Several Taiwanese companies in Apple's supply chain -- including processor maker TSMC, and assembly firm Pegatron -- are insisting that a major blackout which hit the island on Tuesday did little to disrupt production, a serious concern given the imminent arrival of new iPhones.
In fact both TSMC and Pegatron that their operations were unaffected, according to Reuters and Nikkei. Other include frame/casing maker Catcher Technology, and lens maker Largan Precision.
Three other suppliers -- Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE), PowerTech, and ChipMOS -- did admit to problems at production facilities, but said there was little overall impact.
ASE does assembly and testing of the iPhone's baseband, Wi-Fi, and Touch ID chips. ChipMOS does memory production for Micron, while PowerTech assembles and tests memory for Micron, Toshiba, and SanDisk -- all three of which count Apple as a client.
The blackout has already had serious political repercussions, leading to the resignation of Minister of Economic Affairs Chih-Kung Lee, and an apology from President Tsai Ing-wen. The chairmen of Taiwan Power Co. and CPC Corp. could potentially be forced to step down.
On top of impacting Taiwanese industry, the blackout posed a serious health threat given temperatures close to 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
Apple is expected to announce three new iPhones next month: an OLED-based and more conventional models. While mass production of the "8" , the "7s" series is almost certainly in full swing and could be more severely crippled by production issues.