Ouch
Wonder how this will ripple through the supply chain?
Hopefully the day or two delay won't get magnified as is goes down the chain.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $25/year with no ads, private forums, and more!
Fishkill Plant Affected by Blackout
- Thread starter Sun Baked
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Wonder how this will ripple through the supply chain?
Hopefully the day or two delay won't get magnified as is goes down the chain.
Fishkill Plant Affected by Blackout
eWeek reports that blackouts which affected cities in the U.S. and Canada yesterday, brought production at IBM's Fishkill plant to a slow.
The plant shifted into maintenance mode after being hit by the power-outage, bringing production tools to a safe halt. Production should restart later on Saturday. The Fishkill plant is the location of the production of the new PowerPC 970 (G5) to be used in the PowerMac G5s.
eWeek reports that blackouts which affected cities in the U.S. and Canada yesterday, brought production at IBM's Fishkill plant to a slow.
The plant shifted into maintenance mode after being hit by the power-outage, bringing production tools to a safe halt. Production should restart later on Saturday. The Fishkill plant is the location of the production of the new PowerPC 970 (G5) to be used in the PowerMac G5s.
Yeah so they lost power from 4 PM till lets say 8 AM, eh oh well, I doubt they were offline for the day.
I doubt something significant.
I doubt something significant.
Seems like the fishkill plant is just having problem after problem. First, it was rumored that the plant was having production problems, and not it will be shut down for a couple of days. No fun for IBM.
Delays?
Would anyone expect this to cause PowerMac G5 delays, or would that production have already been run (*i sclueless on timeline for chip production*)?
-Colin
Would anyone expect this to cause PowerMac G5 delays, or would that production have already been run (*i sclueless on timeline for chip production*)?
-Colin
You'd think a multi billion dollar plant like that would have some generators installed for emergencies like this!
If you look at the new MacWorld magazine, the PowerMac's U3 System Controller is also being fabbed by IBM.
There was some talk that the controller may be on the same process as the PPC970, so it may also be sitting idled at the Fishkill plant.
So will the few days delay end up impacting the production/shipping schedule or not.
It'll at least be a good excuse for any schedule slip.
There was some talk that the controller may be on the same process as the PPC970, so it may also be sitting idled at the Fishkill plant.
So will the few days delay end up impacting the production/shipping schedule or not.
It'll at least be a good excuse for any schedule slip.
Its my understanding that G5 chips are fabbed at MORE than 1 IBM plant.
That said, according to news articles the number of chips they can produce in a day would mean to double th eG4 tower sales Apple had last quarter they would only need to fab for 12 days.
From I.T. people in Armonk NY the fishkill plant has never been more than 1/4 operational so this is not such an immediate threat.
I suspect the Fishkill plant will be used for faster, more effieicent chip with higher yields once its operational. So the 3 gig G5 Steve Promised next June would come out of Fishkill. But 970 and Power4, etc are still being made at other facilities (Do a search on CNET for the articles)
That said, according to news articles the number of chips they can produce in a day would mean to double th eG4 tower sales Apple had last quarter they would only need to fab for 12 days.
From I.T. people in Armonk NY the fishkill plant has never been more than 1/4 operational so this is not such an immediate threat.
I suspect the Fishkill plant will be used for faster, more effieicent chip with higher yields once its operational. So the 3 gig G5 Steve Promised next June would come out of Fishkill. But 970 and Power4, etc are still being made at other facilities (Do a search on CNET for the articles)
Yes, it definitely should. I worked as a process engineer at an IC fabrication plant way back in the mid-80's and we had our own emergency generators for just this reason. Of course, they only supply enough power for you to perform a controlled shutdown of key portions of your manufacturing line. You can't continue to run at full production.
It does. And just like fpnc mentioned it gives enough power for the plant to safely shut down.
Lethal
Yes, I was waiting for this announcement. Whether this will have any true impact on the G5 introduction is, I think, uncertain (I believe that it should not).
However, I'm afraid that Apple may see this as a mixed blessing. Since it probably won't have any significant affect on the timeline but now they can use it as an excuse if they miss the end of August shipping deadline for the G5 pre-orders.
One can imagine a press release from Apple, "As a result of the widespread power failure in the northeast, shipments of the IBM-produced G5 processor have been delayed. Therefore, Apple must regretfully delay initial shipments of its new Power Mac G5 until mid-September 2003." ;-)
Shouldn't happen, I hope.
