Our Vision: Do more while using less.
Our shared natural resources are essential to human and environmental health. They’re also critical in fueling Lam’s innovation pipeline. To continue delivering benefits for our company and society over the long term, we seek to find ways to conserve these resources, even as Lam’s business grows.
In our R&D and manufacturing processes, we practice responsible water and waste management. We also focus on energy efficiency as we expand our operations and design new products. These factors serve as building blocks to achieve our sustainable operations goals, which include achieving net zero emissions by 2050.
Focus areas
Climate & energy
On our path to net zero, we are working to decarbonize Lam’s global operations while engaging suppliers and customers to drive further emissions reductions across our value chain.
Water
Our business relies on high-quality water. By investing in new water-saving technologies and efficiency upgrades, we’re finding ways to make the most of this precious resource.
Waste
Through collaboration, we aspire to improve manufacturing efficiency and employ strong waste management practices. We seek to embed sustainable design principles to move toward a circular future.
Climate & energy
Together, we are accelerating Lam’s path to net zero.
Along our path to net zero, we strive to address each aspect of Lam’s value chain emissions. This includes emissions generated by our supply chain, our operations, and the use and impact of our products.
As we accelerate climate action, we aspire to align with science-based best practices. Lam was the first U.S.-based semiconductor equipment manufacturer to receive the Science Based Targets Initiative’s (SBTi) approval for our near-term greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions-reduction goals. The SBTi’s Target Validation Team determined that Lam’s Scope 1 and 2 target is in line with a 1.5°C trajectory—the most ambitious SBTi designation available. We also strive to engage our suppliers and customers worldwide to support them in setting science-based targets (SBTs) of their own.
Lam is a founding member of the Semiconductor Climate Consortium, the first global, ecosystem-wide collaborative of semiconductor companies dedicated to reducing the industry’s GHG emissions.
Addressing each scope
Each part of Lam’s value chain presents unique emissions-reduction challenges and opportunities to make progress toward our net zero goal. To achieve progress on all fronts, we emphasize innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement. Here’s how we’re driving reductions across each scope:
Our Scope 1 (direct) emissions make up a relatively small part of our carbon footprint and are a result of Lam’s operational activities, such as R&D, customer demonstrations, and manufacturing. Key contributors include process chemistries, natural gas consumption, and refrigerants. To address them, we’re focused on optimizing our processes, products, and facilities to make them more energy- and resource-efficient.
Goal: By 2030, reduce absolute Scope 1 and 2 (market-based) GHG emissions by 60.6% from a 2019 baseline ✓ SBTi approved
Our Scope 2 (market-based, indirect) emissions make up a relatively small portion of our carbon footprint and occur from electricity purchased to power Lam’s offices, manufacturing facilities, and labs. To address them, we are maximizing energy efficiency through capital and strategic energy management projects. We are also investing in large-scale projects to transition to renewable electricity—such as installing solar panels, as we have done at several sites—and purchasing renewable energy credits to offset our current emissions.
Goal: By 2030, source 100% renewable electricity ✓ SBTi approved
Our Scope 3 (indirect) emissions make up the largest portion of our carbon footprint and are generated by activities in Lam’s supply chain and through product use. Because we have less control over these activities, it’s more difficult to measure and mitigate emissions. We also estimate that our products have an average lifetime of 25 years, and while a long lifetime supports circularity, it increases our emissions related to product use. To address them, we are closely engaging with our suppliers and customers to encourage and support them in establishing SBTs, reducing their climate impacts, and identifying opportunities to reduce energy and emissions associated with the use of our products.
Goal: 46.5% of suppliers and 83% of customers by emissions have SBTs by 2025 ✓ SBTi approved1
Water
We make the most of this precious resource.
Water serves many purposes in semiconductor manufacturing. Water, in particular, is essential for Lam’s business, since we use it for our chillers, house scrubbers, process cooling water systems, and soft water treatment plants. We share our water resources with communities and ecosystems that exist near Lam’s facilities around the world. With this in mind, we strive to managing water responsibly and sustainably.
Identifying water-stressed regions
Lam operates in areas across the world, all of which have unique water-related risks, regulations, and challenges. In 2019, we used the World Resources Institute Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas to identify which of our facilities are in water-stressed regions. Through this process, we identified two California sites, and our manufacturing facility in South Korea. In 2021, we updated the list to include our new manufacturing facility in Malaysia, our leased facilities in India, and our new Korea Technology Center. Due to the changing climate and global human distribution, water-stressed regions shift over time. As such, we will continue to periodically review and update this list.
Practicing strong water stewardship
The first key to strong water stewardship is to ensure compliance, so we monitor our industrial wastewater and stormwater discharges in accordance with local regulatory requirements. Additionally, our Global Workplace Solutions (GWS) team regularly explores new water-saving technologies and guides our facilities to invest in efficiency upgrades based on emerging best practices. Often, we are able to repurpose process-based wastewater to support other areas of our operations.
