From Ambition to Execution: A new decarbonization playbook emerges at SEMI Global Executive Summit

The era of pledges is over.

The semiconductor industry is entering its execution decade—one where decarbonization credibility will be defined not by ambition, but by the ability to deliver measurable results at scale, while sustaining rapid, AI-driven growth.

Global semiconductor companies design, manufacture, and deliver the chips that underpin the infrastructure the world increasingly depends on for computing and AI. As demand for their products rises, so too does interest in strong sustainability performance and the operational and societal benefits it generates. This interest is ushering in a new execution era for the semiconductor industry, one where decarbonization is no longer defined by ambition alone but by the ability to deliver measurable results at scale. This shift is complex and demanding. In our work with companies across the semiconductor value chain, we see how difficult it is to align technology readiness, investment timelines, policy environments, and supply-chain realities while sustaining rapid growth.

Against this backdrop, ERM participated in the SEMI Global Executive Summit (GES) in Tokyo this December as a knowledge partner, helping frame discussions focused on turning ambition into execution. Over two days, 150 executives from across the semiconductor ecosystem convened to accelerate progress across four SEMI priority initiatives: Fab Upstream Materials, Clean Electricity, Gas Substitution, and Abatement.

What distinguished the Summit was not a lack of realism about the challenge, but a shared willingness to engage with it directly—and collectively. As SEMI noted in its post-GES summary, participants reinforced the need to shift from exploration to execution and from company-specific efforts to collective action on shared challenges across all four priority areas.

Fab upstream materials: Bending the emissions growth curve starts upstream

The shift: Without collective intervention, emissions from fab upstream materials (i.e., raw wafer, chemical, and gas inputs) manufacturing for semiconductors will drive climate-target overshoots across the industry, particularly as Scope 1 and 2 emissions fall and materials manufacturing emissions become a larger portion of total embodied emissions. of this overshoot risk, companies are embedding sustainability into material design, sourcing, and supplier engagement from the start rather than retrofitting later.

The industry view—what leaders agreed: Upstream fab materials remain a high-carbon leverage point. Reducing emissions associated with them necessitates circular-economy solutions, sustainable sourcing, and integration of decarbonization into product design and procurement.

Clean electricity: demand is outpacing availability

The shift: Fab electricity demands are rising rapidly as semiconductor manufacturing grows to keep pace with AI expansion. Electricity demand is outpacing renewable energy deployment, grid capacity, and permitting timelines, with some regions, like Northeast Asia, facing particularly severe constraints, despite strong economics behind renewables.

The industry view—what leaders agreed: No single company can secure the clean power required to meet fab electricity demand growth alone. The semiconductor industry will instead need to mobilize a coordinated, cross-sector approach to clean electricity advocacy and implementation to accelerate market reforms, unlock scalable procurement, and strengthen grid infrastructure.

Gas substitution: Technically feasible, operationally complex

The shift: Gas substitution is now an industry priority rather than a secondary lever due to its criticality in Fab Scope 1 decarbonization. Industry leaders at the GES agreed to explore an industry-wide approach to test viable low Global Warming Potential (GWP) gases, including alignment on requirements and success criteria to accelerate adoption of a single prioritized gas.

The industry view—what leaders agreed: While promising GWP gases exist, no solution will ever be plug-and-play, as they are dependent upon different operational processes, technologies, and manufacturers. Coordinated testing and joint investment across the semiconductor value chain and taking a prioritized approach can help unlock the economies of scale that no single customer could achieve on their own and can help accelerate and prevent delays in deploying viable alternatives.

Abatement: Direct emissions (Scope 1) are a rising risk

The shift: Rapid deployment of abatement systems is a critical priority to curb Scope 1 emissions, which are to increase in the coming decades as fabs scale and processes intensify.

