Samsung NAND fab hit by reported power outage

Samsung is reported to have suffered a power interruption at its Pyeongtaek semiconductor fab, which produces NAND and was recently scheduled for expansion into DRAM memory, which is claimed to have damaged wafers equivalent to 3.5 percent of the global supply for the month.

The rise of of the smartphone and tablet has hit the traditional PC market hard. As well as an ongoing multi-year slump in sales, increased demand for memory components has not been matched by increased supply - leading to, as any student of economics will attest, an increase in cost. That is unlikely to get better in the short term on the news that Samsung's Pyeongtaek semiconductor fab has suffered a power outage resulting in damage to 11 percent of the company's total March output - equivalent to around 3.5 percent of the global component supply across all manufacturers.

The news comes from rumour-mill DigiTimes which cites a report on the Taiwanese technology news blog TechNews. According to DigiTimes' repetition of said report, a half-hour power outage at the facility resulted in damage to several thousand wafers. Power has since been restored, and production continues from the company's existing wafer inventory.

Samsung did not immediately responded to a request for comment on the matter, but the article will be updated if a statement is provided. If the report proves true, however, the blip may prove significant enough to have a knock-on effect on the price of NAND components in the coming months.

The reported outage comes just one month after Samsung announced it was investing £8.6 million in the Pyeongtaek facility to open a second line, turning it from a NAND-exclusive facility into a dual-purpose NAND and DRAM fab. It is not known whether the rumoured power outage is related to work on the second line.