TSMC led the industry to introduce innovated intelligent-energy-saving UPS. In 2020, TSMC took a step further to adopt LFP battery, an environmental friendly solution. All the fabs in Taiwan are set to fully adopt LFP batteries in UPS by 2030.
Intelligent-Energy-Saving UPS in TSMC

TSMC Saves 17.1 Million Kilowatt Hours of Electricity per Year by Adopting LFP Batteries in Intelligent-Energy-Saving UPS

New Fabs fully Adopted and Existing Fabs in the Process of Replacement; UPS with LFP Batteries Will Be Introduced in All Taiwan Fabs by 2030
David Wang
Leon Huang
Vincent Jiang
Serena Yang

TSMC leads the industry to fulfill its green manufacturing mission with continuous innovations in green technology. In 2016, TSMC led the industry to introduce innovated intelligent-energy-saving . In 2018, TSMC took a step further to adopt Lithium-iron Phosphate (LFP) battery, an environmental friendly solution, to replace Lead-Acid battery. As of September of 2020, UPS with LFP batteries have been successfully introduced to Fab 12A/B, Fab 14B, Fab 15A/B, and Fab 18A/B. All the fabs in Taiwan are scheduled to fully adopt LFP batteries in UPS by 2030.

Saving Energy in Three Stages; UPS Energy Saving Totals 17.1 Million Kilowatt Hours Per Year

Promotion in low-carbon manufacturing and enhancement in power efficiency are TSMC's critical strategies in energy management. Since the introduction of UPS, TSMC's green manufacturing team has effectively prolonged the lifetime of UPS by 40% through several techniques, including environmental temperature improvement for battery operation, regular battery test and sorting by performance, battery refreshment by pulse charging and etc. In the meanwhile, the team continued to look for ways of UPS power efficiency enhancement and cooperated with UPS suppliers to develop ECO/ESS mode so the power consumption from UPS can be reduced. In 2016, intelligent-energy-saving UPS were successfully introduced and its power efficiency was significantly improved to 99%, resulting in power saving of 14.4 million kilowatt hours per year.

In addition, TSMC's Facility Division, New Fab Design and Planning team, Material and Supply Chain Management Division, and Infrastructure and Communication Services Division teamed up to evaluate the possibility of introducing . LFP battery was eventually selected due to its high safety and cycle life as well as environmental friendliness. In 2017, the trial run of LFP battery in TSMC fabs was completed. Afterwards, UPS were equipped with LFP batteries in newly built fabs , followed by battery replacement in the existing fabs, saving another 2.7 million kilowatt hours of electricity each year.

Milestone of UPS Development in TSMC

Green Decision beyond Cost Consideration Leads Supply Chain to Carry out the Value of Environmental Sustainability

LFP battery is a green and environmental friendly solution. It is not only safe, low impact to environment and reusable, but also the annual battery replacement can be reduced by at least 60%. Through the installation of smart monitoring management system, the battery condition and performance will be well-monitored. Once the battery is over-charged, over-discharged or overheated, the alarm will be signaled to get prompt action on the battery. Therefore, the risk to damage other batteries in the same string by the failure one will be limited. This will also contribute to lengthen the lifetime of overall LFP battery.

TSMC is set to replace Lead Acid batteries with LFP ones in all fabs before 2030. Simultaneously, three UPS suppliers have already committed to adopt the green solution under TSMC's guideline. TSMC will continue to cooperate with supply chain partners to carry out its commitment in green manufacturing and reach environmental sustainability goal of 30% carbon dioxide emission and energy saving of 1.5 billion kilowatt hours by 2030.