UMC First to Announce Carbon Footprint Verification on Integrated Circuit Wafers
(Nanowerk News) UMC, a leading global semiconductor foundry, today announced that it
has completed the foundry industry's first reported carbon footprint
verification for integrated circuit wafers produced at its facilities. UMC
conducted carbon footprint inventory on its 200mm wafers at the company's Fab
8A according to international carbon footprint standard PAS2050, with the
results receiving third party verification by Det Norske Veritas (DNV). UMC is
the only semiconductor company in Taiwan that independently calculates,
verifies, and reports carbon footprints for its products.
Mr. Muh Liang Liao, vice president from UMC, said, "UMC has always paid
special attention to the issue of climate change and has aggressively
implemented comprehensive carbon management programs. Due to the advanced
technologies and numerous materials involved in the manufacturing of
semiconductor wafers, carbon footprint calculation is quite complicated. Since
UMC started its product life cycle assessment in all fabs in 2005, we were
able to complete this verification in the shortest time possible. The result
is a significant milestone for UMC's development in green production. This
verification provides complete, scientific and reliable disclosure on the
carbon information of products manufactured in our fabs as well as self-review
on environmental impact. Moreover, it is a demonstration of UMC's social
responsibility to practice transparent communication with our stakeholders."
UMC's comprehensive carbon management program includes energy-saving and
carbon reduction measures with priority on reducing carbon in the
manufacturing processes. UMC led the foundry industry to complete the
replacement of C2F6 with lower GWP C3F8 in 2007. This replacement program
helped reduce CO2 emissions by 410,000 metric tons in 2008, a reduction of
around 25% of UMC's total CO2 emissions. Furthermore, UMC's introduction of
C4F8 in 2008 further enhanced UMC's carbon reduction with more efficient CO2
reduction. UMC also believes in the importance of timely disclosure of carbon
information and ensuring data quality. Since 2006, UMC has participated in the
Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) formed by global institutional investors,
disclosing UMC's annual greenhouse gas emission volume, reduction goals and
results. Moreover, UMC adopts third-party verifiers to ensure the quality of
data. UMC completed verification on greenhouse gas emissions and reduction
from 2000 to 2008 for all of our Taiwan fabs, with efforts ongoing every year.
Carbon footprint verification serves as the basis for UMC to further
promote green products, green manufacturing processes and green design. Going
forward, UMC is committed to advance carbon management in a more practical way
and to fulfill the responsibility as a corporate citizen by reducing CO2 more
aggressively.
About UMC
UMC is a leading global semiconductor foundry that
provides advanced technology and manufacturing services for applications
spanning every major sector of the IC industry. UMC's customer-driven foundry
solutions allow chip designers to leverage the strength of the company's
leading-edge processes, which include production proven 65nm, 45/40nm, mixed
signal/RFCMOS, and a wide range of specialty technologies. Production is
supported through 10 wafer manufacturing facilities that include two advanced
300mm fabs; Fab 12A in Taiwan and Singapore-based Fab 12i are both in volume
production for a variety of customer products. The company employs
approximately 12,000 people worldwide and has offices in Taiwan, Japan,
Singapore, Europe, and the United States.
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