Much has been written in recent years Semiconductor shortage and Geopolitics of chip production. An equally prominent but less discussed perspective on modern semiconductors involves sustainability.
Manufacturing semiconductors consumes large amounts of energy. Finding ways to improve the efficiency of semiconductor manufacturing is one step toward reducing the carbon footprint of entire facilities that use semiconductors, including data centers.
Environmental impact of semiconductor manufacturing
Semiconductors are small, but their production has a modest environmental impact. According to McKinsey & Company, semiconductor factories can: consume more energy than car factories and oil refineries.
Greenpeace aims to improve the semiconductor industry by 2030. 237 terawatt hours of total electricity consumption (TWh) – approximately the same as Australia’s total electricity use in 2021.
This might not be a big deal if semiconductor manufacturers source their energy from renewable sources, but most don’t. According to the 2023 report: 95.8% Some of the electricity that powers semiconductor manufacturing comes directly from fossil fuels or from the general power grid. Its energy sources vary, but most rely primarily on fossil fuels.
Semiconductor manufacturing and data center sustainability
of energy The cost required to manufacture semiconductors is critical to data center sustainability. The increased energy consumption of this production process increases the carbon footprint of the installation and operation of the facility.
Most measurements of data center power consumption and efficiency ( PUE) focuses only on the energy directly used by the facility. They do not take into account the energy costs and carbon impact associated with manufacturing IT equipment within their facilities. However, that cost remains an important part of the overall sustainability equation.
Data center operators are making real commitments sustainability You need to consider the power required not only to operate your IT components, but also to manufacture them.
For context, it’s worth noting that the energy used to manufacture semiconductors is less than the energy used to operate data centers. Data center consumption is approx. 411TWh of power As of 2023 – this number will likely be keep rising At least for the rest of the decade. This increases data center energy efficiency and source of clean energy For them, it could have a bigger impact on overall data center sustainability than reducing the energy costs of chip manufacturing.
However, the environmental impact of semiconductor manufacturing cannot be ignored, and moving this needle in a positive direction could be a major step toward improving data center sustainability. This is especially true for companies that have already invested in other types of sustainability optimization for their facilities.
Data center operators can insist that semiconductor manufacturers adopt more energy-efficient production methods.
How to reduce the environmental impact of semiconductors in data centers
How data center operators can profit semiconductor Are you manufacturing a less significant factor in your facility’s overall carbon impact?
Some of the answers are not directly in their hands. This includes convincing semiconductor manufacturers themselves to invest in technologies that reduce the energy requirements of their production processes. This involves, in part, optimizing the manufacturing process itself through optimizations that reduce the energy required for tasks such as chip diffusion and etching.
At the same time, manufacturers can make their facilities more energy efficient by following the same strategies that have helped the data center industry, such as improving HVAC and water systems.
Of course, data center operators cannot force chip manufacturers to make such changes. But you can work with hardware vendors that prioritize semiconductors manufactured in energy-efficient ways.
Data center owners, on the other hand, can take their own steps, such as not prematurely retiring IT equipment. Recycle when no longer needed. These practices extend the lifespan of chips and improve the “energy ROI” for the power consumed during semiconductor manufacturing.
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Invest in a high-efficiency cooling system such as Direct cooling to the chipinside data centers, protecting semiconductors from overheating can also extend the lifespan of semiconductors.
True, these are small steps. Responsibility to make the biggest leap towards further development Environmentally friendly semiconductor manufacturing The problem lies with the chip manufacturer. In many ways, chip manufacturers are in the same position as data center operators were 10 to 15 years ago, when sustainability began to become a focus of the data center industry.
The good news for semiconductor manufacturers is that a variety of energy-saving technologies are now pervasive in the data center industry, and there is no reason why similar solutions cannot be applied to semiconductor manufacturers.
