Texas blacks out, freezes, and even stops sending juice to semiconductor plants.

[Klaralven]

Texas blacks out, freezes, and even stops sending juice to semiconductor plants. During a global silicon shortage

Do y'all think Samsung might rethink plans to spend $20bn down there?

...

Austin Energy eventually told business users – among them Samsung, NXP, and Infineon – to halt local manufacturing operations. Austin Energy reported that all approached businesses complied and power to manufacturing facilities were cut.

While endangering residents in favour of continued manufacturing is obviously unadvisable, stopping semiconductor production mid-cycle can damage product. And seeing as the world is in the grip of a semiconductor shortage that has seen car-makers Nissan and Honda reduce production, disruptions are unwelcome.

Complicating the situation further is that Samsung has shortlisted Austin as the location for a new chip plant, and is seeking big tax cuts as it plays off Texas and other states in an effort to find best place to invest. And there are alternatives out there. Samsung is already considering New York and Arizona.

Blackouts forcing production halts therefore seem unlikely to go down well in Samsung's boardroom.

https://www.theregister.com/2021/02/17/texas_blackouts/

[Cirque du So-What]

1. This should be a wake-up call

to any corporation considering Texas - not to mention those already there.

[BumRushDaShow]

2. TX also has biotech companies there too

and one big concern I heard but haven't seen really mentioned much with the power outages, is that unless the big refrigerators/freezers that are holding vaccines have backup generators, you are going to lose vaccine doses if the temps in the freezers/fridges go outside of spec.

[Klaralven]

3. They have been avoiding hospital neighborhoods in the rotating blackouts

Also, hospitals have backup generators, although in one case the backup failed and they scrambled to distribute the vaccine stored there.

The hospitals are probably not confident in their backup generation, so that explains their reluctance to be blacked out.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. From what I have gathered

depending on location, some of the power outages have not been "scheduled" as part of the rolling blackouts. There have actually been grid failures (overloads) and/or storm-related failures.