in-the-media
The hidden ecological costs of AI: why chip production poses an additional challenge
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Programmes
Published by
Friedrich Ebert Stiftung
March 31, 2025
The environmental impact of AI goes beyond energy-hungry data centers – it starts with the chips that power AI. In my latest op-ed for the Future of Work at FES, I explore the hidden ecological costs of AI chip production, explain why we need to factor in the entire life cycle of AI hardware and what this means for a Europe’s semiconductor stategy.
Author
Julia Christina Hess
Senior Policy Researcher Global Chip Dynamics