Chipmakers Fail to Meet Carbon-Emission Target, Experts Say

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The world's chipmakers are failing to meet an international target to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, experts told EE Times. The first milestone is for emissions to peak in 2025 and steadily fall, one said.

www.eetimes.com/, Oct. 17, 2023 – 

A consortium created this year by chip-industry association SEMI, with R&D organization imec as a founding member, aims to bring the world's chipmakers and their ecosystem in line with the 1.5 degree Celsius global-warming target in the Paris Agreement, requiring that global carbon emissions reach net zero around 2050.

The consortium has gathered almost 90 companies from SEMI's total 3,000 members that have committed to cutting emissions.

"I believe we have all the players we need to make a difference," said Mousumi Bhat, VP of Sustainability Programs at SEMI. "I'm very impressed with the courage these companies have demonstrated to say, 'Yes, we want to solve this problem together,' because it's not something that you'd normally see. We're all very protective about the intellectual property we generate, but with sustainability, it has been very refreshing to see how companies want to collaborate."

Last year, the chipmaking industry used 340 terawatt hours of electricity, or about 1.3% of global demand, Bhat said. That percentage continues to grow, she added.

The first sustainability milestone comes in 2025, when chip-industry emissions should peak and decline steadily, Bhat said. One aspiration is to bring emissions to half of the 2019 level by 2030.

Others are less sanguine.

The top priority for the chip industry is switching completely to renewable energy as a source of electricity, said Sri Samavedam, SVP of CMOS technologies at imec. Chipmaking hubs located on islands where it's difficult to set up solar and wind power stations must depend heavily on fossil fuels to generate electricity.

"Access to renewable energies is a challenge, so your fabs in Singapore and Taiwan are going to be a problem," he said.

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