On a day in late April, a small drilling rig sits on the fringe of the scrubby overgrown fields of Syracuse, New York, taking soil samples. It’s the primary signal of building on what might change into the biggest semiconductor manufacturing facility in the USA.
The CHIPS and Science Act, handed final 12 months with bipartisan congressional assist, was broadly considered by business leaders and politicians as a approach to safe provide chains, and make the USA aggressive once more in semiconductor chip manufacturing.
Now Syracuse is about to change into an financial check of whether or not, over the following a number of a long time, the aggressive authorities insurance policies—and the large company investments they spur—can each enhance the nation’s manufacturing prowess and revitalize areas like upstate New York. And all of it begins with an astonishingly costly and sophisticated type of manufacturing facility referred to as a chip fab. Learn the total story.
—David Rotman
Inside a high-tech cement laboratory
Cement is a local weather nightmare. The fabric, which is mainly the glue that holds concrete collectively, accounts for about 8% of worldwide emissions.
It requires super-high temperatures to make, which means it’s important to burn fossil fuels within the course of. Secondly, there are chemical reactions concerned in reworking minerals into working cement, and people launch carbon dioxide.
