Intel said its employees are safe and the chipmaker has resumed operations at its assembly test facility in Chengdu while it analyzes inventory.
The facility handles CPUs (central processing units) and chipsets.
"Intel is currently analyzing its current inventory, work in process, and other factors to ensure that the company can best serve its customers," according to Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy, responding to an e-mail query.
A report had cited three Intel chipsets, the G31, G33, and 945GC, as being affected and subject to price increases. Mulloy said prices have not been raised by Intel.
Chengdu is 55 miles from the epicenter of the devastating earthquake in China.
"Our employees are safe, but we are working to provide support for them and the community during this very trying and tragic time," Mulloy said.
"We have determined that inventory on-site in Chengdu was not damaged and production is being shipped to customers," he said.
"The seismic assessment of the facility is nearly complete and to date we have no major structural issues," Mulloy said. "Intel has resumed manufacturing operations."
Editors' note: this post has been updated to reflect a new magnitude given to the earthquake. Although the earthquake was initially rated as a 7.8 magnitude, the U.S. Geological Survey updated it to 7.9 after a further review of the data.
The loss of life and damage in many cities in and around China's Sichuan province continues to grow after a 7.9 earthquake hit about 55 miles from the major city of Chengdu at 2:28 p.m. local time on Monday.
I live in Beijing, which is about 950 miles from the epicenter. Along with others, I first learned of the quake via Twitter, which has been lit up with first-, second-, third-, and many-hand information about various personal experiences, and hundreds of links to other reports. By contrast, mainstream media such as Sohu.com were partially responsible for a massive rumor mill that pervaded Beijing on Monday evening, with an apparently incorrect prediction of a quake in Beijing between 11:00 p.m. and midnight local time--right now.
Twits, as I prefer to call those who use Twitter, passed information and repeated via twitter what we heard from phone calls, SMS, IM, and e-mail with affected areas. We knew where people had felt it and had short descriptions from various locations quickly. Many soon switched to self-congratulations about how cool it was that Twitter had operated so quickly, and then that subsided for some comments about how we were commenting on our speed. Jeff Jarvis twittered that he'll be writing about this in The Guardian. It clearly is a fast-moving rhetorical space.
Meanwhile, via MSN instant messaging, mobile-phone text messages, and media such as Sohu, a rumor emerged claiming that a quake had struck in Beijing's suburbs at the same time and that some authority was predicting the big one for between 11 p.m. and midnight. As I said, that's right now, so my sense is that this is a hoax that will either be vindicated or made ridiculous in a matter of minutes.
By the time I had been repeatedly warned about tonight, I checked Sohu, which was then carrying a statement from the Chinese national earthquake-monitoring group saying there was no such prediction. Indeed, "twits" were quick to point out that although China is relatively good at predicting earthquakes, such a precise prediction is regarded as more or less impossible.
The latest word from Chengdu: "More aftershock! This is getting old now. Boring!"
My thoughts are with those in the southwest, and I do hope that skepticism takes the day on the Beijing rumor.
Update: Rick Martin at CNET Asia has more, including some good people to follow on Twitter for information.
Update at 1:50 p.m. PDT: Comment from Microsoft on minor damage from earthquake.
A massive earthquake struck Western China on Monday, killing more than 8,500 people and trapping more than 900 students in a high school, according to press reports.
The quake, which had a 7.9 magnitude, was centered in a mountainous region of the country in the Sichuan Province, according to The New York Times.
The epicenter was about 55 miles northwest of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan--one of the country's most populated provinces. According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the earthquake struck at about 2:30 p.m. local time Monday in China--or 11:28 p.m. PDT Sunday.
Although the earthquake was initially rated as a 7.8 magnitude, the USGS later updated it to 7.9 after a further review of the data.
Motorola, which operates a facility in Chengdu, reported minor injuries to two of its employees during the evacuation. The cellular phone maker employs approximately 400 workers in the region, who largely are involved with engineering for Motorola's enterprise business, according to a company statement.
Motorola's facility also sustained minor damage during the earthquake, but the company does not anticipate an affect on its business as a result.
