Featured Case · TSMC Fab 8 · 2026-01-02
The 2026 “Millennium Bug”: six tools back online in two hours
On January 2, 2026, automation on six Lasertec inspection tools at TSMC Fab 8 stopped at the same time. The tools’ defect-data server encodes the year in the first character of every condition and result filename — 0 for 1990, running through Z for 2025. When 2026 arrived the year code ran out, filenames lost a character, and every upload failed.
The OEM was overseas, on-site staff could not modify the software, and production was waiting. Richtung traced the root cause, decoded the file-naming scheme and restored automation within two hours, with a system-time and automatic file-renaming workaround to bridge to a permanent fix.
- Equipment
- Lasertec MD2100 · DDP Server
- Impact
- 6 tools, automation down
- Root cause
- Year code overflow (Z = 2025)
- Time to restore
- < 2 hours
Result filename · 8 characters
XYearCMon1DayNHrC51Min·Sec (hex)A
Year code (1st character)
0199011991…91999A2000…Y2024Z2025?2026
?C21…A2026 → 7 characters → upload rejected
OKWorkaround deployed → automation restored