(NewsNation) — A move to lure more microchip manufacturing to Indiana may be hindered because of the sheer amount of water necessary for the process.
The 10,000-acre site has just about everything state officials were looking for, except for the water, according to a New York Times report.
Proposed workarounds so far have included plans to pump in massive quantities from a site about 40 miles away. That plan is on hold until more feasibility studies can be done.
Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb said in a news release that no decision will be made until all of the data is gathered.
Turns out, harnessing the power of one of our most common resources isn’t easy.
It’s estimated that it takes eight to 10 gallons of water to make a single computer chip.
According to SourceAbility, chip plants go through millions of gallons of water every day to cool machinery and make sure wafer sheets are free of contaminants. A single manufacturing facility can run through millions of gallons of ultrapure water per day. The ultrapure water also needs to be filtered so well that contaminants as small as salt ions are removed.
According to Wired, a proposed Intel site near Columbus, Ohio would possibly require the building of its own water plants in an area that already has three.
