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According to the Austin City Daily Austin Statesman on the 16th (local time), Austin Energy, an electricity company owned by the city of Austin, has recently ordered large-scale power outages and power shortages caused by severe cold to shut down local large companies’ factories.
This is because power consumption such as heating due to heavy snowfall and strong cold has increased sharply, and wind power generators have also failed.
Reportedly, about 200,000 residents living in Austin’s residential areas now stay powered off. Not only Texas, but also 5.5 million households in 18 states, including Oregon, Kentucky, and West Virginia, are struggling due to the severe cold.
An Austin Energy official said in an interview with the media, “At first we ordered industry officials to save power, but when it became clear that the situation was much more ominous, we asked for power reduction through backup generators. I ordered down).”
The companies that received the shutdown order are known to be semiconductor related companies, which are Austin Energy’s largest power customers, such as Samsung Electronics, NXP, and Infineon.
Samsung Electronics spokesman Michelle Glaze said, “We have taken appropriate measures on the equipment and wafers that were in production with advance notice of the shutdown order. We will resume production as soon as power is restored.”
The shutdown order appears to have inevitably imposed a rare action, although there is a potential for disruption to the manufacturing process of some products and the resulting loss of millions of dollars. It is reported that this is the first time that Samsung Electronics’ Austin semiconductor plant has been ordered to shut down due to power shortages.