Not all Smartphones are Created Equal

TechInsights recognizes Earth Day 2024 by lifting the screen on smartphone semiconductor sustainability

Smartphones are typically compared based on screen size, processor speed, and camera resolution. But when TechInsights looked at carbon footprints for manufacturing just the semiconductors of three flagship phones, they found a 20% difference in carbon output. Multiply that against TechInsights’s forecast that 1.16 billion new smartphones will be shipped in 2024, and the difference in carbon emissions is similar to what you’d see from a passenger car circling the globe more than 46,000 times.

Semiconductor manufacturing is energy intensive and uses a variety of high Global Warming Potential (GWP) gases to create intricate circuitry patterns on silicon wafers. Yet, despite the growing importance of sustainability considerations to consumers, reviews of mobile phones typically focus on cameras, battery life, cellular connectivity, and overall performance, rather than carbon emissions associated with these mini-super computers.

That’s unfortunate, as not all semiconductor manufacturing processes are created equal when it comes to their impact on the environment. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from semiconductor manufacturing can vary greatly depending on the technology process node being manufactured and the location of the wafer fab.

Whether you favor the a Samsung Galaxy, all smartphones have a sizeable lifecycle carbon emissions footprint, and approximately 80% may come from manufacturing. To better understand what emissions are associated with the manufacture of mobile phones, three processors used by Apple, Huawei, and Samsung in their most advanced phones were evaluated by TechInsights.

One of the most significant impacts on semiconductor carbon emissions is die size. When die size increases, the yields go down, and you end up with higher emissions per good die. Reviewing Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions per wafer in terms of carbon dioxide equivalents, the Qualcomm SM8650-AB has the lowest emissions per wafer, followed by the A17 and Kirin 9000s. When emissions per die are evaluated, the trend reverses; the largest processor, the Qualcomm SM8650-AB, has the highest emissions per die, while the smallest processor, the Kirin 9000s, has the lowest total emissions.

Now compare the carbon emissions numbers and you can quickly find that there is a 20% difference in the carbon footprint for manufacturing just these three chips. That might not immediately sound like much, but the impact of one versus the other is equivalent to what the US EPA estimates as the carbon footprint of the average gas-powered passenger vehicle. Still not adding up to much? Multiply that against the 1.16 billion smartphones TechInsights forecasts will be shipped in 2024, and you’re looking at the equivalent of driving around the Earth 46,000 times.

Of course there are hundreds of semiconductors in smartphones which have their own carbon footprint. In this preliminary analysis, it was found that process node, fab location, and abatement efficiency have a strong impact on semiconductor emissions from manufacturing. However, die size had the most significant impact on the carbon intensity on the processors evaluated. An opportunity exists for Scope 2 emissions associated with the A17 and Qualcomm SM8650-AB to be significantly lowered by utilizing lower carbon electricity.

For more details and data pulled from TechInsights latest Semiconductor Manufacturing Carbon Model, read Analyst Lara Chamness’ Earth Day article: “A Tale of Three Phone Chips: Eco Version.”

About TechInsights’ Semiconductor Manufacturing Carbon Model
The TechInsights Semiconductor Manufacturing Carbon Model is the first of its kind to detail Scope 1 and Scope 2 carbon emissions at a wafer and die level. This is achieved by bringing together the equipment, processes, and manufacturing steps for Logic, DRAM, and NAND into a single tool for leading 300mm wafers produced by 184 total fabs. Updated in April 2024, the tool allows users to create their own unique analyses of carbon emissions through editable fields like utilization, abatement, and electric carbon intensity.

Also Read:

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ISS 2024 – Logic 2034 – Technology, Economics, and Sustainability

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IEDM 2023 – Modeling 300mm Wafer Fab Carbon Emissions