News Each EUV chipmaking tool consumes as much power as a small city — EUV fabs to consume 54,000 Gigawatts by 2030, more than Singapore

[Admin]

Leading-edge semiconductor fabs to consume 54,000 Gigawatts a year by 2030, which is more than some countries consume today.

Each EUV chipmaking tool consumes as much power as a small city — EUV fabs to consume 54,000 Gigawatts by 2030, more than Singapore : Read more

 

[rluker5]

Easy to fix. Put constraints on AI and crypto. There will be a lot less energy spent on fabbing and unproductive compute tasks.

 

[DS426]

The irony of using significantly more electricity to make chips more efficient...

 

[Zarraya]

The question I have is the 1.4MW the instantaneous power or sustained? From what I know of how these machines work (using lasers to vaporize droplets of tin to produce UV light) that number seems to be instant. If so then the actual energy use of the whole machine is wayyyy less. Watts are energy over time after all.

 

[bit_user]

The use of units, in this article, is incredibly confusing. Are these peak figures, average figures, and stuff like "54,000 GW/year" doesn't even make sense! Should that have been "54,000 GW hours per year"?

Joules are a unit of energy (equal to consuming 1 Watt of power for one second). Unless you're talking about peak or average power consumption, you really should be using Joules.

@PaulAlcorn , can you please help?

 

[pug_s]

The question I have is the 1.4MW the instantaneous power or sustained? From what I know of how these machines work (using lasers to vaporize droplets of tin to produce UV light) that number seems to be instant. If so then the actual energy use of the whole machine is wayyyy less. Watts are energy over time after all.

https://www.oist.jp/news-center/new...creases-energy-efficiency-and-reduces-capital

Here's an article about it. Many of these EUV machines needs more mirrors in order to focus the EUV light in a ever smaller target. Every time it bounces off from 1 mirror, it loses 40% of its power and they have to add more power to compensate.

In the article they are talking about the use of 2 mirrors instead of the regular 10 mirrors used here, but it has never been in use yet.

Meanwhile, China
are trying to use other ways generate this EUV light instead of hitting tin like euv "cannon" ssmb (steady-state microbunching)

 

[Dntknwitall]

Doc would be happy. I wonder what year they will be going to? Back in time or Back to the Future?

 

[cp0x]

The use of units, in this article, is incredibly confusing. Are these peak figures, average figures, and stuff like "54,000 GW/year" doesn't even make sense! Should that have been "54,000 GW hours per year"?

Joules are a unit of energy (equal to consuming 1 Watt of power for one second). Unless you're talking about peak or average power consumption, you really should be using Joules.

And each machine is not using the electricity of a "small city". Each one is just using the equivalent of 1000 hair driers, which is like 5 houses worth of electricity in the US south when the air conditioners are on .

 

[hotaru251]

Just make it a global law that should businesses want to do this high power usage stuff they are required to put downpayment fund to begin construction of a nuclear power plant to fund their needs.

Gov's around world need to be proactive before its too late. a few business shouldnt use up so much power it impacts normal citizens around em.
Force the business to fund expanding grid or they are banned from doing what they want.

 

[QChronoD]

Even if their numbers are correct and they do use 0.21% of the global power produced, I have a feeling that they generate more than 0.21% of the global GDP and are well worth the energy expenditure.

Edit: Quick AI search:
AI Overview

According to recent data, the global semiconductor industry, which includes semiconductor fabs, represents roughly 0.6%of nominal global GDP. This means that the total revenue generated by the semiconductor industry is approximately 0.6% of the total global economic output.


Key points to consider:

• Growth trend:
  This percentage has been steadily increasing over time, with some projections indicating it could reach around 0.65% by 2030.
  
  
  
• Source:
  Information is typically sourced from the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA).

 

[frogr]

And each machine is not using the electricity of a "small city". Each one is just using the equivalent of 1000 hair driers, which is like 5 houses worth of electricity in the US south when the air conditioners are on .

average summer daily demand for South Central USA is ~2kW or 48 kWh per day.

How Many kWh per Day Is Normal?

With electricity becoming costlier by the minute, it’s normal to wonder how many kilowatt-hours (kWh) is normal to consume in a day.

www.solar.com

Therefore 1,400 kW -> 700 homes

 

[frogr]

The question I have is the 1.4MW the instantaneous power or sustained? From what I know of how these machines work (using lasers to vaporize droplets of tin to produce UV light) that number seems to be instant. If so then the actual energy use of the whole machine is wayyyy less. Watts are energy over time after all.

