Artificial Intelligence Supply Chain Threatens Climate Progress in East Asia

Press Release – HONG KONG – Electricity consumption from the manufacture of artificial intelligence (AI) chips has soared by more than 350 percent worldwide between 2023 and 2024, according to new research from Greenpeace East Asia.[1] In East Asia, the global hub for AI semiconductor production, growing electricity demand from AI chipmaking has been met primarily by fossil fuels, the research finds.

The report is the first of its kind to calculate global emissions from AI chipmaking.

Katrin Wu, Greenpeace East Asia Supply Chain Project Lead, said:

“While fabless hardware companies like Nvidia and AMD are reaping billions from the AI boom, they are neglecting the climate impact of their supply chains in East Asia. AI chipmaking is being leveraged to justify new fossil fuel capacity in Taiwan and South Korea – demand that could, and should, be met by renewable energy sources. Across East Asia, there are many opportunities for companies to invest directly in wind and solar energy, yet chipmakers have failed to do so on a meaningful scale. It is crucial for Nvidia, AMD, and their peers to fully recognize the environmental impact of their supply chains and work with manufacturers to increase renewable energy use.”

Alex de Vries, one of the report authors and the founder of Digiconomist, said:

“The rapidly rising energy costs of AI data centers have captured global headlines, yet the environmental implications of other parts of the hardware lifecycle are often overlooked. The manufacturing process of AI hardware is energy intensive and carries a significant environmental footprint, especially considering the concentration of this manufacturing in East Asia, where power grids still rely heavily on fossil fuels, and chipmakers have taken few steps to procure renewable energy. As AI hardware demand escalates, it’s crucial to consider the rising emissions associated with AI hardware manufacturing.”

Key Findings

– Global electricity consumption from AI chipmaking increased by more than 350 percent between 2023 and 2024. AI chip manufacturing is primarily concentrated in Taiwan, South Korea and Japan, where growing electricity demand places a significant burden on electricity grids.[2]

– By 2030, global electricity demand for AI chipmaking is estimated to increase by as much as 170-fold from 2023 levels, exceeding the current electricity consumption of Ireland.[3]
– Across East Asia, the chip industry is meeting new electricity demand with false climate solutions like gas. In 2024, South Korea’s government approved the construction of a 1 gigawatt (GW) liquid natural gas (LNG) combined heat and power plant for SK hynix in the Yongin General Industrial complex. South Korea’s government also plans to build 3 GW of LNG capacity for Samsung in the National Semiconductor Cluster. In Taiwan, the Taiwan Power Company (Taipower) has used increased power demand from the semiconductor and AI sectors as a justification to expand LNG projects and grid infrastructure.

– Global emissions from electricity consumption related to AI chipmaking grew by an estimated 357 percent in 2024. In East Asia, electricity grids are heavily reliant on fossil fuels. In 2023, 58.5 percent of the electricity supply in South Korea was generated from fossil fuels, 68.6 percent in Japan, and 83.1 percent in Taiwan.[4][5][6]

Greenpeace urges Nvidia, AMD and their peers to achieve 100 percent renewable energy across their entire supply chains, starting with the manufacturing of AI chips. AI companies should work with chipmakers to target 100 percent renewable energy usage by 2030 and to source renewable energy locally through high-impact approaches, such as building and investing in renewable energy generation facilities and signing long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs).

“Achieving 100 percent renewable energy across the AI supply chain is vital to prevent a major increase in climate emissions and to reduce deaths and illness from air pollution. Hardware companies can overcome renewable energy bottlenecks by investing directly in wind and solar capacity, signing power purchase agreements, and leveraging their influence to advocate for a higher ratio of renewable energy in the grid.

Nvidia reported revenue of almost 40 billion dollars for the fourth quarter of 2024. Nvidia, AMD, and other companies at the forefront of the AI boom must take responsibility for the environmental impact of their supply chains,” said Wu.

END

Notes

Report is available here. A detailed description of the methodology is available in the appendix.

[1] This research estimates the electricity consumption of dominant AI chip models (Nvidia A100, H100, H200, B100/200 and AMD MI300X) in 2023 and 2024 and the emissions from their electricity consumption using a bottom-up approach. The analysis uses publicly available data and market analyses on production and wafer demand for AI models as well as published electricity requirements for the production process. By identifying suppliers and manufacturing locations, the study determines the electricity mix used in production and the associated carbon emissions. Based on forecasted demand and supply for AI logic and memory wafers, the estimations are then extended to 2030.

[2] The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSMC) leads the manufacturing of logic chips for AI-specific GPUs, which are produced in its Taiwan fabs. SK hynix, Samsung, and Micron manufacture the memory chips used in AI hardware, primarily in South Korea and Japan.

[3] Central Statistics Office of Ireland, “Large Energy Users accounted for 30% of Metered Electricity Consumption in 2023,” July 23, 2024, accessed February 28, 2025, https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-mec/meteredelectricityconsumption2023/keyfindings/.

[4] EPSIS, “Generation Output by Energy Source,” 2024, accessed February 10, 2025, https://epsis.kpx.or.kr/epsisnew/selectEkgeGepGesGrid.do.

[5] Ministry of Economic Affairs, Energy Administration (MOEAEA), “Electricity Statistics,” 2024, accessed February 10, 2025, https://www.esist.org.tw/database/search/electric-generation.

[6] Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), “General Energy Statistics,” 2024, accessed February 10, 2025, https://www.enecho.meti.go.jp/statistics/total_energy/results.html.

Media Contact

Erin Newport, International Communications Officer (Taipei), Greenpeace East Asia, +886 958 026 791, [email protected]