GlobalWafers was honored to be invited to participate in the 40th Anniversary Celebration of the College of Management at National Central University. As part of the “Forward-Looking Industrial Innovation and Value Creation Lecture Series,” the company’s Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO), Vice President James Huang, delivered the closing keynote titled “Strategic Transformation in Semiconductor Materials: Resilience and Flexibility.” The speech focused on how GlobalWafers responds to global supply chain challenges and climate risks through strategic planning and sustainable practices.
The presentation began with a fundamental overview of semiconductor manufacturing processes, helping students gain a clear understanding of the nature of wafers and their crucial role in the tightly connected value chain. By introducing the steps from raw material refining, crystal growth, and wafer slicing to final wafer production, the lecture guided students to understand why wafers are essential to applications such as smartphones, automotive electronics, and artificial intelligence. These applications continue to drive global technological innovation and digital development. Some students shared that the speaker’s clear and accessible explanations helped them understand the manufacturing process and industrial value of wafers for the first time, making the session highly rewarding.
In terms of environmental sustainability, CSO, James Huang, outlined GlobalWafers’ key initiatives in advancing low-carbon transformation. These efforts include moving up the original target by a decade to achieve the 100% renewable energy use across the entire group by2040, implementing an internal carbon pricing mechanism, promoting the 4R energy-saving strategy (Reduce at source, Reuse, Recycle, Redesign), building in-house solar power facilities, and launching decarbonization projects in crystal growth processes. The company also actively promotes sustainable supply chain management by inviting key suppliers to join the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), while continuing to expand its impact through product carbon footprint verification.
The presentation also showcased a range of concrete actions taken across GlobalWafers’ global sites to implement green manufacturing. These include the development of slurry-free processes, the circular reuse of packaging materials, the installation of solar power systems, and the optimization of energy-saving equipment in production facilities. The company has invested in more than 80 improvement projects focused on reducing carbon emissions from energy-intensive crystal growth processes. In addition, new production lines in the United States and Italy are designed to operate entirely on renewable energy in mass production, demonstrating GlobalWafers’ commitment to incorporating sustainability into daily operations. Through the sharing of these practical efforts, GlobalWafers hopes to help students understand how businesses can achieve a balance between business growth and sustainability development, and encouraged them to reflect on how they could make a meaningful impact in advancing sustainability goals if they enter the industry in the future, by taking on an active role as a driver of change and embracing responsibility toward the environment, society, and future generations.
The lecture made students gain a deeper understanding of the semiconductor industry and corporate sustainability practices, while also providing insights into how companies respond to global challenges in practice. GlobalWafers values every opportunity to engage with academia and hopes to continue sharing industry perspectives and sustainability thinking through such experiences. By doing so, we aim to support the younger generation in developing a more comprehensive view of the connection between industrial development and social responsibility. Going forward, we will continue to promote sustainability through industry-academia collaboration and talent cultivation, further advancing the impact of our corporate sustainability efforts.