Hynix fire not as bad as expected, company says damage is minimal

Following up on yesterday's massive fire at a Hynix Semiconductor facility in China, we've learned this morning that the damage might not be as bad as originally reported. Late last night, I received an official statement from the company that was sent to our friend Jim Handy over at Objective Analysis.

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The official report from the company states that the fire started around 16:50 Korean time and was completely extinguished by 18:20. The company says that there were no human casualties, with only one minor injury of an employee. The Hynix official said that while several pictures surfaced on the Internet that showed the fab facility being engulfed in large dark clouds of smoke, the fab itself was not damaged.

The report says that the fire was concentrated in the air purification facilities that are linked to the rooftop of the fab and that this is why the photo showed the building engulfed in smoke. Hynix says that there is no material damage to the fab equipment, the clean room, or any production related equipment. They said they expect to resume operations in a short period of time and that overall production and supply volume would not be materially affected.

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The report went on to state that Hynix fully expects that the majority of the damage will be covered through their insurance and that the cause of the fire is not yet known. At the moment, this is all the we know here TweakTown, but we're in contact with Hynix and will update the story as soon as any updates are sent our way.

Below is a copy of the full statement.

The following is a statement from our company regarding the fire that occurred in our DRAM fab in Wuxi, China.

• At around 16:50 Korean time, a fire occurred during equipment installation but the fire was completely extinguished by 18:20 Korean time.
• We are still investigating the extent of damage, however there was no human casualty with only one minor injury.
• While there are some pictures of the fab surrounded by large dark smoke being circulated, please be informed that the damage is not as severe as it seems as the smoke was created because the fire was concentrated in the air purification facilities that are linked to the rooftop of the fab.
• Currently, there is no material damage to the fab equipment in the clean room, thus we expect to resume operations in a short time period so that overall production and supply volume would NOT be materially affected.
• In addition, we expect that the majority of damage will be covered through insurance.
• We will immediately provide any additional information that we further obtain regarding the impact of the event.