books
Computer Microchips & Environmental Policy "Making Microchips: Policy, Globalization, and Economic Restructuring in the Semiconductor Industry," by Jan Mazurek, MIT Press, 1999, 245 pages, $30 (ISBN 0-262-13345-8)
Reviewed by Maxine I. Lipeles
I
t is ironic that as the computer industry has become more successful and sophisticated, fueling an information revolution, government agencies and private citizens who are benefiting from the availability and versatility of computers are nonetheless without sufficient information and analytical tools to assess the industry's impact on human health and the environment. In "Making Microchips: Policy, Globalization, and Economic Restructuring in the Semiconductor Industry," Jan Mazurek details the substantial growth and restructuring of the semiconductor industry during the past decade, and posits that environmental policy has not been able to keep pace with or respond effectively to such changes. As a result, she argues, recent initiatives designed to reduce regulatory requirements on the semiconductor industry are inherently flawed insofar as government and citizens lack the data necessary to evaluate their effectiveness. Mazurek, an environmental consultant who has coauthored two other books addressing U.S. environmental policy, focuses on "fabs"—huge facilities engaged in the fabrication of silicon wafers, from which microchips are formed. Fabs are noteworthy because they command enormous quantities of resources, they use chemicals of potential harm to human health and the environment, they bring a significant number of jobs and other economic benefits (together with less wellappreciated costs) to their host communities, their production processes change
at an exceptionally rapid rate, their role in the structure of the semiconductor industry has undergone significant change, and the value of the microchips they produce derives not from the value of the raw materials used to produce them but from the highly proprietary knowledge incorporated in their design and production. The book isfilledwith fascinating fab facts. The average fab is 1 million sq ft in size, containing 3,000 miles of reinforcing steel, 150 miles of electrical wire, 80 miles of "ultraclean" pipe, and enough
concrete to build 15 miles of road. This fab uses enough water—filtered to be 2,000 times purer than tap water—to fill 24 swimming pools each day, and enough air—filtered 500,000 times more than the air in the average hospital operating room—to fill 3,000 party balloons each minute. Such a fab cost $2.6 billion to build in 1996. In 1993, there were more than 900 fabs in the world, with 350 of them in the U.S. Since 1994, another 24 have been planned and/or constructed in the U.S. In 1997, Intel was building a new fab every nine months. Mazurek emphasizes (and reempha-
sizes) that substantial changes are occurring in how and where microchips are being made. Whereas microchip manufacturers have been producing silicon wafers of 4 to 8 inches in diameter, the effort to increase wafer-to-chip yield has led the larger manufacturers to begin making 12-inch wafers. This change brought with it new processes, new manufacturing equipment, and new process inputs. Such dramatic production changes provide convenient opportunities for companies to engage in pollution prevention efforts, incorporating into design and planning decisions newly raised concerns regarding the human health and environmental effects of the materials and processes they utilize. Whereas the semiconductor industry has championed ongoing product innovation since its establishment in the 1960s, during the past decade the industry has coupled rapid product changes with major changes in the structure of the industry itself. Historically, the industry was characterized by vertically integrated firms with research, design, and manufacture concentrated in one area, typically the area that thereby came to be known as Silicon Valley in California. Since the late 1980s, however, three key developments have transpired. First, some companies have opened new manufacturing facilities in locations remote from their research and design hubs. In 1994, Texas supplanted California as the "capital of wafer fabrication," and several new fabs have been built in the southwestern and northwestern regions of the country. Second, some companies have partnered with former competitors, both foreign and domestic, to build and operate huge fabs on a joint basis. Third, some firms have closed their own fabs—becoming "fabless"— and contracted with third-party "foundries" to manufacture the chips that they continue to design. Although some such foundries have been located in the U.S., many have been built overseas, particularly in Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan. Mazurek acknowledges that, at least when motivated by legal requirements, the dynamism of the semiconductor industry enables it to move quickly to achieve pollution reduction goals. For AUGUST 30,1999 C&EN
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books example, when the U.S. ratified the Montreal protocol requiring the phaseout of certain chlorofluorocarbons—in order to stem the depletion of the strato spheric ozone layer—Intel reduced its CFC use by 98% in just two years (199092), eliminating CFCs entirely by 1994. Similarly, when the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 imposed compre hensive new operating permit require ments on major sources of air pollution, Intel successfully restructured nearly all of its domestic fabs to reduce their emis sions sufficiently to qualify as minor sources—and thereby avoid lengthy permitting delays that could have slowed Intel down in its perpetual race to bring the newest chips to market as fast as possible. Mazurek suggests, however, that the industry has not been inclined to reduce its environmental impacts in the ab sence of pressure from new or impend ing legal requirements, employee com plaints, or public controversy. More over, in a theme woven throughout the book, she concludes