Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

CTOnews.com, April 3, according to Balon Financial Weekly (Barron's), semiconductors are one of the key resources in the 21st century, and major powers are investing a lot of money to ensure that their countries have more chip manufacturing capacity. However, the competition also faces the problem of water, the oldest key resource in the world, because it takes a lot of water to make chips.

According to CTOnews.com, Taiwan, the global chip production center, suffered the worst drought in half a century in 2021, when TSMC had to use trucks to transport water to ensure the normal operation of the wafer plant, according to CTOnews.com. The water situation is likely to be even more severe this year. A report by the Asia-Pacific Foundation of Canada points out that at present, the water storage capacity of major reservoirs in Taiwan is only 1/4, and "water rationing" has become the new normal.

Taiwan is located in the subtropics, and monsoons bring Rain Water all the year round, but even so, Taiwan will face a water emergency. On the other hand, TSMC is located in the north of Phoenix, where its new plant is located, and the weather is drier than in Taiwan. Phoenix officials estimate that if TSMC builds six wafer plants there, it could need 493.3 million cubic meters of water a year, enough to supply 160000 families.

Sorenson, head of the research department of the Kyl Water Policy Center, a former head of Phoenix Water, says about 40 per cent of Phoenix's water comes from the Colorado River. The river flows through seven American states (Arizona is the last), which have been competing for water for hundreds of years. After 20 years of drought, the river's water level is 40% lower than the target.

In view of this, TSMC and its rival Intel, which also has factories nearby, may have to grab water in addition to grabbing the market.

About 70% of the water in the Colorado River is used for agriculture, and these farmers have access to water rationing at reasonable prices. Stapleton, a lawyer for the American Aboriginal Rights Foundation, pointed out that at least 29 aboriginal tribes have filed water rights claims in the Colorado Basin.

Therefore, Balon believes that for TSMC, the "water politics" in Phoenix is more complicated than that in Taiwan.

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