Through sustainable water management initiatives, we find new ways to do more while using less. For example, we recycle treated wastewater for house scrubbers and point-of-use abatement units and use brackish water for landscaping and fire suppression. We have implemented water recovery units in several of our abatement systems in California, and at our sites in Springfield and Eaton, Ohio, we have implemented a brine recovery system that achieves approximately 40,000 to 45,000 gallons of water savings per day. Similarly, our Fremont, California, facility and our Korea Technology Center leverage systems for wastewater reclamation and recycling, as well as acid waste neutralization.
Goal: By 2025, achieve 80 million gallons of water savings in water-stressed regions from a 2019 baseline
Waste
We’re exploring new ways to reduce and manage operational waste.
Lam generates both non-hazardous and hazardous waste in the process of researching, developing, and manufacturing products. We actively monitor this waste and engage in collective industry efforts to raise the bar on industry management practices. Additionally, our ISO 14001 multi-site certification drives us to reduce our environmental impact by using materials efficiently.
Embracing circularity to manage non-hazardous waste
Most of the waste that Lam generates consists of non-hazardous materials such as wood pallets, cardboard and packaging, and municipal waste. With an eye toward circularity, we regularly explore new ways to reduce, recover, reuse, and recycle these waste materials. We also work with a third party to audit and optimize our waste processes and engage our employees to support and advance waste-reduction practices. Examples of practices we have explored and implemented include the use of receptacles, signage, composting, and compacting.
Responsibly handling hazardous waste and diverting it from landfills
Our manufacturing processes use chemicals that produce hazardous waste, such as lab debris and waste that is corrosive or flammable. We follow strict controls to responsibly handle each of these streams and aim to divert hazardous waste from landfills by finding alternative methods of disposal.
We continue to divert most of our hazardous waste to offsite wastewater treatment and recycling facilities, which use treatment methods including fuel blending, solvent recovery, metal recycling, and deep-well injection. We also conduct a periodic risk assessment of our hazardous waste treatment, storage, and disposal facilities (TSDF). Lam also works with CHWMEG—a nonprofit trade association whose members strive to efficiently steward waste—to perform comprehensive TSDF audits, the results of which we integrate into our risk assessment process.
Proactive chemical management
Our careful approach to waste management includes the chemicals people encounter during manufacturing. We use a chemical information management system to track and monitor our chemical inventories and facility chemical-use approvals for each site. Chemical management is part of Lam’s EHS standards, which include guidelines related to the secondary containment of chemicals, spill prevention control (e.g., safe valves, sumps, leak detection), the prohibition of direct buried chemical tanks and pipes regardless of controls, fall protection tie-off points, and confined space safety features.
We also use our expertise to assess the effectiveness, availability, and environmental impacts of various chemicals that we use. As global chemical regulations evolve, we are proactively working with our supply chain partners, chemical suppliers, and chemical management systems to ensure Lam’s ongoing compliance and preparedness. One of the benefits of proactive chemical management is our ability to help prevent air pollution. In this regard, we are making progress by optimizing our processes and tools.
Goal: By 2025, achieve zero waste to landfill for hazardous waste
Amplifying our impact through employee-led action
Lam employees have a talent for sparking innovation—a talent many of them leverage to help contribute to our ESG goals. Across multiple continents, we engage our employees to support environmental action. From North America to Asia to Europe, employees drive initiatives forward to develop more efficient products and processes while minimizing waste.
In their local communities, employees join causes to help protect biodiversity, plant trees, and advocate for climate action. Many do so through the Lam Employee Sustainability Community (LESC), a global employee resource group (ERG) that empowers participants to support sustainable change. By engaging and educating colleagues and increasing the visibility of Lam’s ESG initiatives, LESC plays a significant role in realizing best-in-class environmental stewardship at Lam. We also hold annual Environmental Stewardship Awards to recognize employees’ sustainability-focused efforts and the important outcomes they have achieved.
Caution regarding forward-looking statements
Statements made on our Company webpage that are not of historical fact are forward-looking statements and are subject to the safe harbor provisions created by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements relate to, but are not limited to: our goal to be net zero by 2050, our ESG strategy and related goals, our renewable electricity goals, our continued commitment to business integrity, the strength and effectiveness of our ethics and compliance framework, our environmental footprint, sustainability in our industry, our social impacts, our inclusion and diversity initiatives, and the sustainability of our products and operations. Some factors that may affect these forward-looking statements include: trade regulations, export controls, trade disputes, and other geopolitical tensions may inhibit our ability to sell our products; business, political and/or regulatory conditions in the consumer electronics industry, the semiconductor industry and the overall economy may deteriorate or change; the actions of our customers and competitors may be inconsistent with our expectations; supply chain cost increases and other inflationary pressures have impacted and may continue to impact our profitability; supply chain disruptions or manufacturing capacity constraints may limit our ability to manufacture and sell our products; and natural and human-caused disasters, disease outbreaks, war, terrorism, political or governmental unrest or instability, or other events beyond our control may impact our operations and revenue in affected areas; as well as the other risks and uncertainties that are described in the documents filed or furnished by us with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including specifically the Risk Factors described in our most recent annual report on Form 10-K and our quarterly report on Form 10-Q. These uncertainties and changes could materially affect the forward-looking statements and cause actual results to vary from expectations in a material way. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements.
- For more information on our methodology, please see the About this Report page of our 2023 ESG report.