Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, plans to open a zero waste manufacturing center in Taichung next year as part of the company’s efforts to facilitate a circular economy.
At a forum on Wednesday on the initiatives taken by the information and communications technology supply chain in Taiwan to move toward net-zero carbon emissions, TSMC senior vice president of Europe and Asia sales Lora Ho (何麗梅) said the proposed zero waste manufacturing center is expected to help the chipmaker effectively cut waste.
Zero waste manufacturing centers can turn waste into electronic components that can be used again, facilitating a circular economy, TSMC said.
Besides the facility in Taichung, TSMC is also planning to set up zero waste manufacturing centers in the north and south of Taiwan, Ho said.
In addition to cutting manufacturing waste, Ho said TSMC has intensified its efforts to purchase green energy, which it hopes would help the development of the local green energy industry.
TSMC has bought almost all the green energy produced and traded by certified enterprises in Taiwan, Bureau of Standard, Metrology and Inspection data showed.
The data showed that of the 1.06 million certificates issued from May 2017 to last month, about 910,000 certificates have been traded on the National Renewable Energy Certification Center’s platform, with TSMC purchasing almost 900,000.
The 1.06 million certificates were issued for the production of 1.06 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity via renewable sources, which has cut carbon emissions by 534,000 tonnes, the bureau said.
Carbon emissions from TSMC’s manufacturing process largely come from power consumption, which accounted for 62 percent of the total emissions, while 14 percent resulted from production itself and the remaining 24 percent from the company’s suppliers, Ho said.
TSMC spends an average of 1 to 2 percent of its revenue a year on energy conservation and reducing carbon emissions, as the chipmaker has set a goal of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050, she said.
TSMC also uses as much raw material provided by Taiwanese suppliers as possible, which helps it avoid long-haul deliveries and to upgrade the local supply chain, she added.
TSMC also has an advanced control system to closely monitor waste production, Ho said.
TSMC has teamed up with another seven technology companies to set up the Taiwan Climate Partnership to form a Taiwanese green supply chain.
The other partners are power management solutions provider Delta Electronics Inc (台達電), contract electronics maker Pegatron Corp (和碩), flat-panel supplier AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), PC vendors Acer Inc (宏碁) and Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦), electronic components maker Lite-On Technology Corp (光寶) and Microsoft Taiwan.
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