could take about one week to make, while specialized products could take as long as two weeks. The article did not identify the supplier behind this estimate. These are 1999 vendor estimates, not current manufacturing lead times.

The concern was recovery capacity, not only initial earthquake damage

Analyst Danny Lam of Fisher-Holstein Inc. described quartz tubes and boats as a major production choke-point. He argued that restoring equipment alone would not be enough if damaged quartzware still needed replacement: “Even when the fabs restore equipment to full operating capability, they must replace the damaged quartzware to resume producing at full capacity.” Dataquest Inc. was also reported to have warned that a shortage could obstruct recovery. Those were warnings about potential constraints, not proof that they determined the eventual recovery.

What the report establishes—and what it does not

The headline’s “downplay” refers to foundry statements about observed breakage and the availability or receipt of replacement parts. The counterpoint was that suppliers and an analyst saw a risk in the scale and urgency of replacement demand, especially for specialized items. These positions address different aspects of the problem: foundries described their reported replacement status, while suppliers and analysts emphasized whether the industry could meet a sudden wider need.

EE Times’ October 1, 1999 report does not establish the final scale of earthquake-related quartzware damage, how long any shortage lasted, or whether the supplier warnings or foundries’ accounts better predicted the outcome. It is a historical snapshot, not evidence of present-day semiconductor capacity or quartzware availability.

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