Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) last year saved almost 2 million tonnes of water as part of its efforts to fulfill its commitment to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, the company’s financial disclosure report said.
To reach its zero emissions goal, TSMC has been taking action to broaden its green influence and drive industry toward low-carbon sustainability, chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) said in the company’s Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures report released last week.
TSMC saved 1.927 million tonnes of water last year by adopting measures such as reducing water consumption by facility systems, increasing wastewater recycling by facilities and decreasing water discharge from the systems, the report said.
Photo: CNA
Last year, it also invested NT$1.6 billion (US$57.69 million) in water conservation and recycling equipment, and spent an additional NT$1.2 billion on equipment operation and maintenance, it said.
By 2030, TSMC aims to reduce the amount of water it uses by 30 percent from 2010, the report said, adding that its water consumption last year fell 8.9 percent from 2010.
After Taiwan experienced a major water shortage from the end of last year to May, TSMC compiled statistics for drought risk assessments in the report, which showed that from 1986 to 2005 the longest Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County had gone without rain was 40 days, while for Taichung it was 52 days and for Tainan 62 days.
The number of days Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County, Taichung and Tainan would go without rain in 2035 is forecast to rise 4.15 percent, 2.42 percent and 2.28 percent respectively from 2016, the company said.
From 2081 to 2100, the longest stretch without precipitation in Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County could increase 14.44 percent from the 1985-to-2005 period, and it could grow 11.33 percent for Taichung and 10.73 percent for Tainan, it said.
If a drought occurs every 10 years, it could cause an average reduction of 0.7 to 1.1 percent in TSMC’s annual operating revenue, the company said.
As water shortages in Taiwan are likely to worsen, TSMC said it has also established a comprehensive water monitoring mechanism to regularly check the status of water supplies in the country.
The company is improving its water conservation measures, increasing the recycling rate of process wastewater and establishing comprehensive monitoring mechanisms for water supply, the report said.
It is also expanding the use of reclaimed water, and preparing water trucks to minimize the effect of water shortages on operations and eliminate production interruptions, it said.
TRADE WAR: Tariffs should also apply to any goods that pass through the new Beijing-funded port in Chancay, Peru, an adviser to US president-elect Donald Trump said A veteran adviser to US president-elect Donald Trump is proposing that the 60 percent tariffs that Trump vowed to impose on Chinese goods also apply to goods from any country that pass through a new port that Beijing has built in Peru. The duties should apply to goods from China or countries in South America that pass through the new deep-water port Chancay, a town 60km north of Lima, said Mauricio Claver-Carone, an adviser to the Trump transition team who served as senior director for the western hemisphere on the White House National Security Council in his first administration. “Any product going
TECH SECURITY: The deal assures that ‘some of the most sought-after technology on the planet’ returns to the US, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said The administration of US President Joe Biden finalized its CHIPS Act incentive awards for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), marking a major milestone for a program meant to bring semiconductor production back to US soil. TSMC would get US$6.6 billion in grants as part of the contract, the US Department of Commerce said in a statement yesterday. Though the amount was disclosed earlier this year as part of a preliminary agreement, the deal is now legally binding — making it the first major CHIPS Act award to reach this stage. The chipmaker, which is also taking up to US$5 billion
High above the sparkling surface of the Athens coastline, the cranes for building the 50-floor luxury tower centerpiece of Greece’s future “smart city” look out over the Saronic Gulf. At their feet, construction machinery stirs up dust. Its backers say the 8 billion euro (US$8.43 billion) project financed by private funds is a symbol of Greece’s renaissance after the years of financial stagnation that saw investors flee the country. However, critics see it more as a future “ghetto for the rich.” It is hard to imagine that 10km from the Acropolis, a new city “three times the size of Monaco”
STRUGGLING BUSINESS: South Korea’s biggest company and semiconductor manufacturer’s buyback fuels concerns that it could be missing out on the AI boom Samsung Electronics Co plans to buy back about 10 trillion won (US$7.2 billion) of its own stock over the next year, putting in motion one of the larger shareholder return programs in its history. South Korea’s biggest company would repurchase the stock in stages over the coming 12 months, it said in a regulatory filing on Friday. As a first step, it would buy back about 3 trillion won of paper starting today up until February next year, all of which it would cancel. The board would deliberate on how best to effect the remaining 7 trillion won of buybacks. The move