CLOSING THE LOOP IN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING: REAL-TIME RESOURCE EFFICIENCY MONITORING, SCRAP VALORIZATION, AND END-OF-LIFE MATERIAL RECOVERY IN THE MICROELECTRONICS SUPPLY CHAIN

Abstract

The global semiconductor industry confronts an intensifying intersection of supply chain risk, regulatory pressure, and environmental accountability. Dependence on critical raw materials concentrated in geopolitically sensitive supply chains, combined with the toxic chemical intensity of advanced node fabrication and the mounting volume of electronic waste, has made resource circularity a strategic rather than optional priority for semiconductor manufacturers. The U.S. CHIPS and Science Act, the EU Critical Raw Materials Act, and ESG investor disclosure requirements are creating simultaneous fiscal and regulatory incentives for fabs to invest in real-time resource efficiency monitoring, in-line scrap valorization, and end-of-life material recovery infrastructure. This paper proposes a translational engineering pathway for integrating circular economy principles into semiconductor fab operations, centered on a digital twin-enabled monitoring layer that characterizes waste streams in real time, routes scrap to valorization pathways, tracks critical material flows throughout the supply chain, and generates the ESG reporting data that regulatory frameworks require. Evidence from digital twin implementations in electronics manufacturing demonstrates that real-time monitoring can reduce defect rates by 57% and increase recycled content by 34%, establishing the technical feasibility of this approach at production scale. We characterize the critical raw material dependency profile of advanced semiconductor manufacturing, describe six recovery pathways with estimated value creation, and propose a governance framework aligned with the CHIPS Act, EU CRM Act, and ISO 14040 lifecycle assessment requirements.