SEMI has increasingly focused on sustainability and semiconductors in the past three years, growing from a few keynote talks at SEMICON West 2021 to three full days packed with sustainability topics at SEMICON West 2024. You could have nicknamed this show SEMI Sustainability West.
The semiconductor manufacturing industry is at an inflection point from a sustainability perspective. According to Laurie Locascio the Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology and NIST Director, CHIPS Act funding will account for 19 greenfield fabs, which will use the equivalent of 11 Empire State buildings worth of steel. SEMI’s Fab Forecast predicts approximately 70 new fabs worldwide between 2023 and 2025. That is a lot of concrete, steel, and construction equipment, each with a greenhouse gas footprint.
The semiconductor industry must also consider the increase in energy for making advanced semiconductors due to the growth in process steps and scope 1 emissions from process chemistries. As Ajit Manocha, President and CEO of SEMI, put it in his welcome remarks, the industry is facing unprecedented challenges. One of those is achieving the path to net zero.
What’s Driving Semiconductor Growth?
The growth of semiconductor fabs isn’t driven completely by generative AI and hyper-scale data centers. With all the hype about those 2 topics it just seems like it. However, Generative AI and hyper-scale data centers are taking center stage when the discussion turns to net zero and the compute power needed for training large language models. Figure 1 taken at the IEEE VLSI symposium shows the increase in power demand for models.
This graphic leaves off at GPT3 with 552 metric tonnes of CO2 emitted and nearly 1300 MWh of electricity consumed to train the model. Currently, the energy and CO2 emitted for training the large language models continue to grow unabated, which drives the need for chips that consume more power to try and train the models more efficiently.
Hyperscale compute centers have been engaging nuclear power providers as the data centers need clean power that runs 24×7. While renewables can provide this, there is always that concern that battery storage may not always be sufficient for a 24×7 power supply.
Bloomberg recently reported that according to Google/Alphabet’s sustainability reports, the company was no longer at net zero, due to the increase in AI power demands. The company is making adjustments for how to return to net zero. This was partially due to a change in Google/Alphabet’s philosophy to no longer use carbon credits, which some consider greenwashing.
NASDAQ Cares about Sustainability and Semiconductors
The semiconductor industry is not sitting still when it comes to sustainability. In his Nasdaq keynote Jeff Thomas, Executive VP, of Corporate Platforms, NASDAQ, pointed out that the semiconductor industry climate disclosures show a 40% higher Taskforce on Climate-related Disclosures (TCFD) alignment than the market average, and that fabs are in the top 10% for disclosure aligned with the TCFD and exhibit the strongest performance in climate scenario analysis.
The semiconductor industry has fully embraced the need to address climate change and is moving quickly down the road to net zero. Multiple challenges are still ahead as were pointed out by a panel of chief sustainability officers moderated by Mousumi Bhat of SEMI. Frank Sanders of Intel, Angela Baker of Qualcomm, and John Powers of Schneider Electric discussed how their companies were working on sustainability.
Some of the key points included:
- Generative AI and how to manage the power consumption challenges
- The need for both a short-term and long-term vision to get the needle moving and then keep it moving
Powers mentioned that Cisco had just joined Schneider Electric’s Catalyze Program that was launched last year at Semicon West. This brings the number of companies working with Schneider Electric to seven. The Catalyze Program will help member companies and their suppliers reduce GHG emissions and gain access to renewable power. The panel concluded with Powers stating: “We are winning in some areas, and in others, we are not. We solve the sustainability problem by collectively coming together”. This summed up the sustainability sessions well.
SEMI has made a call for action to address the net zero problem. The industry has answered and is collaborating to address the vortex of risk, taking a strong leadership role on the road to net zero. ~ D.F.
