The water challenge for semiconductor manufacturing: What needs to be done?Semiconductor manufacturing requires significant amounts of water, pa...

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The water challenge for semiconductor manufacturing: What needs to be done?Semiconductor manufacturing requires significant amounts of water, pa...
The water challenge for semiconductor manufacturing: What needs to be done?

Semiconductor manufacturing requires significant amounts of water, particularly ultrapure water, which is essential for chip fabrication.
Companies are beginning to address the water challenge through water reclamation and recycling practices but more is needed to counter the escalating demand for semiconductors and water use.
The industry must seek to enhance water efficiency through new technology while investors can scrutinize water sustainability.
The technology we rely on – from cell phones and computers to LED bulbs and cars – cannot function without semiconductors. And semiconductors cannot exist without water – a lot of it.

Water is crucial at all stages of semiconductor manufacturing. This heavy reliance – and impact on water – is becoming a critical vulnerability for the fast-growing global chip industry. And that, in turn, exposes the tech companies that need semiconductors to make electronic devices and increasingly, advance their artificial intelligence (AI) technology to significant financial risk.

The need for ‘ultrapure water’
This burgeoning demand for chips in the tech industry puts more pressure on already stressed water systems.

Semiconductor factories rely on water to cool systems and generate electricity – globally, they are already consuming as much water as Hong Kong, a city of 7.5 million, according to an S&P Global report.

But what really drives most of the industry's thirst for water is its need for ultrapure water that is used to rinse residue from silicon chips during the fabrication process.

Ultrapure water, which is thousands of times cleaner than drinking water, is treated through processes such as deionization and reverse osmosis to remove pollutants, minerals and other impurities that can damage chips. It takes roughly 1,400 to 1,600 gallons of municipal water to make 1,000 gallons of ultrapure water.

An average chip manufacturing facility today can use 10 million gallons of ultrapure water per day—as much water as is used by 33,000 US households every day.

Potential water-related disruptions to operations for TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker, could impact the entire global semiconductor supply chain and raise buyers’ prices.

In addition to its enormous use of water, chip manufacturing also produces wastewater that contains pollutants – including heavy metals – that can be toxic to aquatic ecosystems and humans.
SOURCE: WEF

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