Thursday, February 25th 2021
Report: TSMC and UMC are Trucking in Water Amid Shortages
Manufacturing silicon is no easy task. You need to have all the right supplies available all the time. One of the most used ingredients in silicon manufacturing is water. Almost every process needs it and it needs to be constantly available to the manufacturer. According to the report coming from Reuters, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) are experiencing water shortages. The Taiwan island is in trouble, as the typhoon season has been rather mild and water supplies are at the historic lows. Water restrictions are in place all across the island and the reservoirs in the center and southern regions are at only 20% capacity.
The lack of water is a big problem for TSMC and UMC, as both companies rely on the constant income of it. With water restrictions in place, TSMC has to keep its facilities running and needs to solve the problem. That is why Taiwan's biggest silicon manufacturer is now making small orders of waters, delivered by a truckload. TSMC expects to compensate for the lack of water coming from its regular sources with truckloads of it. While we do not know the numbers of it, we can expect the water use to be very high if we take into account the number of wafers TSMC produces at its facilities.
Source:
Reuters
The lack of water is a big problem for TSMC and UMC, as both companies rely on the constant income of it. With water restrictions in place, TSMC has to keep its facilities running and needs to solve the problem. That is why Taiwan's biggest silicon manufacturer is now making small orders of waters, delivered by a truckload. TSMC expects to compensate for the lack of water coming from its regular sources with truckloads of it. While we do not know the numbers of it, we can expect the water use to be very high if we take into account the number of wafers TSMC produces at its facilities.
37 Comments on Report: TSMC and UMC are Trucking in Water Amid Shortages
Some of the 2,000m plus mountains had snow for a bit longer though. Still doesn't produce all that much water when it melts though.
www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4097130
This is what the pros use.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_osmosis
Keep in mind that the fabs don't use what you and I call water, but rather this.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultrapure_water
fresh water has and will always be a scare resource, unless you live by N.A.'s great lakes; 21% of world's FW.
On my boat, I have a reverse osmosis machine that makes 1.5 gallons per hour. The power draw is 5 amps at 12v, about 60 watts. Now scale that up to a huge silicone factory, you would need huge amounts of power l.
www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4137082