Right now, TSMC Arizona's completed Fab 21 Phase 1 consumes about 18,000 cubic meters of water every day. That’s about 4.75 million gallons of water, each day. And there are two more phases coming up. Semiconductor manufacturing is water intensive and that has made some people anxious about TSMC's arrival to the Arizona desert. More than a few people have asked, "Don’t these fabs use a ton of water? Why are we building them in the desert?" The answer of course is that Phoenix offers TSMC certain things that are not easily found elsewhere. Water is scarce there, sure. But it is not impossible to find, the amounts are manageable, and it can be recycled. Some claim the facility is stealing water from farmers. Saying, “You can't eat chips!” (Technically you can) The implication being we can only have one or the other. I don't think that's true. Farms use way more water than TSMC. In today's video, I want to revisit the fab in the desert and take a dip into the water situation.
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