How long term droughts (of water) could affect Intel and TSMC

[trs96]

Intel is planning to spend 20 Billion on new fabs in Arizona. TSMC will be building there as well. Taiwan is in the middle of a drought right now which is affecting TSMC's production of semiconductors. These foundries cannot do what they do without using a lot a fresh water. Seems to me they could be choosing other places in the USA to build these new fabs. We do have 5 great lakes that contain the most fresh water, in one location, on planet earth. The Colorado river is already being depleted just by the millions of Phoenix area residents. How long will that hold up ?

The Great Lakes are one of the world’s largest surface freshwater ecosystems.

• 84% of North America's surface fresh water
• about 21% of the world's supply of surface fresh water

 

[trs96]

Taiwan’s drought began when typhoons failed to make landfall last year. Today, drought conditions cover a significant portion of the densely populated western third of Taiwan, extending from Hsinchu south to Kaohsiung, an arcing span of more than 150 miles on an island that’s only about 240 miles long. Water levels in major reservoirs have been as low as 10 percent of their capacity, and they’re currently being stabilized by water piped in from Taipei, which has so far avoided the worst of the drought.

Semiconductor companies TSMC and Micron have major chipmaking operations in the affected regions, which include two large science parks that will have their water supplies trimmed by 15 percent starting on April 4. TSMC says it recycles 85 percent of the water it uses, yet it still requires 41 million gallons of water per day. The company says it will increasingly rely on tanker trucks to maintain operations.

The problem isn’t limited to TSMC. All semiconductor fabs consume massive amounts of water. For the last 17 years, starting with the 90 nm node, the industry has been making chips using immersion lithography, which uses water to sharpen the resolution of the 193 nm ultraviolet light used to create features. Even today’s leading edge 5 nm nodes rely in part on immersion lithography, according to WikiChip. Elsewhere in the fab, water is used to wash wafers and cool equipment. For manufacturers, fresh water supply is so important that “fabs located in water-stress regions often perceive water security as one of the primary risk factors to the companies’ sustainability,” according to a 2018 study.

From: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy...e-fab-fires-snarl-semiconductor-supply-chain/

 

[Gigamaxx]

Intel is planning to spend 20 Billion on new fabs in AZ. TSMC will be building there as well. Taiwan is in the middle of a drought right now which is affecting TSMC's production of semiconductors. These foundries cannot do what they do without using a lot a fresh water. Seems to me they could be choosing other places in the USA to build these new fabs. We do have 5 great lakes that contain the most fresh water, in one location, on planet earth. The Colorado river is already being depleted just by the millions of Phoenix area residents. How long will that hold up ?

The Great Lakes are one of the world’s largest surface freshwater ecosystems.

• 84% of North America's surface fresh water
• about 21% of the world's supply of surface fresh water

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Maybe Intel can filter their waste water and sell it as “IntelAgua”. Like Smart Water just put it in a triple thick bottle and charge $3.50 ea.

 

[UtterDisbelief]

They should relocate to places with better water supplies, that's clear. How about the UK? I'm just watching it snow out of the windows here. Windy, 4-degrees-C currently, too.

Arizona or California looks great right now ...

 

[Middleman]

They should relocate to places with better water supplies, that's clear. How about the UK? I'm just watching it snow out of the windows here. Windy, 4-degrees-C currently, too.

Arizona or California looks great right now ...

Intel already has a facility in Ireland. As part of the move towards 7nm these next few years their plant was announced it will be doubling in size.