Environment

When we use less energy and water to operate our manufacturing facilities, it’s not just our company that benefits. Our customers, communities and the environment do too.

To understand the environmental impact of our operations, it is helpful to understand our manufacturing processes. We manufacture memory chips (or die) at our front-end facilities (fabs) in Singapore, Taiwan, Japan and the United States. Using state-of-the-art processes, we add and subtract specialized materials to silicon wafers to create our memory and storage solutions.

Micron’s manufacturing takes place at the nanoscale in a cleanroom environment. Each wafer goes through numerous manufacturing steps, where chemicals and materials are precisely applied to develop the functionality of each chip. Airborne particles, temperature and humidity are tightly controlled to ensure quality as the wafer passes hundreds of times through up to 10 process areas, each with a unique set of tools. From the moment a new wafer enters the fab until all steps are finished, this process can take more than a month. Once complete, a wafer is divided into its constituent die, which are then assembled into numerous customized formats, designed to enable myriad technologies. This back-end operation takes place at our facilities in Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia and China.

These processes require energy to run the specialized equipment in the fab and maintain the cleanroom environment, use water to ensure the cleanliness and quality of the wafer, and involve potentially hazardous chemicals. We strive to improve the performance of these operations through the following practices:

Improving energy efficiency
Recycling and reusing water
Enhancing emissions abatement and efficiency
Reducing reliance on and replenishing local groundwater supplies
Properly and safely managing chemicals used in the manufacturing process
Reviewing all materials we bring into our manufacturing environment to identify potential risks

Our Sustainability Aspirations

As one of the world’s largest semiconductor companies, Micron is mindful of how our business operations affect the environment, and we take a proactive approach to environmental stewardship. To guide us in our efforts, we convened a cross-functional team in early 2020 to establish clear long-term environmental goals, increasing our ambition from the targets we have had in place since 2017. Micron is now working toward a set of bold aspirations that will dramatically improve the environmental impact of our global operations, while staying true to our vision of enriching the world through technology innovation.

We aspire to align our emissions with the target established by the Paris Agreement to limit planetary warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 13 on Climate Action.

As part of this, Micron seeks to reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 40%, compared to a 2018 base year, and to source 100% of energy from renewable sources where available. We also aim to reuse, recycle or restore 100% of the water used in our operations and send zero waste to landfills. We plan to spend approximately 2% of capital expenditures on our environmental programs to support these goals.

Aspirational Goals

Climate

Emissions from our facilities particularly focused on reducing greenhouse gases

Energy, including our energy efficiency and purchase of renewable energy

100%Renewable energy where available

40%Reduction in our greenhouse
gases from 2018

Water

Water restoration through
efficiency, water recycling,
and other means of restoring
water to local watersheds

100% Water conservation through efficiency, reuse, and restoration

Waste

Waste reduction through
materials efficiency and
other steps to eliminate
our waste to landfill

Zero Waste to landfill through reduction, reuse, and recycling

Achieving these goals is a steep challenge as our business grows, and much of the technology, global infrastructure and public policies required are still in early stages of development. Yet we are committed to making significant progress, and our strategic roadmap includes interim targets for the next three and 10 years, to be laid out in our forthcoming 2020 CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project) and other detailed reporting. Making progress on energy and emissions targets requires a concerted effort and collaboration with all of our stakeholders. For example, Micron is working to co-design next-generation technologies in partnership with our vendors and to accelerate renewable energy adoption alongside governments, businesses, environmental organizations and academia.

Partnerships for
Climate Progress

To support progress toward our climate and energy goals, Micron recently became a member of both the Japan Climate Leaders Partnership (JCLP) and the Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance (REBA). JCLP is a group of businesses that work to encourage collaboration on climate issues, gather data and analysis on the intersection of climate and business, and communicate support for low-carbon energy. REBA is a membership association for large-scale energy buyers, developers, service providers, and nongovernmental organization partners, unlocking the marketplace for energy consumers to lead a rapid transition to a cleaner, prosperous, zero-carbon energy future.

Hazardous Substances
& Trade Compliance

2019 Performance at a Glance