The World’s First LEED Gold Certified Fab

In 2004, Texas Instruments embarked on an ambitious project to build the world’s first “green,” LEED-certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) semiconductor manufacturing facility in an effort to reduce construction and operating costs and the company’s impact on the environment.

After collaboration with the Rocky Mountain Institute, months of research, careful planning and innovative design, construction of the company’s first high-efficiency, million-square-foot chip fab was initiated. The office building and the manufacturing facility were both awarded a Gold LEED Certification.

Although building “green” required some additional investment to realize long-term operating benefits, it added up to less than 1 percent of the construction budget. In addition, the plant was successfully built for an estimated 30 percent less in cost than a similar TI manufacturing plant constructed just 6 miles away only a few years earlier. This latter achievement increased the building’s cost competitiveness among other semiconductor manufacturing facilities being built outside of the U.S.