Tech Shout!

Top memory chip maker Samsung Electronics underwent a power cut at the company’s chip factory in Giheung, Gyeonggi Province near Seoul this Friday. This blackout forced the company to shut down four memory chip lines and two non-memory chip lines.

Samsung said that the power outage at its Seoul factory resulted in some losses below 50 billion won (around $54.19 million) for the company.

According to Yoon Jong-yong, Samsung Electronics chief executive, who confirmed this said, “Total loss from the outage is not expected to exceed 50 billion won.”

According to a company official, the blackout occurred at around 2.30 p.m. and was caused by an overheated transformer unit.

The power at the Samsung factory came back on after an hour as an emergency back-up system was activated. However, it is known that the lines were still on hold for the rest of the afternoon.

Samsung said that operation would restart over the weekend. However, analysts have predicted that it may take as long as a few weeks for the lines to go back to the normal schedule.

The affected lines at the Samsung factory are lines 6,7,8,9, 14 and S lines. The power first came back on at line 14 and S line at 7.00 p.m., according to a release made by Samsung.

Samsung also said that the firm may have to scarp all the wafers which were being processed ion the line at that moment because of the instability of the system.

The power outage that took place at the Samsung factory in Giheung, Gyeonggi Province near Seoul has prompted expectations of tighter supply as well as a rise in prices of memory chips.