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Energy & Science

The Chip Industry Has a Problem With Its Giant Carbon Footprint

Each new generation of semiconductors requires more energy, water and greenhouse gases to create.

Inside A Siliconware Precision Industries Co. Facility As Company Terminates $1.7 Billion Deal With Tsinghua Unigroup
Photographer: Billy H.C. Kwok/Bloomberg

Day and night, trucks arrive at the Southern Taiwan Science Park to pour concrete for what will become the world’s most advanced chip factory.

It’s a giant undertaking that befits the out-sized ambitions of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world’s go-to chipmaker. The TSMC facility’s estimated cost of $20 billion is about three times that of Elon Musk’s Tesla Inc. gigafactory near Berlin.