<
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/sep/14/pfas-firms-tidal-wave-forever-chemicals-ai-industry-demand-datacentres>
"Pfas companies are launching a “tidal wave” of forever chemicals production to
meet demand from the AI industry, a campaign organisation has warned.
Despite alarm over the chemicals, which have been linked to cancer, a survey of
the 10 biggest manufacturers found most had plans to increase production.
Many frame their investments around the “AI revolution”, because of the role
Pfas play in semiconductor production and next-generation datacentre cooling
systems.
But opponents warn that the chemicals, which never degrade in nature, are a
ticking timebomb for human and planetary health. They say increased production
risks undermining nascent moves to restrict Pfas in Europe, the UK and parts of
the US.
“These companies’ expansion plans show that unless governments and regulators
insist on a rapid phaseout, we will face a new tidal wave of forever
chemicals,” said Anne-Sofie Bäckar, the executive director of ChemSec, the
Swedish chemicals watchdog that carried out the research.
ChemSec’s survey found nearly all of the 10 biggest manufacturers of Pfas had
plans to increase production, at sites in Europe, Asia and North America.
The boom in AI tech was leading demand, with Pfas used for “eco-friendly”
datacentre cooling and in various stages of semiconductor manufacturing.
Japan-headquarted Daikin said it was launching a “datacentre hub” to meet
demand, and promised to “maintain and expand our top share in the industry by
expanding sales of existing fluorine products and introducing new products”.
The French multinational Arkema was expanding its refrigerant offering, with a
new $60m (£44m) production unit in Kentucky that it said “will enable us to
follow the rapid expansion of datacenters’ cooling needs”.
And the US Pfas producer Chemours was expanding to meet demand from “advanced
datacenters and AI hardware”. It said its “innovative liquid cooling solutions”
lower the energy, water, space, maintenance and investment costs of
datacentres.
Critics have said Chemours – recently ordered to pay $450m to settle a lawsuit
over Pfas discharges – downplays the chemicals’ toxicity and climate impact."
Via Susan ****
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
