At least three major manufacturing centers for camera sensors were evacuated on Tuesday, July 28, as a 7.1-magnitude earthquake hit Japan’s southern Kumamoto prefecture. Sony, Fujifilm, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. – a major chipmaker for camera sensors – were evacuated in the region.
The earthquake, which hit around 4:27 PM local time on July 28, collapsed a shopping mall, leaving some trapped inside, and has also ruptured roads and left many homes without power.
Japan’s southern Kumamoto prefecture, located on Kyushu, Japan’s southernmost of its four main islands, is also home to several manufacturing plants for semiconductors and camera sensors.
According to the Japanese newspaper Nikkei, Sony and Fujifilm evacuated plants in Kikuyo, while Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. – a major chipmaker that produces image sensors – also evacuated.
Neither camera brand has confirmed if the earthquake has caused damage to the manufacturing facilities. TSMC has so far not reported any significant damage.
Sony Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation, located in Kumamoto Japan, is where Sony manufactures its image sensors – as many as four million sensors are built there a day, destined for a range of products from cameras to smartphones.
Fujifilm’s Kyushu location in Kumamoto, Japan manufactures color filter components used in Fujifilm’s X-Trans camera sensors, as well as films that are used in manufacturing LCD screens and slurries or polishing materials used for semiconductor manufacturing.
While it’s unclear at this time whether the sensor manufacturing plants sustained any damage, in the past, earthquakes have caused significant disruptions to some camera manufacturers' supply chains, including an earthquake in the same region a decade ago.
An earthquake in 2016 shut down Sony's image sensor plant in Kumamoto for several months, triggering supply chain delays.
An earthquake in 2011 in the Tōhoku region disrupted Nikon’s DSLR plant, Canon’s lens manufacturing, and four Sony plants, including one for Li-ion batteries and camera components. The earthquake also impacted Tamron and Sigma’s lens production facilities. The impact, along with the damage to roadways and transportation, caused global shortages and delays for impacted brands.
While the 2011 earthquake highlighted the danger of concentrating manufacturing in a specific region, there’s a reason that Kumamoto is home to several sensor manufacturing plants. The region is known for its ultra-clean water, an essential resource for manufacturing image sensors.
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