Environmental Protection

To cope with the huge water consumption, cherishing and making good use of water resources is the policy that ChipMOS has been actively promoting, and it is also an important part of the sustainable development of the Company. Although Taiwan has abundant rainfall, it flows into the sea due to restriction of the terrain, and the storage capacity is insufficient due to reservoir siltation. The actual collection of available water is not much. In addition, the extreme change of the global climate has prolonged the impact of the dry season. Enterprises or people are facing the risk of water shortage. Therefore, it is more important to make good use of water resources and identify relevant risks and opportunities.

Identification of Water Risks and Opportunities

ChipMOS ESG Committee members have held four meetings since 2021 to discuss in-depth risks and opportunities related to climate change. Taking TCFD as the guiding principle, the risk topics cover transformation risk and entity management risk, and summarize the risk categories such as regulations and policies, market / technology, and operation interruption, there are 51 water risks in total, including two 2 water risks and 9 moderate water risks; 19 water opportunities; 3 major water opportunities; 2 moderate water opportunities, total 70 risks and opportunity items.

Water Resources Risk Management

ChipMOS actively monitors the use of water resources. During the dry season, we track the storage capacity of the source reservoir every week, and each fab controls the storage capacity of high liquid level >95% every day. If it is lower than the early warning value, we immediately confirm whether the water supply system inside and outside the fab is normal, so as to facilitate subsequent emergency treatment. We continue to collect water resource use data, and use the risk assessment tool of " Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas " of the World Resources Institute to identify the risk level of water supply in the area where each fab. is located, so as to strengthen the water conservation policy. In 2021, the total water intake of ChipMOS was 1,798.515 million liters, which was also used as the benchmark value for water resource recovery and reuse. Through the data of water resources access sources and total water intake, it is helpful to understand the overall water use of ChipMOS, as well as the related potential impacts and risks. Currently, all fabs of ChipMOS are in the low or mid-low area of water resource pressure.

▼Water Intake  (Unit: Million Liters )

Note：Groundwater is mainly used in the processes of Zhubei fab. ChipMOS obtains the legal water right certificate issued by Hsinchu County Government every year.

Recycling of Process Water

ChipMOS Tainan fab imported the process water recovery equipment in 2008. Through technical cooperation with equipment manufacturers and external organizations, the process water recovery plant has been built to absorb the water discharged from the cutting process of the plant. In 2015, the grinding process drainage recovery filtration equipment has been imported for water resource recovery and reuse. The process water can be recycled and reused for processes through ultrafiltration membrane.

With the increase of production capacity, the process water consumption increases. In 2020, ChipMOS invested NT$20,600,000 to build the process water recovery equipment 2,700 CMD. It is estimated that the annual water recovery volume will be 837.2 million liters, effectively improving the water use efficiency. The new cutting process drainage recovery equipment was put into operation in September 2020. The annual wastewater discharge decreased from 654.333 million liters (2020) to 493.844 million liters (2021), with a reduction of 160.489 million liters (24.53% less than the previous year).

Wastewater Treatment and Discharge

Maintaining clean rivers is an important part of ChipMOS' overall environmental plan. Through the statistics of the discharge volume divided by water quality and discharge destination, we detect the quality of process wastewater, and carry out effective management and continuous improvement. The wastewater in ChipMOS fabs is discharged after proper treatment, which meets the current regulatory discharge standards, and is regularly tested according to the licensing requirements.

Zhubei fab and Tainan fab independently set up the On-Line to monitor the wastewater discharge and ensure the quality of the discharged water. In 2019, considering the risk of pollution discharge from rainwater drainage ditches caused by leakage of chemical tanker during filling, Tainan fab set the water gate at the rainwater drainage outlet in 2020, in order to avoid leakage and impact on the environment. In 2021, about 1,307.816 million liters of wastewater were discharged, having a decrease of 8.22% compared with that in 2020, mainly reason by the reduction of 160.489 million liters of water intake after the new cutting process drainage recovery equipment was put into operation.

▼Discharge Capacity  (Unit: Million Liters )

Note: Hsinchu fab., Zhubei fab. 2, Hukou fab have no process wastewater, and only domestic sewage is discharged.

▼Discharge Water Detection by Water Quality

▼Water Consumption  (Unit: Million Liters )

During the production and operation in the fab, the consumption of water resources will be affected by many factors, such as the volatilization of air conditioning heat dissipation. A total of 490.699 million liters of water was consumed in 2021, having an decrease of 6.40% compared with that in 2020. Due to the new water recyling equipment, the water consumption will be decreased.

ISO 14046 Water Footprint

About water resources management, in addition to saving water and recycling water, we also improve the water resource efficiency of the supply chain through the water footprint check mechanism. Moreover, we conduct a check in accordance with ISO 14046 and actively invite thirdparty units for verification, in order to improve the reliability of data. Since 2014, ChipMOS has completed the ISO 14046 water footprint verification of its products, and has passed the thirdparty certification, so as to effectively master the water resource status of production and provide customers with reference. The products that completed their check include: LCD Driver IC (bare crystal flip chip), LCD driver IC (COF), gold bump 8 "and 12" ball grid array package (BGA), quad flat non-lead package (QFN), etc.