Environmental Protection

▪ ChipMOS Water Policy

To cope with the high volume of process water consumption, making good use of water resources is the policy that ChipMOS has been actively promoting. Because of the extreme climate change has prolonged the impact of the dry season, we are facing the risk of water shortage. Therefore, it is more important to manage water resources effectively 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

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. 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. Among our fabs, the water impact of the Tainan fab came to 0.214%, which is relatively higher compared to other facilities in terms of the impact on water source areas. This is primarily due to the larger water demand resulting from the packaging process characterized by the fab's products.

ChipMos hasdeveloped water utilization strategies to ensure efficient water usage. Efforts are made to conserve water at the source and invest in constructing process water recycling facilities. This allows for the reuse of process water, effectively improving water resource utilization and reducing the amount of water intake. These measures are aimed at minimizing the impact on water resources and mitigating environmental impact. In 2022, ChipMos had a total water intake of 1,767.131 million liters, which was approximately 31 million liters less than in 2021. The
decrease in water intake is mainly attributed to the implementation of new process water recycling equipment at Zhubei fab and a reduction in water consumption during production processes.

▼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. Since 2015, Tainan fab. has been using more process recycled water per day than the amount of tap water used. In 2022, the volume of process recycled water reached 115% of the tap water usage. Through the utilization of process water recycling equipment, the fab has effectively reduced water intake from the water source area by 1.3 times. This has minimized the environmental impact of operations to the lowest possible level.

In 2022, taking into consideration the production process characteristics of the fabs, ChipMos was more proactive in investing in the construction of a new process water recycling facility (550 CMD)at Zhubei fab. The facility is expected to recycle approximately 200.7 million liters of process water per year and it officially commenced operation in October 2022.Over the past 15 years, the accumulated recovered water has reached 11,364.141 million liters, equivalent to nearly 4,546 international standard swimming pools saved.

Note: Through the use of process water recycling equipment, Tainan fab has improved its water efficiency and reduced water intake, resulting in a decrease in water impact on the water source area from 0.494% to 0.214%, translating to a 1.3 times reduction.

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 2022, about 1,230.061 million liters of wastewater were discharged, translating to a decrease of 5.95% compared with that of 2021, mainly due to the reduction of water intake after the new cutting process drainage recovery equipment was put into operation and reduction in production capacity.

▼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 537.070 million liters of tap water was consumed in 2022, increasing by 9.5% compared with that in 2021. The increase in water consumption is primarily attributed to the expansion in production area.

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 inventory. Moreover, we follow ISO 14046 and have third-party verification to improve the reliability of data. Since 2014, ChipMOS has completed the ISO 14046 water footprint verification of series products, and has passed the third-party certification, so as to effectively master the water resource status of production and provide customers with reference. The Inventory of Product Water Footprint includes: LCD Driver IC for COF (Chip on Film), LCD Driver IC for COG (Chip on Glass), 8 inch and 12 inch Gold Bump Wafer, Ball Grid Array (BGA) and Quad Flat No-lead Package (QFN), etc.