In response to questions from WIRED about its two-phase cooling merchandise, together with whether or not the corporate plans to submit chemical compounds for expedited consideration underneath the federal government’s new knowledge middle exemption, Chemours spokeswoman Kathy Olszewski mentioned the corporate is “within the technique of commercializing two-phase immersion cooling fluids, which would require related regulatory approvals.”
“Our efforts on this space are targeted on growing extra sustainable and environment friendly cooling options that may assist knowledge facilities eat much less power, water and area whereas successfully managing the elevated warmth generated by next-generation chips with larger processing energy,” mentioned Olszewski.
These chips even have the potential to grow to be an necessary supply of recent chemical compounds. Each Schwier and Jonathan Kalms-Katz, an legal professional with the environmental nonprofit Earthjustice, mentioned the semiconductor trade, which makes the chips that present knowledge middle computing energy, stands to profit vastly from an expedited evaluation course of. Semiconductor manufacturing processes persistently use chemical compounds at a number of completely different factors of manufacture, together with the important photolithography course of that makes use of gentle to switch patterns onto the floor of silicon wafers.
Schwier mentioned that previously few years whereas working at EPA, the trade has submitted quite a few new chemical purposes. Kalmus-Katz mentioned semiconductor producers are “the primary drivers of recent chemistries.”
“The administration has a mindset of sacrificing AI anyway, speeding to construct knowledge facilities and chip fabs with none significant plan to deal with the local weather impacts, the pure useful resource impacts, and the poisonous supplies that shall be used and emitted from these new services,” he says.
The semiconductor trade is in search of adjustments to the EPA’s new chemical compounds program this 12 months, in response to lobbying paperwork. In March, Nancy Beck, a former coverage director for an trade lobbyist group who now heads the Workplace of Chemical Security and Air pollution Prevention, which oversees the evaluation of recent chemical compounds, met with representatives from SEMI, the trade’s international advocacy group. The assembly was initially organized to debate “EPA’s regulatory method to PFAS and different chemical compounds important to semiconductor manufacturing,” in response to an e-mail obtained by WIRED by way of a Freedom of Data Act request. Through the assembly, Beck advised the lobbying group observe up on public feedback supporting adjustments to the brand new chemical compounds program, which the group despatched in a letter the next month, in response to the e-mail. (“Trump EPA encourages events to submit and doc feedback on the proposed rule to make sure a various vary of views,” mentioned Hirsch, the EPA spokesperson.)
