Security News > 2024 > August > Chipmaker Microchip reveals cyber attack whacked manufacturing capacity
US semiconductor manufacturing firm Microchip Technology has revealed an "Unauthorized party disrupted the Company's use of certain servers and some business operation."
The company took actions including isolating the relevant systems, shutting down others, and calling in external cyber security advisors to understand the extent of the mess.
"As a result of the incident, certain of the Company's manufacturing facilities are operating at less than normal levels, and the Company's ability to fulfil orders is currently impacted," the filing states, along with a promise that it's working to fix things up ASAP. There's no word on the cause of the incident, the extent of the disruption at the chipmaker, or whether ransomware was involved.
This incident at Microchip is especially concerning given that in January 2024 the Biden administration awarded the firm $162 million to expand the fabs in which it makes its flagship microcontrollers.
The biz also offers foundry services - and if this incident has disrupted that process it will mean pain in the silicon supply.
Cyber attacks on chipmakers are not unusual: this year alone we've covered such incidents at TSMC, Nexperia, and AMD, while past examples of such attacks include the 2022 ransomware incident at Nvidia.