Project Description
Texas Instruments RFAB is the world’s first LEED Gold certified fab and is among the most advanced semiconductor manufacturing facilities in the world. It has been lauded as a landmark example of how advanced technology can allow a U.S.-based semiconductor producer to stay competitive with manufacturers in lower-cost locations such as Asia.
When Texas Instruments began planning to build a new 1.1 million square foot wafer fab complex in Richardson, Texas it had to be competitive with manufacturers in lower-cost locations around the world. Wafer fabs, which produce semiconductors used in a myriad of electronic devices, are enormous factories and therefore consume a large amount of resources. Costing $3 billion dollars to fully build and equip each one, they are also quite a large investment. In order to keep this fab in the US, the TI design team was challenged with a 30% capital cost reduction goal.
The TI team chose data and analysis over rules of thumb and standard designs. By continuing to drill down into issues and understand the root of problems they were able to make a number of fundamental changes to how fabs are designed. The desire to score another LEED point kept everyone energized to continue digging for a solution.
The energy saving and sustainable design, that ultimately achieved LEED Gold, utilized a Therma-Fuser™ VAV System throughout the three-story 220,000 square foot administration building.
