Toshiba and Fujitsu use clean room to grow vegetables, dare you eat them
Two Japanese chip giants decided to switch to farming, turning idle semiconductor cleanrooms into greenhouses for growing crops, growing lettuce and other vegetables, and using professional lighting to replace sunlight. The clean room of a semiconductor fab was originally used to manufacture wafers, so it is a dust-free and sterile environment. Of course, without the use of pesticides here, crops like lettuce can stay fresh longer. Fujitsu Semiconductor and Toshiba Corp. have started growing vegetables in their fabs, arguing that tightly controlled conditions will produce better crops, and trace elements can be adjusted for a certain taste or special diet, to meet healthcare needs. Fujitsu has started selling low-potassium lettuce grown in the clean room of its semiconductor fab in Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima Prefecture. Fukushima suffered a severe nuclear disaster on March 11, 2011, when a nuclear reactor melted down. Toshiba has announced similar plans, starting a renovation at one of its idle semiconductor plants in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, to convert clean rooms into greenhouses for growing vegetables. Toshiba plans to start shipping lettuce, green vegetables, spinach, mizuna and other vegetables this summer. Greenhouses where vegetables are grown are equipped with a closed growth system that integrates lighting wavelengths optimal for vegetable growth, an air-conditioning system that maintains constant temperature and humidity, and a growth management system based on semiconductor component production applications. Through strict growing environment control, Toshiba also intends to sell these crops to supermarkets to provide consumers with functional vegetables rich in tea polyphenols and vitamin C. The pesticide-free vegetables grown in plant factories are expected to help the company reach annual revenue of 400 million yen (about $4 million) by March 2017. Toshiba is expected to bring its annual sales of 300 million yen. In addition, Toshiba is also considering building a large vegetable factory and launching a new business dedicated to the sale of equipment and systems for vegetable greenhouses.
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