The CO2 laser beams have about a 50 kHz pulse rate and are fed into optical amplifiers that are continuously pumped by a plasma discharge. So 1.4 MW is the continuous power assuming most of the power is consumed by the optical amplifiers.
https://www.euvlitho.com/2019/S1.pdf

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/physics-and-astronomy/carbon-dioxide-laser

 

[frogr]

The error in units for energy usage and the 54,000 GWh annually for the EUV tools alone by 2030 comes from the source article:
https://www.techinsights.com/blog/euv-lithography-power-hungry-path-innovation

1.4 MW * 8,760 hrs/yr = 12.3 GWh annually per EUV tool
54,000 / 12.3 = 4,400 EUV tools by 2030
ASML only dreams that they could ship that many EUV tools by 2030

 

[watzupken]

At the rate we are accelerating power usage, I don't see anyway we can be sustainable or "save the planet". All these power hungry machines produces power hungry chips (like for AI/LLM training as an example), which will only grow in number.

 

[Zarraya]

The CO2 laser beams have about a 50 kHz pulse rate and are fed into optical amplifiers that are continuously pumped by a plasma discharge. So 1.4 MW is the continuous power assuming most of the power is consumed by the optical amplifiers.
https://www.euvlitho.com/2019/S1.pdf

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/physics-and-astronomy/carbon-dioxide-laser

That is some great info! Thank you for sharing, they really do use monstrous levels of power.

 

[systemBuilder_49]

One way to create this energy is if Intel would please go out of business! Their stuff is really inefficient and an Intel CPU and it's overblown cooling system uses about twice as much power as an apple or AMD computer ...

 

[derekullo]

The irony of using significantly more electricity to make chips more efficient...

Just as more efficient cars can go farther on the same amount of gas, a more efficient chip can produce more work at a lower wattage.

 

[nivagh]

Sloppy. You can't "consume" Gigawatts. A Gigawatt is a measure of power. Gigawatt hours, joules, even calories, are a measure of energy, but never watts. Basic stuff.

 

[FoxTread3]

November 2, 2024 - The first two things I would like to say is that - 1) I have no understanding of electricity, and anything related to it like measurements, consumption, and production. I think that puts me right in there with most people. 2) This is one of my favorite forums for all kinds of Tech information. The contributor here "be" really smart😮😊👍👍 You guys not only offer information and opinions, but you provide sources for further investigation. As always, one of the commentators here suggested governments should get involved in regulating and compelling businesses to do what is necessary to limit, or prevent negative impacts on national grids etc. One of the problems with that, is that the people in government at a particular time. Often don't have the insight, understanding, and/or the political will to deal with near to midterm future problems. I recall watching an interview on the BBC where the newsreader was talking with a person that was knowledgeable about power production and consumption. There came a point when the newsreader mentioned that at that moment in time. That there was a serious drop in power production because the Wind Farms off the British coast weren't generating power because there was no wind.🤨 You would think that her next question would have been... "Sooo is relying on wind to supply the power needs of large populations a practical idea?" Instead, the was a moment of silence between the newsreader and the person being interviewed, and they moved on with the interview. The German government, if I understand the issue correctly. Gave into the demands of people with no understanding of nuclear power, and is now experiencing the possibility that their power hungry industries will suffer from the lack of power for the foreseeable future. This is in contrast to France, the U.K., other countries, and international businesses increasing their nuclear power foot print.
I think the most positive trend is that business is taking the necessary steps to guarantee their current and future power needs. If governments can't, or won't do what is necessary to provide and/or improve infrastructure, then the businesses must. In doing so, businesses will not only be doing their job of making money, but also showing the general populace what must be done. I offer the fact that some Tech giants are making plans to have nuclear power to supply their energy needs. In my opinion, one of the positive affects of business, is that it must be practical in its methods and planning to be successful and survive. Unlike much of society which tends to wobble back and forth between what is practical and what is fade. My consolation as an old guy, is that humans in spite of fades and social experiments. Eventually settle on the practical to survive as a species.

 

[Dntknwitall]

And each machine is not using the electricity of a "small city". Each one is just using the equivalent of 1000 hair driers, which is like 5 houses worth of electricity in the US south when the air conditioners are on .

I think your math is a little bit off. 1Gigawatt is equal to 1,000,000,000 Watts, so 54,000 Gigawatts of electricity is 54,000,000,000,000 Watts. If my math is correct that would be equal to 180 million, 1800 watt hairdryers running for about 10 minutes each. This 54,000 Gigawatts of power seems a bit extreme but I guess it is possible.

 

[TJ Hooker]

I think your math is a little bit off. 1Gigawatt is equal to 1,000,000,000 Watts, so 54,000 Gigawatts of electricity is 54,000,000,000,000 Watts. If my math is correct that would be equal to 180 million, 1800 watt hairdryers running for about 10 minutes each. This 54,000 Gigawatts of power seems a bit extreme but I guess it is possible.

Here's the relevant quote from the article:

"However, at 1,400 kilowatts per EUV tool — enough to power a small city [...]"

So we're talking about 1.4 MW of power draw. That would be a very small "city" indeed.