How did WTW secure $100 million more capacity for a semiconductor manufacturer?
At a glance
Organization: Global semiconductor manufacturer with critical production facilities across three continents.
The challenge: Reduce exposure to power and water outages that can trigger equipment damage and extended downtime, leading to coverage gaps.
WTW solution: A tailored engineering, natural catastrophe and climate utility resilience assessment. The assessment incorporated natural hazard exposure analysis, utility vulnerability assessment and financial impact modeling for business interruption and annual risk exposures.
The impact: The outputs secured $100 million of additional capacity, increasing the post-loss utility limit from $150 million to $250 million at 2025 renewal. The assessment also helped the manufacturer prioritize investments and update site resilience protocols, and saw WTW win Emerging Risk Solution of the Year at the Axco Global Insurer Awards 2026.
The challenge: Reduce interruption risk and strengthen insurance renewal strategy
A semiconductor manufacturer runs high-value, continuous production at facilities that depend on stable power and water supply. Even milliseconds of interruption in utilities can damage equipment and seriously disrupt output.
After the 2021 Texas freeze drove a $200 million loss from power and water failures, insurers reduced the manufacturer’s utility sublimit to $150 million. The business, therefore, faced a protection gap it needed to close.
The business also wanted to pinpoint where dependencies on external utilities created shared points of failure, so site teams could strengthen their backup arrangements and response plans.
The solution: WTW Utility Resilience Assessment for power and water across three manufacturing sites
The assessment used a consistent framework to review supply infrastructure, backup systems, recovery capabilities, historical performance and emergency response to enable clear site-by-site comparisons. This way, the business could better prioritize the improvements most likely to cut interruption risk.
WTW specialists also assessed natural hazard exposure for the facilities and associated utility providers using WTW Global Peril Diagnostic and WTW Climate Diagnostic. These assessments helped identify correlated risks and test long-term exposures across near, medium and longer-term time horizons.
To support investment decisions and renewal discussions, WTW also quantified the financial impact of business interruption scenarios and annual risk exposures.
The impact: $100 million in additional capacity at renewal, boosting post-loss utility limit from $150 million to $250 million
The work delivered clear, practical actions and evidence to support both operational decisions and insurance outcomes. The organization can now compare sites using a consistent methodology that supports more informed capital allocation.
Site teams also strengthened business continuity planning with facility-specific emergency protocols that addressed specific vulnerabilities.
“This assessment helped us strengthen our insurance position and risk management by translating shared natural hazards and utility risks into practical, insurer‑ready insights.”Insurance and Risk Manager, Global semiconductor manufacturer
WTW’s outputs also gave business leaders a strategic investment roadmap with quantified ROI, clarifying priorities and helping to optimize the organization’s insurance portfolio.
Crucially, the reporting outputs differentiated the semiconductor manufacturer’s risk in insurance markets, giving multiple markets the evidence to justify offering improved terms.
The work saw the business refine its risk modeling and therefore close its protection gap. It also secured WTW Emerging Risks Solution of the Year at the Axco Global Insurance Awards 2026, with judges commending WTW’s “highly differentiated and deeply impactful solution.”
Could a utility resilience assessment close your insurance protection gaps and protect against future balance sheet volatility? Get in touch with our specialists to find out.
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