ICT4S workshop: Ultra-cheap microchips (<$1) are abundant and account for the vast majority of the >400 billion pieces sold per year. Their numbers keep growing as new technology nodes are released and the older ones (from as far back as the 1980s) continue to produce. These microchips do not exist on their own; they are packaged into every possible gadget around us, whether necessary or not. They make everyday objects ‘smart’, but this also increases their obsolescence. From disposable vapes to smart toys, cheap microchips enable the production of billions of new objects that will be discarded very soon. We want to investigate the environmental consequences of not cutting-edge microchips (as in AI and data centres), but of older generations that keep piling up production volume. In this workshop, we will investigate the enormous production cycle and examine its supply chains from an environmental perspective.

Workshop includes Adrian Friday, Fieke Jansen, Gauthier Rousillhe, and Srinjoy Mitra.

https://conf.researchr.org/details/ict4s-2026/ict4s-2026-workshops/9/The-True-Cost-of-ICT-Crisis-of-Abundance