TSMC promotes the green manufacturing capability of the supply chain and assists the supplier "Solar Applied Materials Technology" to become the first domestic company to supply front-end process targets for high-end semiconductor manufacturing.
Through continuous testing and quality optimization, TSMC successfully introduced recycled targets into the mass production process in 2020.
TSMC promotes the green manufacturing capability of the supply chain and assists the supplier "Solar Applied Materials Technology" to become the first domestic company to supply front-end process targets for high-end semiconductor manufacturing.

TSMC Establishes a Circular Economy in Its Supply Chain and Revitalizes Process Waste Resources as Renewable Targets

TSMC’s Supplier Solar Applied Materials Technology is the First Domestic Supplier of Front-End Process Targets for High-end Semiconductor Manufacturing
Chandler See
Bo-I Lee
Teresa Peng

TSMC collaborates with suppliers to achieve a circular economy and build a local green supply chain. In 2020 we cooperated with Solar Applied Materials Technology Co., Ltd. to successfully recycle waste and refine it into raw materials to produce sputtering that meet quality criteria, and officially brought them into our production lines. This move not only enabled Solar Applied Materials Technology to become the first domestic company to supply front-end process targets for high-end semiconductor manufacturing, but also successfully reduced 1,800 tons of waste liquid for TSMC every year and achieved the regeneration of 120 residual targets, enabling us to attain the waste management goal of “minimizing waste output and maximizing resource recycling”.

Deepening Suppliers' Green Manufacturing Capabilities and Driving the Domestic Circular Economy of the Semiconductor Industry

TSMC adheres to the waste management principles of resource recycling and sustainable utilization, and actively revitalizes waste resources produced by the manufacturing process to convert them into products that can be directly used in wafer manufacturing or sold to other industries. In year 2019, TSMC's waste recycling rate reached 96%. Beginning as a waste resource producer, TSMC is now an executor of circular economy.

TSMC leverages its leading position in the semiconductor industry to exert a positive influence. For target materials imported from a single sources, TSMC not only carried out active risk management to ensure continuous operation, it also works to recycle waste materials. TSMC’s Materials Supply Chain Management Division, Fab15A, and Materials and System Excellence Division formed an expert team with target manufacturer Solar Applied Materials Technology to drive a waste resource activation project in the two processes of copper sulfate waste liquid and residual target materials, and to develop remanufacturing technology using renewable resources as target materials. The recycled resources were introduced to TSMC's mainstream processes in 2018 and advanced processes in 2020, enhancing the green manufacturing capabilities of the supply chain.

TSMC's Cross-organizational Cooperation Helps Supplier to Improve the Quality of Recycled Targets

Material Supply Chain Management Division
  • Launched a resource regeneration plan and found suitable suppliers to participate
  • Risk management
Fab15A
  • Target sample testing on testing production line
  • Assisted Solar Applied Material Technology to improve target quality
  • Brought to mass production
Materials and System Excellence Division
  • Conducted sample testing experiments and composition analysis
  • Analyzed report values and monitored sample quality

Case 1 Copper sulfate waste liquid is made into regenerated copper pipes, which are then reused as target material.

Case 2 Recycling and smelting of precious metal residual targets to make new targets. The recycling process uses nearly ten tons of regenerated targets per year and returns them to TSMC's process.

While driving semiconductor innovation, TSMC is also committed to improving the sustainability of the supply chain. Through collaboration with Solar Applied Materials Technology Corporation, we successfully actualized the circular economy model for sputtering target materials, and turned a new page in the manufacturing and adoption of semiconductor materials.

- Handy Ko, Director of TSMC Material Supply Chain Management Division

TSMC's realization of its environmental protection concept through the circular economy has long been a model for the semiconductor industry in Taiwan and even the world. Solar Applied Materials Technology took this as a benchmark and aspired to “learn from a leader to become a leader. Thanks to TSMC for its successful experience-sharing and guidance, and for creating a win-win economic model with us.

- C.Y. Ma, Chairman of Solar Applied Materials Technology Corporation