that regulatory re lief programs introduced by the Envi ronmental Protection Agency have not succeeded in encouraging the semicon ductor industry to attain "superior" envi ronmental performance beyond what the law requires. The computer industry has clearly contributed to the vigor of the U.S. economy in recent years. In 1997, semi conductor and computer production ac counted for 45% of the nation's industri al growth and 10% of gross national product. Thus, "Making Microchips" analyzes recent environmental policies affecting the semiconductor industry within the larger context of governmen tal actions undertaken during the past decade to secure and enhance the inter national competitiveness of domestic firms. Mazurek describes a publicprivate partnership to improve the man ufacturing methods of U.S. microchip manufacturers, provisions in the 1996 trade agreement with Japan, and two in itiatives launched by EPA to relax regu latory restrictions in exchange for im proved environmental performance. Three of the book's seven chapters address environmental issues. One chapter surveys the industry's environ mental impacts: Although microchip manufacturing does not involve sub stantial air or water emissions of con cern, emissions from the broader com puter and electronic sector are sizable, ranking third-highest nationwide (be 6 8 AUGUST 30,1999 C&EN
hind chemicals and metals); chemicals used in microchip manufacturing are potentially toxic to exposed employees, with various studies and a few lawsuits alleging increased risks of reproductive problems and cancers; and the constant replacement of older computers with newer, smaller, faster ones poses a waste disposal challenge. But the book focuses more on envi ronmental policies than environmental impacts. In two chapters that make up nearly one-fourth of the book's content, Mazurek zeroes in on two EPA pro grams that epitomize the Clinton Ad ministration's efforts to reinvent envi ronmental regulation. The Common Sense Initiative was designed to bring together diverse stakeholders in six in dustrial sectors (one of which is elec tronics and computer manufacturing), to compare environmental concerns with environmental regulations, and to encourage consensus-based proposals to address environmental problems more efficiently and effectively. Mazurek concludes that although the Common Sense Initiative offers great promise—who would argue with the increased use of common sense in the area of environmental regulation?— it has thus far achieved little in the con text of computers and electronics. She blames this on the difficulty of overcom ing mistrust among adversarial inter ests such as business, environmental, and labor organizations, as well as on the outdated nature of EPA's data col lection and analysis protocols, which make it very difficult to assess reduc tions in emissions in light of the dramat ic structural changes occurring in the semiconductor industry. The data analy sis challenge is magnified by the indus try's widespread reluctance to share production-related information for fear of revealing trade secrets that are criti cal to competitive success. The second program scrutinized is Project XL (excellence and Leader ship), which invites companies in any sector to propose regulatory shortcuts in exchange for "superior environmen tal performance." One of the showcase XL facilities is Intel's fab in Chandler, Ariz. Mazurek concludes that although the XL agreement benefits Intel by free ing it from potential permitting delays in making process changes, the indicia of superior environmental performance are weak, at best. Such a phlegmatic conclusion is the principal shortcoming of this book. It
provides many facts, several of which are presented repeatedly, but lacks an analytical structure that would enable the reader to form a "what's next" rec ommendation. The two themes of the concluding chapter—environmental laws give regulators inadequate tools for assessing and targeting the environ mental impacts of microchip manufac turing, and the industry should commu nicate more effectively with the public regarding its health and environmental effects—are unsatisfying. On the other hand, Mazurek advanc es the discussion regarding this critical industry by bringing together a wide va riety of disciplines—economic geogra phy, environmental policy, and industri al organization—in an attempt to ad vance public understanding of the nature of the industry as well as to ana lyze its economic and environmental im pacts. In light of the importance of the computer industry to national and inter national economies, "Making Micro chips" makes a worthwhile contribution to the evolving policy discussions re garding its promotion and regulation. Maxine I. Lipeles is an environmental attorney and director of the environmen tal engineering program at Washington University, St. Louis. A Biopesticides: Use and Delivery. Franklin R Hall, Julius J. Menn, editors, xiii + 626 pages. Humana Press, 999 Riverview Dr., No. 208, Totowa, N.J. 07512. (http:// humanapress.com). 1999. $119.50. Cell Behaviour: Control and Mechanism of Motility. Biochemical Society Sympo sium No. 65. J. M. Lackie, G. A. Dunn, G. E. Jones, editors, xiv + 341 pages. Princeton University Press, 41 Williams St., Princeton, NJ 08540. (http://pup.princeton.edu). 1999. $75. Cellular Responses to Stress. Biochemi cal Society Symposium No. 64. C. P. Downes, C. R. Wolf, D. P. Lane, editors, xi + 171 pages. Princeton University Press, 41 William St., Princeton, NJ 08540. (http:// pup.princeton.edu). 1999. $85. Chemical Process Safety: Learning from Case Histories. Roy E. Sanders, xiv + 289 pages. Butterworth Heinemann, 225 Wildwood Ave., Unit B, P.O. Box 4500, Woburn, MA 01801. (http://www.bh.com). 1999. $75. Chemistry of Wine Flavor. ACS Symposium Series 714. Andrew L. Waterhouse, Susan E. Ebeler, editors, χ + 245 pages. American Chemical Society. Distributed by Oxford University Press, 198 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10016. (http://www.oup-usa. org). 1998. $95.^
