SiliconBeat

An investor wants Intel to establish “a comprehensive policy for the human right to water” when the Santa Clara computer-chip maker holds its annual stockholder meeting on May 20.

Northstar Asset Management says Intel used 7.5 billion gallons of water in 2007, largely to clean the silicon wafers used to make its semiconductors, according to a regulatory filing in connection with the meeting.

Having a water-rights policy would reduce the risk of “adverse publicity, consumer boycotts, divestment campaigns and lawsuits” over the company’s use of that natural resource, Northstar claims.

But Intel says such a policy is unnecessary, noting in the filing that it has invested more than $100 million in water conservation at its global facilities and conserved “more than 30 billion gallons over the last decade alone.”

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