Dholera – A single large semiconductor fabrication plant can consume between 10 and 15 million gallons of ultra-pure water a day. India has 13 approved semiconductor projects, and several sit in water-stressed states.
To put the figure in local terms, a fab processing around 40,000 wafers a month can use up to 4.8 million gallons daily, comparable to the annual consumption of a town of 60,000 people.
Ultra-pure water is not just water
Semiconductor manufacturing requires water stripped of essentially all dissolved solids, organics and particles. Producing it consumes significant energy, and the purification process itself rejects a portion of intake as concentrate needing disposal.
So the environmental footprint is threefold: the volume withdrawn, the energy to purify it, and the concentrated reject stream. Discussions of fab sustainability usually count only the first.
Recycling is the industry answer, and it is incomplete
Advanced fabs recycle up to 75 per cent of process water, and leading international practice targets circularity between 80 and 95 per cent. Even at 90 per cent, a mega-fab still draws over a million gallons a day of fresh supply.
In a stressed groundwater block, where new industrial permits are restricted, that is a siting constraint rather than an operational detail. It is also why fabs are being planned around assured surface water rather than borewells.
The disclosure will be visible
Water withdrawal, consumption and intensity are assured BRSR Core attributes. A listed semiconductor manufacturer will report water intensity per unit of turnover, and those figures will be comparable against every other Indian manufacturer for the first time.
Source: India Semiconductor Mission project approvals, and published water consumption benchmarks for semiconductor fabrication.
