MediaTek, Qualcomm Taiwan and other IC design houses in Taiwan have adopted work-from-home and other precautionary measures amid a spike of COVID-19 infections locally, according to industry sources.

Some companies have also distributed their employees to work in different regional offices to reduce the possible virus impacts.

MediaTek said many of its overseas employees, such as more than 1,000 employees in India and over 500 in North America, have been working from home for more than one year. Its employees in Japan, Korea and Singapore have been working from home since the second quarter of 2020.

The company stated that it has established a set of standard operating procedures for disease prevention. It has initiated measures enabling its employees to work in segregated divisions and different buildings and has also placed controls on internal movements and communications.

Many other IC-design houses also have taken similar initiatives for disease controls, with the number of employees working from home increasing significantly, said the sources.

However, most IC-design houses said they had not seen significant changes in orders from their clients. Meanwhile, demand for chips from the end-market device market remains robust, with most clients still seeking more chips, they added.

They continued that although the spread of the virus seem to be accelerating in Taiwan at the moment, the impact on Taiwan's upstream semiconductor industry remains limited, and the delivery lead times at upstream and downstream supply chains will also remain tight.

By DIGITIMES