According to reports, semiconductor manufacturer ON Semiconductor experienced a power outage at its Bucheon wafer fab in South Korea. The power outage lasted for about 20 minutes, during which most equipment stopped operating. Currently, the plant is conducting tests after restarting the equipment. In addition, ON Semiconductor is considering closing its Bucheon plant for about two weeks starting around mid-December.

Prior to this, ON Semiconductor announced that its silicon carbide (SiC) manufacturing plant expansion project in Bucheon, South Korea has been successfully completed. This expansion makes the facility one of the largest and most advanced SiC manufacturing facilities in the world. At full production capacity, the factory can produce more than one million 200mm SiC wafers per year, meeting the rapidly growing market demand for silicon carbide devices.

Data shows that the Bucheon factory was once the non-memory production base of Samsung Electronics. In 1999, Samsung sold its power semiconductor division to Fairchild Semiconductor of the United States, and the Bucheon factory was also transferred as part of the transaction. Later, in 2016, ON Semiconductor acquired Fairchild Semiconductor. ON Semiconductor currently produces 6-inch SiC semiconductors on the S1 to S4 production lines of the Bucheon plant, supplying major automakers such as Tesla, Hyundai Motor, Kia, and BMW.

ON Semiconductor has stated that the Bucheon factory is the core asset of its SiC semiconductor business. It not only serves customers in the Asia-Pacific region, but also in North America and Europe. From crystal growth to semiconductor production and R&D, ON Semiconductor will devote resources to all these areas.