"Motorola expresses its deepest sympathy and condolences to all of those affected by the earthquake," the company said in a statement.
Microsoft's Chengdu building also received minor structural damage, but its offices will remain open, a Microsoft spokeswoman said.
Meanwhile, the Redmond giant's employees in Chengdu and in Beijing are all "safe and accounted for," she added.
The software giant will be working with its China subsidiary to gather further information about its employees in other locations.
Chengdu has attracted tech companies in part through its High-Tech Industrial Development Zone. According to the Chengdu Invest site, the zone has attracted a huge number of domestic and foreign tech companies including IBM, Symantec, Microsoft, Intel, Fujitsu, NEC, Motorola, and Nokia.
Five years ago, Intel announced an investment of $200 million in a Chengdu center focused on chip testing and assembling.
On Monday, Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy said none of its employees in Chengdu were injured, nor was its facility damaged.
The chip giant immediately evacuated its roughly 2,000 workers from the plant when the earthquake struck, Mulloy said.
The plant has no power or water, and is currently running on backup power. Intel hopes to have the center running again by Wednesday.
"We are geographically diverse, so there is no near-term impact to the business," Mulloy said.
He added that no product is exclusively tested and assembled at the Chengdu plant. The site focuses on microprocessors, chipsets, and communications chips.
The city hosted the first leg of the 13th International IC-China Conference & Exhibition in February. According to EETimes Asia, this marked Chengdu's first time hosting the semiconductor event.
Chengdu is also set to host the World Cyber Games' grand finals, one of the largest global video game tournaments--if not the largest--in 2009.
Accounts of the earthquake came fast and furious. Graham Webster, a member of the CNET Blog Network, twittered: "13 seismic events above 4.9 measured since the first quake, reports USGS."
The USGS, which tracks earthquakes around the world, reported that the 7.8 earthquake had a depth of 6.2 miles.
Other bloggers, such as Rory Cellan-Jones of the BBC news blog, offered commentary on whether news of the earthquake via Twitter marks its coming of age as the platform for truly real-time news.
Beijing, which is approximately 950 miles from the epicenter, also felt the effects of the earthquake, but it was a "quiet rolling sensation," according to a CNN report. The news agency noted that the earthquake was also felt in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Taiwan--and as far as Vietnam and Bangkok.
Sina.com, one of China's most popular sites, featured photos that appear to be related to Monday's earthquake.
As part of its pre-Olympics coverage, NPR has planted journalists in Chengdu. Their coverage, until now, has focused on the culture of the thriving city.
Nokia was also affected by the earthquake, said Laurie Armstrong, a company spokeswoman.
The mobile-device and services company evacuated a sales office in Chengdu, which had fewer than 40 employees, Armstrong said. She added that there were no reports of injuries among the employees.
Some Nokia employees, however, were traveling in the region affected by the earthquake. The company is still attempting to locate them. Armstrong noted that it may be a little premature to determine the effect of the earthquake on Nokia's business.
And while the cell phone maker's Beijing office was not affected, the company sent employees home early to allow them to connect with family members, Armstrong said. "We will continue monitoring the situation and will always put the safety of our people first."
IBM, which employs 13,000 people throughout China, primarily has sales offices in the region that was affected by the earthquake, an IBM spokesman said. Big Blue received no reports of injury to its employees nor damage to its facilities.
Biloxi Bay bridge after Hurricane Katrina
(Credit: Princeton University)Escape from New Orleans, a topic for scientific inquiry--and who better to study the problem than a scientist at Louisiana State University? Now Brian Wolshon has gotten a federal grant to continue his research. In an emergency, how do you get people out of town?
Even back before Katrina hit, the folks at LSU were thinking about disasters and the incumbent evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people.
Computer modeling developed at Los Alamos National Lab will be used in a new effort to understand, plan and predict evacuation. And the variables are daunting. Just try predicting the kind of damage from a hurricane that you see in these post-Katrina pictures. I just hope they can tell us how to get out of San Francisco after the next big quake knocks down all our bridges.
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