Hardware is an AI Ethics Problem: Expert Visions for a Sustainable and Equitable Semiconductor Industry

Hardware choices have real-world consequences for AI ethics: The semiconductor industry—the physical foundation of AI systems—faces interconnected social, environmental, and geopolitical challenges that directly impact responsible AI development, yet these issues are often studied separately rather than as an integrated system.

National competition threatens environmental sustainability: Workshop experts identified a critical tension where countries prioritizing semiconductor sovereignty and self-sufficiency through protectionist policies may inadvertently undermine global environmental goals, suggesting that isolationist approaches to AI hardware production could worsen ecological outcomes.

Supply chain secrecy enables harm: The opacity of semiconductor supply chains obscures accountability for labor practices and environmental damage, making it difficult for consumers, regulators, and companies to understand or address the human and ecological costs embedded in AI hardware.

Smaller nations risk exclusion from AI's future: A growing "knowledge divide" threatens to exclude smaller economies from participating in and shaping semiconductor and AI development, potentially concentrating power and decision-making about AI's trajectory among wealthy nations and large corporations.

Practical solutions require transparency and cooperation: Experts proposed concrete measures including standardized emissions labeling systems for semiconductors, frameworks for "strategic interdependence" that balance local resilience with global collaboration, and initiatives to democratize access to hardware infrastructure and technical knowledge across countries.