The Phoenix Semiconductor Industry’s Expansion: Environmental Impacts and Metabolic Rifts in Arizona

• In Event: 50620 - Section on Environmental Sociology Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 18: Metabolic Rifts and Shifts

Abstract

How does industrial expansion in resource-strained environments disrupt ecological processes and deepen metabolic rifts? While metabolic rift theory has traditionally focused on agrarian and extractive economies, less attention has been given to high-tech industrialization in dry, urban regions. This study examines the rapid expansion of the semiconductor industry in the greater Phoenix area, a portion of Arizona facing water shortages, rising energy demands, and waste management challenges. Through a comprehensive literature review and news analysis, I explore how semiconductor manufacturing exacerbates resource depletion and waste. Findings indicate that semiconductor production expands metabolic rifts by over-extracting water in a drought-prone region, increasing fossil-fuel-dependent energy consumption, and generating hazardous waste. These patterns illuminate contradictions between technological progress and environmental sustainability, illustrating how industrial growth in biophysically stressed areas creates reinforcing cycles of depletion and instability. This study suggests that semiconductor industry sustainability efforts must reconsider how growth aligns with environmental and social needs. Addressing these challenges requires improved resource management and a reconsideration of industrial development in places where natural limits fundamentally constrain long- term sustainability. Overall, this paper does not argue that the semiconductor industry is inherently "good" or "bad" but critically examines its environmental impacts and sustainability challenges.

Author

• Aden Stern, Northern Arizona University