Water Resource Management

Leading the Way in Water Efficiency

Managing our water resources is a top priority at ASEH, and we aim to continuously improve and optimize the use of water resources efficiently. From establishing management objectives to assessing major areas of water usage, the adoption of ISO 46001 Water Efficiency Management Systems enables us to identify risks and opportunities, and develop water-saving measures, risk mitigation strategies and various action plans. ASE Kaohsiung became the first semiconductor assembling and testing facility in Taiwan to obtain the ISO 46001 certification in 2021, followed by ASE Chungli in 2022 and SPIL Zhong Ke in 2023. The various sites have also developed action plans for certification in the future.

Water Risk Management

To assess water resource risks across our global facilities accurately, ASEH continues to use WRI Aqueduct’s “Drought Indicators” and “Water Stress Indicators” combined with the “Drought Frequency Indicators” and “Impact Level Indicators” from NASA’s climate change information, and the “Monthly Water Supply and Demand Correlation Indicators” from each facility to estimate the frequency and impact level of droughts in the regions where ASEH facilities are located, based on the daily rainfall under various climate change scenarios. In addition, we created the monthly correlation between water supply and demand by using WRI’s monthly water stress indicator and the monthly amount of water withdrawn at each facility. We use these customized climate change information to synthesize the “Regional Water Shortage Indicators” to reflect both hazard and exposure. During scenario selection, we use assessments on favorable and unfavorable future water risk scenarios. We use three climate scenarios, namely OPT, BAU, and PES to simulate six combinations of Regional Water Shortage Indicators for two target time periods (i.e., 2015 to 2045 and 2035 to 2065).

We then collect and integrate the water usage information of each facility, and incorporate the "Facility Water Resource Indicators" to reflect the level of vulnerability. On this indicator, information such as "Water Storage Tank Reserve Capacity Indicators", "Water Recovery Rate Indicators", "Water Consumption Indicators per Unit of Output", "the wastewater reclamation recycling systems" and past historical experience are considered to evaluate the water vulnerability of each facility. The study also considers the additive coefficients, including the business process and response mechanisms, as well as the actual ranking of the regional water supply capacity and the corrected results to present the specific climate risk of the facility. In addition, we have also incorporated groundwater sources in the total water risk assessment to address the uncertainty of groundwater availability under the climate change scenario, and the potential of tighter regulatory control of groundwater access in the future.

Lastly, we integrated the Regional Water Shortage Indicators and the Facility Water Resource Indicators to reflect IPCC’s hazard × vulnerability × exposure framework. The drought risk of each facility is presented as a two-dimensional matrix, where the vertical axis represents the Regional Water Shortage Indicators, reflecting the hazard and the exposure of the facility to drought risk, while the horizontal axis represents the Facility Water Resource Indicators, reflecting the vulnerability of the facility to drought risk. The Regional Water Shortage Indicators and Facility Water Resource Indicators for all ASEH facilities are divided into five levels, where the product of the regional water scarcity indicator and the facility water consumption indicator is greater than or equal to 18 for high-risk areas, less than 18 and greater than 5 for medium-risk areas, and less than or equal to 5 for low-risk areas.

Based on the results of the analysis using the optimistic short-term scenario (2015-2045 OPT) and the pessimistic long-term scenario (2035-2065 PES) as examples, the Regional Water Shortage Indicators for all ASEH facilities are roughly distributed between Level 2 and Level 4. Notably, some facilities experience lower water stress levels in the pessimistic scenario than in the optimistic scenario. This discrepancy arises because our analysis only focuses on the drought indicator. The pessimistic scenario reflects severe climate changes on the whole. For instance, under this scenario, dry and wet seasons will be more pronounced, but rainfall is on the rise throughout the year. Meanwhile, there are significant differences in the Facility Water Resource Indicators, which is distributed between Level 1 and Level 5. As observed from the overall results, most of ASEH facilities are located in low-to-medium-risk areas. Facilities located in high-risk areas will continue to implement various adaptation measures, such as increasing water recovery rates, establishing wastewater recycling systems, increasing reserve water capacity, or reducing reliance on groundwater sources, with a view to not only minimizing the impact of water scarcity in the future, but also bolstering resilience to wet and dry seasons across all ASEH facilities.

Water Withdrawal and Reuse

ASEH adopts three water use strategies: reduce, reuse, and recycle. The main source of water-use is tap water. Total water withdrawals in 2023 amounted to 21.47 million tons , while water withdrawal decreased by 8% compared to the previous year. The water use intensity per unit revenue (including rainwater) was affected by the revenue decrease to increase by 5% compared with the previous year, but reaching our goal of a 46% decrease compared to the baseline in 2015.

The wastewater reclamation recycling systems were established in ASE Kaohsiung, Chungli, Malaysia, and Singapore facilities to support wastewater treatment that meets local regulations. The wastewater reclamation recycling rate of ASE Kaohsiung and Chungli are 70%, ASE Malaysia is 50%, and ASE Singapore is 37%. The robust recycling methodology at the facility result in a 12% reduction in effluent discharge, and significantly alleviated the manufacturing sites’ pressure on water consumption and wastewater discharge.

Wastewater Management

In 2023, 15,386,252 tons of effluent was discharged, and our total water consumption was 6,081,747 tons. We conduct internal water quality tests, while also outsourcing offline sampling and water quality analysis to ensure strict control and ecology management of the aquatic environment. In addition, our effluent management adheres to local regulations and discharge water standards. A number of our facilities have set internal goals that are higher than regulatory requirements by consistently monitoring the effluent quality, and employing AI algorithms to optimize and increase the amount of recycled water and reduce water withdrawal. Currently, there are 15 facilities that collect and classify chemicals used in the manufacturing process, so that each type can be treated independently based on its effluent characteristics, and hence, improving the efficiency of our effluent treatment processes. In order to provide employees with clean water and proper sanitation across our operations, we have adopted the WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) approach as well as established wastewater treatment facilities. We will continue to conduct regular health and environmental education to further enhance employees' awareness of water security.