Infineon Technologies, one of the world’s major semiconductor makers, announced earlier this month that it will run its Austin production site entirely on renewable energy.
The chip manufacturer will use certified renewable energy from Austin Energy generated from local wind farms in Texas, stated Steve James, Vice President of Operations. “It means a little extra cost for us, but we really think that’s important just to show how important it is to the planet to start to transfer to green,” he added.
Infineon claimed to be one of the first semiconductor companies to set a carbon neutrality target for its global operations at the beginning of 2020, and it converted its whole electricity consumption in Europe to green electricity last year.
The next phase of its global effort toward carbon-neutrality by 2030 is to convert its largest factory in North American to green energy, James remarked. By the end of 2022, renewable energy will supply 100% of the company’s electricity consumption in the United States.
Infineon is committed to environmental protection by decreasing its own carbon footprint and driving energy-efficient technologies. As the market leader in power semiconductors, it hopes to contribute to energy efficiency across the entire energy chain, said the company.
Over the last four decades, Infineon has worked to improve the energy efficiency during generation and usage, and its products provide a 33-fold net environmental benefit, according to the chip maker.
Semiconductor manufacturing plants are among Austin Energy’s most energy-intensive customers. Infineon’s Austin location, according to James, consumes 30 megawatts of power every day, with the majority of the energy used to keep clean rooms and pumps operational 24 hours.
James went on to say that the factory already has several green measures in place, such as recycling and reusing the majority of the water that runs through the gear. “We recycle around two-thirds of our water and reuse it, or we clean it and reuse it, or we utilize it for other purposes after we’ve used it once,” he explained.
