Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd. (TSMC) and United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) said they suffered few effects from Taiwan's biggest earthquake of 2003.

The 6.6 magnitude earthquake struck at 12:38 pm local time (04:38 GMT) December ,10 and the epicenter was about two miles west of Cheng Kung in Taitung county on the island's southeast coast, at a depth of six miles, according to reports. No deaths have been reported from the quake although it caused buildings to shake in Taipei.

At UMC, the earthquake caused a few machines in the company's advanced 12-inch plant near Tainan to automatically shut down, but there was no disruption at its other facilities, the report said. "Most of the fabs were not affected at all. Everything is back to normal now," the report quoted Alex Hinnawi, director of corporate communications at UMC, as saying.

There appears to have been minimal impact on the semiconductor industry in Taiwan.