The Taiwan earthquake puts the vulnerability of the world's biggest chipmaker on full display

• Taiwan’s worst earthquake in 25 years disrupted operations of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing.
• The disaster shows the vulnerability of TSMC, the world’s top chipmaker, to natural or geopolitical events.
• TSMC is diversifying with new plants in Arizona, Japan, and Germany to mitigate future disruptions.

Taiwan experienced its worst earthquake in 25 years on Wednesday morning, disrupting the operations of companies including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, or TSMC.

TSMC, which is based in the Taiwanese city of Hsinchu, told Business Insider that some of its fabs — microchip manufacturing plants** **— were evacuated for preventive measures, but that all its personnel were safe.