By Cristian Bustos. Originally published at ValueWalk.
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) announced Wednesday its plans to invest $300 million by 2030 to become a net-zero emissions semiconductor company in 2040. The firm is following the steps of giants such as Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg. Co. Ltd. (NYSE:TSM), which wants to reach such a milestone by 2050.
Investment
As reported by The Wall Street Journal, the California-based company is ready to use greener materials in its semiconductor manufacturing processes to reduce supply chain greenhouse gas pollution by at least 30% by 2030.
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The target comes two years after the chip manufacturer had set its sights on dumping zero waste into landfills and running its operation through 100% renewable energy. The company’s investment will address energy conservation issues at its manufacturing plants to achieve 4 billion cumulative kw/h of energy savings.
Keyvan Esfarjani, executive vice president and chief global operations officer, said in a press release: “Intel has been a leader in sustainability results for decades. We’re now raising the bar and entering an exciting era to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions across our operations by 2040.”
“This will require significant innovation and investment, but we are committed to doing what it takes and will work with the industry to achieve this critical mission,” he added.
A Big Challenge
The semiconductor industry is facing a big decarbonization challenge. Greenpeace data reveals that TSMC uses 5% of Taiwan’s energy to produce chips and it is bound to jump to 7.2% by 2022.
In the U.S. Intel’s 700-acre campus in Ocotillo, Arizona, produced almost 15,000 tons of waste in the first three months of 2021, about 60% of it hazardous, The Guardian reports.
Sohini Dasgupta, principal design engineer at ON Semiconductor Corp (NASDAQ:ON), said “Recently, I started seeing our effects on the environment completely come to the forefront,” and adds that two years ago the industry “was sitting on the fence, in the middle of the pack, saying: ‘Yes, sustainability is important, but we don’t know what to do with it’”.
Mark Li, a semiconductor analyst at the investment firm Bernstein, says “Over the last three years, the voice of ESG investment is much louder than before.”
He adds that the sheer demand for semiconductors and the supply crisis will put the focus on more sustainable processes and more ambitious emission targets.
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