iPhone Chip Supplier Could Lose Quarter of a Billion Dollars From Virus Attack

iPhone chip supplier hit by virus

The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company is possibly the largest chip maker in the world. It supplies chips to companies like Qualcomm and Apple, and is the sole manufacturer of the main iPhone chip.

The company reported on Friday that it could lose as much as $255 million in revenue as a result of a virus attack that crippled a large part of its operations.

The revenue hit from the attack is expected to be 3% of this quarter’s gross sales.

TSMC confirmed to Bloomberg News this weekend that the cause of the virus was a mis-operation while installing software for a new tool.

The company expects full production capability to return on Monday. Although the impact of the virus attack on the companies supply capability to Apple is unclear at this point, this is definitely something that Apple will be looking into. Having a single manufacturer handle its main processor needs is not something Apple would want to take a risk on.

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