Panasonic Hukou plant fire leaves 5 injured and 2 missing as CCL order spillover draws attention
A fire and a series of explosions broke out at Taiwan Panasonic’s Hukou Plant No. 3 in Hsinchu County at 2 a.m. on Nov. 4, leaving five employees injured and two Taiwanese employees missing, according to a report by Commercial Times cited by ABMedia. The cause of the incident remains under investigation. The site, located on Guangfu Road in Hukou Township, is a five-story steel-framed factory building registered with solar power and radioactive material facilities. Hsinchu County Fire Bureau dispatched 13 units, 23 fire engines, 48 firefighters, and three ladder trucks to contain the blaze and protect the surrounding area. The injured workers, who suffered burns, chest and abdominal pain, and breathing difficulties, were sent to Ton Yen General Hospital in Zhubei and Ren-Tzu Hospital in Hukou. All were conscious. Because the plant mainly produces high-speed printed circuit board, or PCB, and semiconductor packaging materials, the accident has also drawn attention from the electronics supply chain. PCB industry analyst kokycpcb said in a social media post that any spillover in Panasonic’s high-end copper clad laminate, or CCL, orders would likely be split by grade: M8 and above to EMC, and M6/M7 to Nan Ya Plastics. Still, the report noted that this remains the analyst’s personal view, and the actual impact is unclear because the damaged production line and whether it involved Megtron-series materials have not been confirmed.
