Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) was unable to achieve its sustainability goals for water usage and waste creation last year due to increased production of its advanced 5 nm process chips.

TSMC’s water, electricity, and raw materials usage all increased for the third year in a row, according to the company’s latest corporate sustainability report. The upped demand was due to the construction of new fabs, in addition to ramped up production for the company’s 5 nm chips, according to Nikkei.

The Taiwanese company was only able to reduce the amount of water used during wafer fabrication by 8.9 percent, which fell short of its target, a 10 percent decrease, according to the TSMC report. Nikkei pointed out that TSMC’s daily water usage had jumped 25 percent to 193,000 tons in 2020.

The world’s largest contract chipmaker generated 1.01 kg of waste per wafer last year, missing its goal of producing 0.88 kg or less per unit. TSMC said the uptick in waste was due to higher demand for cleaning and optimization operations associated with the commercialization of new chips.

TSMC said it achieved its target of obtaining 7.6 percent of its energy through renewables in 2020 and added that it is set to meet its objective of having 25 percent of its energy requirements met by renewables by 2030. The company report showed the contract manufacturer used 16,900 GWh of electricity last year, an almost 18-percent bump from 2019.

The company report also noted shortages in water and electricity as two substantial operational risks going forward. TSMC is building a water recycling plant in Tainan that is expected to start operations later this year and will be able to supply half of the company’s daily water needs for manufacturing.

Taiwan had been struggling with its worst drought in over 50 years, which was in danger of affecting the semiconductor industry. However, the plum rains that fell last month significantly eased the pressure on the country’s water supply.

By: DocMemory
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