However, I'm afraid that Apple may see this as a mixed blessing. Since it probably won't have any significant affect on the timeline but now they can use it as an excuse if they miss the end of August shipping deadline for the G5 pre-orders.
One can imagine a press release from Apple, "As a result of the widespread power failure in the northeast, shipments of the IBM-produced G5 processor have been delayed. Therefore, Apple must regretfully delay initial shipments of its new Power Mac G5 until mid-September 2003." ;-)
Shouldn't happen, I hope.
Dumb Writers
Quote from the article:
"...and the Canadian province of Ottawa without power, an area where an estimated 50 million people live..."
You'd think that a journalist for eWeek would know that Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. However, as above mentioned, it is merely a city in Ontario, which was the province that was affected by the outage.
In response to the Fishkill plants, I hope they ramp up production. I'm waiting for my G5.
Quote from the article:
"...and the Canadian province of Ottawa without power, an area where an estimated 50 million people live..."
You'd think that a journalist for eWeek would know that Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. However, as above mentioned, it is merely a city in Ontario, which was the province that was affected by the outage.
In response to the Fishkill plants, I hope they ramp up production. I'm waiting for my G5.
O, Canada!
>>You'd think that a journalist for eWeek would know that Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. However, as above mentioned, it is merely a city in Ontario, which was the province that was affected by the outage.
tsugaru: Thanks for the sharp eye ... We were running a little short-handed today because of the blackout, and that error slipped through.
It's fixed now; I hope our northern neighbors will forgive us!
Matthew Rothenberg
Managing editor
Ziff Davis Internet
>>You'd think that a journalist for eWeek would know that Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. However, as above mentioned, it is merely a city in Ontario, which was the province that was affected by the outage.
tsugaru: Thanks for the sharp eye ... We were running a little short-handed today because of the blackout, and that error slipped through.
It's fixed now; I hope our northern neighbors will forgive us!
Matthew Rothenberg
Managing editor
Ziff Davis Internet
Wasn't the PPC970's supposed to be made in Ireland as well?
And I would think they have already fabbed a hell of a lot of proccessors, so it wouldn't delay the first batch of G5s. It might make a dent on the supply after the initial ones though.
And I would think they have already fabbed a hell of a lot of proccessors, so it wouldn't delay the first batch of G5s. It might make a dent on the supply after the initial ones though.
Uh-oh.
I know that losing power is not a good thing, especially if you are using it to make computer chips.
Hopefully, IBM will figure out which wafer lots to throw out as garbage (or make into keychain fobs) and which ones to make into processors and controller chips. I know that sometimes, it takes them awhile to get their line tuned up again to make good chips again.
I remember when Taiwan lost power during an earthquake. Made getting chips from the factory there dicey. For a bit of time, everyone was wonder if the chips on the boards being made were from an 'earthquake' lot or not, since they were unreliable to use.
I know that losing power is not a good thing, especially if you are using it to make computer chips.
Hopefully, IBM will figure out which wafer lots to throw out as garbage (or make into keychain fobs) and which ones to make into processors and controller chips. I know that sometimes, it takes them awhile to get their line tuned up again to make good chips again.
I remember when Taiwan lost power during an earthquake. Made getting chips from the factory there dicey. For a bit of time, everyone was wonder if the chips on the boards being made were from an 'earthquake' lot or not, since they were unreliable to use.
Re: Dumb Writers
the funny part is that the whole of Canada only has 32 million people..
aethier
the funny part is that the whole of Canada only has 32 million people..
aethier
Re: Re: Dumb Writers
Not really, in the original (full) quote it was clear that they were talking about both the U.S. and Canada. See where the "..." leads into the section on Canada.
Originally posted by aethier
the funny part is that the whole of Canada only has 32 million people..
aethier
Not really, in the original (full) quote it was clear that they were talking about both the U.S. and Canada. See where the "..." leads into the section on Canada.
Re: Re: Dumb Writers
The 50 million represents TOTAL outage -- not just Canada (whether the article was written that way or not).
Originally posted by aethier
the funny part is that the whole of Canada only has 32 million people..
aethier
The 50 million represents TOTAL outage -- not just Canada (whether the article was written that way or not).