Toshiba Corp said on Wednesday it had restarted production at its semiconductor facility in Thailand and resumed shipping discrete chips used in smartphones and tablet PCs. Production resumed earlier this month and shipments will start today, Toshiba announced. The reopening is temporary, as production will continue until Toshiba opens its new facility in Purachinburi.

The facility in the Bangkadi Industrial Park, Pathunthani, was completely inundated in last year's floods, forcing suspension of operations. Assembly and packaging of the small signal devices and photocouplers the facility handled was transferred to other Toshiba facilities in Japan and Malaysia, and also outsourced as a means to respond to changes in demand. In April this year, Toshiba decided to relocate its operations to the 304 Industrial Park in Purachinburi, which is outside of Thailand's major flood plain, leaving the now cleaned up Bangkadi facility vacant and available.

Toshiba has installed highly efficient packaging equipment at TST Bangkadi. Its cost is covered by flood insurance and will not impact on Toshiba's bottom line, and the equipment will be transferred to the 304 facility following the start of operation there in spring 2013.