Environment be dammed!! Nothing stops this AI semiconductor train!!!
President Joe Biden signed legislation on Wednesday exempting semiconductor manufacturing facilities that received funding under the CHIPS and Science Act from federal environmental reviews.
The Building Chips in America Act exempts manufacturing projects, like those from Intel and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., from needing review under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. The result, chipmakers hope, will be a more streamlined construction process for their projects.
Environmental groups like the Sierra Club, on the other hand, say it creates a dangerous path for an industry that uses PFAS in production to circumvent necessary reviews. The group pushed unsuccessfully for Biden to veto the bill.
“This bill would remove the last remaining federal lever to assess the impact of massive semiconductor fabs on drinking water, air quality, climate change, and community health,” Harry Manin, Deputy Legislative Director for Industrial Policy at the national Sierra Club, said in an Oct. 2 statement.
PFAS are often present in the chemicals used to manufacture semiconductors, such as photoresist liquids that resist exposure to UV light, as well as the equipment, including high purity water distribution systems in chip plants, according to industry group Semi.
The NEPA process is a drag so I understand why the administration is doing this it’s just a shame it’s for microchip companies that already have billions upon billions in market cap.
There are things that are above environmental causes, and one of them is national sovereignty. There is a war in the development of semiconductors. The US has embargoed NVIDIA from selling to China. However, I believe that these multi-billion dollar companies are obliged to find solutions, without interference from the state, so as not to pollute the environment.
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We are led to believe it is a national security risk but one might ask why has the USA offshored everything?
Intel was dominating the semiconductor market until they started playing fiat games and making decisions that destroyed their market advantage (like turning down Apple to make chips for the iPhone)
So if it is for national security they shouldn’t operate at a profit then. Since they are socializing their factory development
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Correct, it should be a government company, but they followed the orders of the American government for fear of retaliation... what do you think would have happened to the company if they denied this express order
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Wonder how much Nancy Pelosi has invested in semis
Edit: Woops, there goes my cynicism again :|
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53 sats \ 2 replies \ @Cje95 30 Oct
They can have the billions in market cap but they haven't been able to do anything and what they have they have faced lawsuits from groups like the Sierra Club resulting in a ton of liability and next to nothing in return. A lot of CHIPS funding has dates and targets you have to hit or you don't get the funds and the environmental reviews have forced the government to keep pushing them back because NEPA cant get itself together.
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Trust me the NEPA process is burdensome at times. I’m not excusing that what I find ridiculous is the use of tax payers dollars for an industry that extremely profitable.
Instead of doing share buybacks eat the NEPA pain and build your plant.
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70 sats \ 0 replies \ @Cje95 30 Oct
So with CHIPS money companies have several new rules that address this! Big issue is that little of the money has actually left and gone to the companies so they continue to operate as is. Once they get the funds and can’t do this or that it will change!
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