News Report: TSMC and UMC Are Trucking in Water to Prevent Further Chip Shortages

[Admin]

TSMC and UMC have reportedly started to purchase water as Taiwan’s drought threatens semiconductor production.

Report: TSMC and UMC Are Trucking in Water to Prevent Further Chip Shortages : Read more

 

[InvalidError]

Depending on how close to shore the fabs are, building a reverse osmosis plant to process sea water might be cheaper and more energy-efficient than using trucks and they could share some of costs with companies that are along the water pipes that also need process (not necessarily up to drinking standard) water.

 

[Co BIY]

And I thought this would be another article on Texas.

The challenges of large scale production.

By my back of the mousepad calculation that was about 225 truckloads of water just for the 3600 tons. So 225 trucks a day for 2% of the daily need. Ouch.

I guess a Typhoon is needed. Not often you say that.

 

[watzupken]

Depending on how close to shore the fabs are, building a reverse osmosis plant to process sea water might be cheaper and more energy-efficient than using trucks and they could share some of costs with companies that are along the water pipes that also need process (not necessarily up to drinking standard) water.

It may be, and a good way to reuse/conserve water. But running a reverse osmosis water plant is quite power intensive as well.

 

[jkflipflop98]

Most fab facilities already have a reverse osmosis plant on-site. You can't run a cleanroom on regular tap water.

 

[lazyabum]

TSMC can get it on the cheap if they bought Russian Siberian snow ice by the ship load. Would melt mostly on the way there.

 

[watzupken]

Most fab facilities already have a reverse osmosis plant on-site. You can't run a cleanroom on regular tap water.

This is true, but it seems they may only be using tap water to run through the reverse osmosis process. Once the water is used in the fab, I am not sure it goes back through the reverse osmosis plant to be "recycled".

 

[velocityg4]

Depending on how close to shore the fabs are, building a reverse osmosis plant to process sea water might be cheaper and more energy-efficient than using trucks and they could share some of costs with companies that are along the water pipes that also need process (not necessarily up to drinking standard) water.

Could be. The big problem being they can't build it overnight. It'd take a while to build the plant. Along with laying all the water pipes through an urbanized area.

Then once it all returns. They could be hit by a decade of rain fall. With the plant just sitting unused as tap water becomes abundant again.

 

[InvalidError]

Then once it all returns. They could be hit by a decade of rain fall. With the plant just sitting unused as tap water becomes abundant again.

The trend globally is more extreme droughts and more extreme floods, so the more likely scenario is probably more severe drought-flood cycles for them too and a need to diversify the supply for stability.

 

[kAILL]

Depending on how close to shore the fabs are, building a reverse osmosis plant to process sea water might be cheaper and more energy-efficient than using trucks and they could share some of costs with companies that are along the water pipes that also need process (not necessarily up to drinking standard) water.

They are a they are about 8 miles from the sea and there is what looks like a river next to the Fab as well.