The industry view—what leaders agreed: Scope 1 emissions are likely to continue to increase, as they lack defined reduction pathways that Scope 2 emissions have in renewable energy adoption. AI-enabled diagnostics, modeling, and digital twins are likely to help accelerate validation of decarbonization solutions, improving operational and abatement efficiency, as are industry-wide collaboration and data sharing. However, advanced abatement remains constrained by operational complexity, energy, space, and cost requirements, validation risk, and lack of shared test environments.

A different type of summit

The SEMI GES set a distinct tone from the outset. Rather than focusing primarily on framing challenges, the Summit reflected a shared sense of urgency and readiness to act, participants prioritizing collaboration, execution, and decarbonization ownership.

Collaboration clearly recognized as essential

A defining feature of the GES was the explicit recognition that meaningful decarbonization cannot be achieved in isolation. Attendees acknowledged the need to collaborate on cross-value chain decarbonization, signalling a willingness to move beyond fragmented efforts toward collective impact.

There was also greater clarity in how different ecosystem players must work together. -users (i.e., companies who incorporate semiconductors into final products) increasingly asked how they could best support implementation, while fabs, equipment manufacturers, and other suppliers clearly articulated the capabilities, resources, and enabling conditions required for execution. 

A clear emphasis on execution over exploration

Summit discussions focused on organizing resources, aligning on priority initiatives, and identifying practical steps to accelerate progress.

GES closing remarks from SEMI leadership stressed the need to shift the semiconductor industry’s decarbonization focus from discussion to delivery, underscoring the importance of sustained momentum and avoiding complacency.

Fabs stepping into leadership on decarbonization

The Summit also highlighted a shift in leadership . Fabs emphasized ownership of decarbonization across operations and supply chains—setting requirements, aligning capital, and driving implementation, while also demonstrating greater transparency by sharing their ambitions and challenge areas with other industry partners.

Examples shared how fabs are innovating and collaborating to reduce Scope 1 emissions, advocating for expanded access to renewable energy and taking greater ownership of their Scope 3 emissions through strengthened supplier programs.

Key opportunities for further industry advancement

While the GES made meaningful progress in aligning leaders across the semiconductor ecosystem, sustained impact will depend on addressing several remaining structural gaps.

Realizing the benefits of applying industry leverage to advocacy

The semiconductor industry holds—and is increasingly expected to exercise—significant influence given its role in economic growth, competitiveness, and global supply chains. When the industry aligns and speaks with a coordinated voice, it can help shape policy outcomes related to clean electricity, infrastructure, and market design. The GES discussions underscored the value of more structured, collective advocacy, both independently and in collaboration with other industries, to enable scalable decarbonization solutions.

Acknowledging that cross-sector collaboration, not individual action, is key to solving for sustainable growth

Sustainable growth will require alignment across power, finance, policy, and end-markets—not semiconductor actors alone. Progress depends on effective collaboration across the power sector, finance, and government to align investment signals, reduce risk, and accelerate deployment. The GES reinforced the importance of moving beyond individual initiatives toward coordinated, multi-stakeholder approaches that involve all key parties, not just industry actors, to support both growth and resilience.

Shifting focus to continued coordination and execution will be essential

The GES represented a meaningful shift toward coordination and execution, but its impact will be defined by what follows. The event helped align leadership teams around shared priorities and approaches. Participants must next ensure this commitment is embedded across organizations, translated into operational decisions, and reinforced through continued collaboration and sufficient resourcing.

Maintaining momentum will require ongoing coordination, clear ownership, and regular checkpoints to track progress and adapt as conditions evolve. By treating GES as a starting point rather than a standalone milestone, the industry can convert alignment into sustained action—and measurable outcomes at scale.

What’s Next: Implications for industry actors

GES discussions and outcomes have clear implications for industry actors who are adapting their approaches to decarbonization to ensure results align with ambitions. 

Implications for the semiconductor industry

The semiconductor industry has reached an inflection point, one where decarbonization is inseparable from growth, competitiveness, and credibility. AI-driven expansion is intensifying pressure on energy systems, materials supply chains, and Scope 1 emissions pathways. Fragmentation across standards, qualification, and investment has become a primary constraint to decarbonization. 

