Regionalized Life Cycle Assessment of Silicon Wafers Supply Chains in the Semiconductor Industry

Silicon wafers are the basis on which integrated circuit chips are produced. Hence, their constant supply is the backbone of digitalization. However, the silicon wafer supply chain is concentrated in a few geographic areas. This concentration makes the supply chain susceptible to unforeseen disruptions. This lack of resilience calls for a shift of silicon wafer supply towards Europe. Conversely, European Integrated Circuit chip manufacturers have to lower their Scope 3 emissions and, thus, the environmental impacts of their supply chain. This study investigates the environmental impacts of a global and a European silicon wafer supply chain scenario through regionalized Life Cycle Assessment. We modeled the supply chains using publicly available data. We show the most impactful suppliers and the differences in environmental impacts between a global and European silicon wafer supply chain through a contribution, hotspot, sensitivity, and uncertainty analysis. In our results, we highlight the effects and importance of regionalized Life Cycle Assessment for global, abiotic supply chains as well.