The Chip Industry's Dirty Little Secret: It's Very Dirty

Semiconductor makers are in the midst of a factory building boom that critics worry will cause extensive environmental damage.

- MICHAL LEV-RAM

ON SEPT. 24, 2021, Intel broke ground on two new computer chip factories in Chandler, Ariz., just one of many such projects companies are racing to complete across the country to fuel a seemingly bottomless demand for semiconductors. Amid the backdrop of dirt, steel, and bulldozers, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger stood at a podium to address the crowd gathered to mark the occasion. "Isn't this awesome?" he said, gesturing to the massive construction site behind him. "If this doesn't get you excited, check your pulse." Intel's plans for its campus near Phoenix are indeed remarkable: The chip giant is pouring $20 billion into the project, and says the new factories, or fabs, will create thousands of jobs, not to mention significantly boost its domestic capacity to churn out semiconductors used in products like personal computers and data center servers. But there's another, less celebratory side to the recent boom in chip manufacturing-not just Intel's, and not just in Arizona. Critics worry that the new plants could exacerbate the growing climate crisis, spoil the environment with chemicals, and suck aquifers dry. Here's why: While semiconductor chips are made in "clean rooms," manufacturing them is in fact quite dirty.

Producing the fingernail-size building blocks of electronics is an intricate and energy-intensive process. To that end, large fabs can use as much as 100 megawatthours of power hourly, more than what oil refineries or automotive plants consume, according to energy management provider Schneider Electric. Each semiconductor factory can also consume more than 1 million gallons of water daily, in addition to producing thousands of tons of chemical waste annually.