News-in-brief: June 2023

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Intel increases fab investments: In June 2023, Intel made several announcements regarding planned investment in Europe and the Middle East. Intel has signed a revised letter of intent with the German government regarding its planned leading-edge wafer fab in Madgeburg, Germany. Instead of an initial 17 billion euros, the overall investment in the site (which will contain two fabs) will be over 30 billion euros. The German government will also increase its incentives. Additionally, The Ministry of Finance in Israel has announced that Intel will invest a further $15 billion in its fab in Kiryat Gat, on top of the $10 billion investment which Intel announced for the location two years ago. The State of Israel agreed to increase its grant to $3.125 billion. The new fab is expected to become operational in 2027. More Europe-based government investment: France has signed a contract to provide 2.9 billion euros for the STMicroelectronics and GlobalFoundries 300mm fab in Crolles, France. This provides additional investment on top of 7.5 billion euros which was announced by the manufacturers in 2022. The facility is intended to reach full operational capacity in 2028. TSMC UPW projects: TSMC announced that it successfully implemented the “hot DI water circulation system 2.0” as a demo tool at one of its fabs. TSMC claims that this is the first hot DI water circulation system for water cleaning tools which saves water usage by 80%. The report includes statistics including the conservation of 24,000 tons of pure water and 388,000 kWh of electricity. The aim is to save 11.6 million tons of pure water and 450 million kWh of electricity by 2030 after full implementation on 12-inch wafer facilities. Silicon Carbide manufacturing: Wolfspeed has secured an additional $1.25 billion from Apollo Global management to increase silicon carbide manufacturing. This investment is an additional sum on top of the previously announced $6.5 billion fab expansion announced for both North Carolina and New York. TECHNOLOGY

AI Optimization in water system: Kurita Water Industries completed a demonstration project under a Joint Venture with Fracta Leap for reducing CO2 emissions through optimization of reverse osmosis membrane systems using Artificial Intelligence. Both companies have received a patent for the technologies. Kurita Water Industries reported that the Artificial Intelligence technology reduced operating costs by about 40$ and CO2 emissions by about 10%. PFAS treatment technologies: Ovivo announced a partnership with E2metrix to develop a complete integrated solution to treat and destroy per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in water and wastewater. The partners are currently piloting a solution in Alabama, USA which will mineralize the PFAS into the elemental parts of carbon and fluorine, and then return water back to a facility. Whilst the venture currently targets municipal drinking water, future pilots will target industrial wastewater in North America in the coming months. COMPANY NEWS

Entegris facilities and business segments: Announced in May 2023 that it opened a new facility in Southern Taiwan’s Kaohsiung Science Park. Accumulating $500 million in investments, the company is increasing production capabilities for advanced liquid filters, high-purity drums, and advanced deposition materials. The facility also announced that the facility will take certain sustainability measures, such as recycling 85% of the facility’s water usage for daily operations. In June, Entegris also broke ground on its Colorado Springs facility, which is expected to increase production capabilities for filtration and purification in early 2025. Finally, Entegris announced that it will sell its Electronic Chemicals business to Fujifilm. The business segment was bought with the acquisition of CMC Materials in July 2022, and the $700 million transaction is expected to close by the end of 2023. More chemical equipment manufacturing: Foresight Technologies has announced that it will establish a new production center for high purity fluid and chemical system equipment production in Tempe, Arizona. The facility is expected to be fully operational by Q3 2023, and the investment figure has not been disclosed.