Companies are well-positioned to advance common approaches to emissions reporting and measurement and accelerate deployment of proven low-carbon solutions across abatement, gas substitution, materials, and clean energy. At the same time, by adopting shared investment and risk-management models, they can reduce duplication, improve time-to-value, and strengthen collective competitiveness.

Implications for semiconductor end-users 

End-users have become system-level influencers whose demand materially shapes manufacturing emissions, clean power markets, and infrastructure development. Scope 3 performance and access to clean, reliable electricity are emerging as binding constraints on their ability to scale data centers, AI workloads, and digital services. 

By engaging earlier and more deeply across the semiconductor value chain, end-users can anchor aggregated clean energy procurement, support enabling infrastructure, and align on transparent, interoperable Scope 3 data frameworks. These actions can accelerate deployment, reduce risk and strengthen long-term supply-chain resilience.

Implications for suppliers 

Equipment, materials, gas, and energy suppliers are central to achieving Scope 1, Scope 2, and materials-related emissions reductions, yet fragmented customer requirements and duplicative qualification processes are increasing cost and slowing innovation. 

Suppliers can more effectively reduce emissions by participating in pooled testing, developing standardized validation pathways, or supporting co-development programs aligned with common performance criteria. Greater data transparency and interoperability will further enhance scale, reduce time-to-market, and position suppliers as leaders in low-carbon manufacturing. 

Implications for policymakers

Policymakers play a decisive role in enabling sustainable growth across the semiconductor industry. As AI-driven data center expansion accelerates electricity demand, their support of clean electricity development and corporate access to energy markets will help drive down long-term energy costs and unlock private capital for industry growth. Greater policy predictability across permitting, grid development, and market design will also be essential to accelerating deployment and strengthening long-term energy system resilience.

Near-term priorities for the industry

The semiconductor industry has reached a defining moment. The age of pledges has ended. The decade of implementation is already half spent, and the window for decisive action is narrowing. What will matter over the next four years is not the strength of long-term ambition, but the ability to execute credibly, consistently, and at scale.

As reinforced by ERM’s Sustainability at a Crossroads research, which draws on insights from 844 experts across 72 countries, current approaches are not delivering fast enough. The industry is past the point where pilots alone can carry progress. As the SEMI GES revealed, what is required now is a shift in how action is organized, prioritized, and led. In an era of rapid AI-driven demand growth, one-off initiatives are no longer sufficient. Integrated, cross-value-chain action and greater industry alignment are essential to reducing friction, lowering costs, and accelerating progress.

As companies solidify their future decarbonization plans, prioritizing the following near-term actions will help ensure that execution—not ambition—will define leadership in this decisive decade.

• Convergence over Fragmentation

Fragmentation slows progress, burdens suppliers, and creates uncertainty for investment. Industry-wide alignment through shared standards, harmonized expectations, and trusted platforms such as SEMI can reduce friction, improve transparency, and create clearer pathways for action. Collective alignment enables outcomes that individual companies cannot achieve alone.

• Value Creation over Compliance

This is no longer only about compliance; it is about business viability and value creation. Across sectors, sustainability investments are increasingly reducing operating costs, improving efficiency, protecting against volatility, strengthening supply-chain reliability, and enhancing market access. When low-carbon solutions deliver performance and cost advantages, adoption accelerates naturally.

• Scale over Pilots

Pilots have played an essential role in testing technologies and demonstrating feasibility, but they cannot transform a value chain. The focus must now shift from projects to platforms, from experimentation to execution at scale, replicating what works consistently across operations, suppliers, and regions.

• Leadership over Hesitation

The next four years will determine whether the semiconductor industry leads or lags and whether climate ambitions remain within reach. Leadership now requires moving beyond intent to sustained ownership, embedding decarbonization into core business decisions, and maintaining momentum through coordination and accountability.