The company is also introducing an initiative for a more environmentally friendly and fair supply chain
Speaking at the annual SEMICON West Conference, Applied Materials President and CEO (NASDAQ: AMAT) Gary Dickerson revealed how the company is expanding its environmental, social and governance (ESG) operations in a series of initiatives for the next 10 years that the company will carry out. With its suppliers, customers, and the computing industry.
Speaking of Applied’s new vision of “enabling a better future,” Dickerson presented a framework for achieving a positive impact in the areas of ESG at the company, industry and global levels. “I wholeheartedly believe that responsible leadership behavior will make the world a better place,” Dickerson said. “A positive contribution to the community is a cultural element in Applied. I am excited to work with our employees, suppliers, our direct customers and the computer and electronics industries to enable a better future. ”
Improving sustainability at the company level
In order to reduce the impact of its actions on the environment, Applied has announced the following goals: Beyond full use of energy from renewable sources in the US by 2022 and worldwide by 2030. A 50% reduction in level 1 and 2 carbon emissions by 2030. As part of this, the company also announced On signing an agreement to purchase electricity (PPA) from Apex Clean Energy. In this announcement, Applied joins other leading technology companies in a commitment to purchase electricity from the 500 megawatt (MW) White Mesa Wind project developed by Apex Clean Energy. Applied’s PPA is equivalent to about 10% of the project’s clean energy output, an amount equal to the electricity needs of more than 13,000 households. In addition, the Company undertakes to set additional objectives as part of the Science Based Targets (SBTi) initiative and to report on its actions in these areas in accordance with the Climate Change Task Force (TCFD) reporting recommendations.
Improving sustainability at the industry level
Together with its customers and suppliers, Applied promotes a number of initiatives designed to improve industry-level sustainability, including improving the ecological performance of the company’s existing and new systems through hardware and software upgrades that reduce the use of energy, chemicals and clean room requirements. The company’s ecoUP initiative aims to achieve a “30 by 3” target in the company’s production systems: a 30% reduction in energy consumption required to produce each silicon wafer while a 30% reduction in chemical consumption and a 30% increase in power density, ie in the number of processed slices In every square meter of the clean room, and all this until 2030.
In addition, Applied Materials has unveiled an initiative for a sustainable supply chain over the next decade. The company has launched a roadmap called SuCCESS2030, an acronym for “Environmental and Social Supply Chain Sustainability Certification” designed to improve the selection, procurement, packaging, storage, transportation and recycling of materials and parts used by Applied Materials to reduce energy and emissions consumption and conserve resources. The initiative also aims to promote ethical behavior, the protection of human rights, diversity and inclusion in all parts of the supply chain.
The SuCCESS initiative requires the Company’s suppliers to adopt the following commitments, which Applied has undertaken, including:
Reducing carbon emissions through switching to model transport reduces the company’s reliance on air transport. The company’s intermediate goal is to reduce emissions by 15% by 2024.
Transfer of the company’s suppliers to recycled packaging with the aim of reaching 80% of the packaging by the end of 2023.
Complete elimination (100%) of phosphate-based processing of metal surfaces by 2024.
Development of a diversity and inclusion strategy that reflects significant metrics and actions that will increase the company’s spending volume among women-owned and minority-owned businesses and the representation of women and other populations in under-representation and achieve significant improvement on these issues by 2024. Collaborate with trade unions to expand and diversify industry.
Compliance with the 6.0 Code of Conduct of the Responsible Business Alliance and standards of business conduct and human rights protection policies. Of Applied Materials.
Improving world-class sustainability
At the global level, AI offers enormous potential for accelerating research in areas such as climate change, disease prevention and public health. However, it consumes increasing amounts of electricity in order for artificial intelligence to realize its true potential, significant progress must be made in terms of energy efficiency in electricity, improved performance, efficiency per unit area and time to market of semiconductor device production. Applied is helping to enable this progress thanks to the industry’s broadest line of technologies and products that include the creation, design, modification, analysis and connection of buildings and devices. The selective process technology for tungsten processing is an example of the ability to release a critical bottleneck and allows for the continued expansion of D2 in foundry-logic nodes.
“As we get deeper into the AI era, the world will rely more than ever on semiconductors. Our commitment to creating a better future for all depends today, more than ever, on our ability to work collaboratively with the industry and the electronics ecosystem, ”said Dickerson. “We must remove the partitions from Materials to Systems and Systems to Materials and connect the points in new ways between system designers, developers, integrators, chipmakers and equipment and materials suppliers.”
One of the largest high-tech companies in Israel
Applied Materials’ activity in Israel has been growing steadily in recent years and has peaked in the past year. The activity in Israel is a critical part of the production control process in the chip industry through the development and production of the most advanced test and control systems in the industry. Almost all the chips in the world went through the manufacturing process through the Applied Materials machines manufactured in Israel.
The application and production center of Applied, which employs about 1,600 workers in Israel, is located in the Science Park in Rehovot. In the last year, the company has recruited 250 employees and these days it continues to recruit new employees, mainly in the fields of software, algorithms, engineering and more. Applied has announced that it will maintain the financial security of its employees and the company continues to pay employees full wages even to those who are unable to work due to the situation.
The company takes part in many activities for the community, especially in the fields of education and the environment. For example, in recent months the company has run a unique project to combat high school dropouts due to the difficult economic situation, donated about 100 laptops to students, purchased huge vegetable and fruit baskets based on purchases from farmers whose livelihoods were damaged for distribution to needy families. Street, assisted in exercising rights for people in difficulty and more.
In addition, the company encourages broad activity for the environment and sustainability. Among other things, it was among the first companies in the country to promote joint trips to work, a significant increase in everything related to turnover and reuse in the company’s activities. In addition, the company is working to reduce carbon emissions in the supply chain by switching to shipping, which reduces the industry’s reliance on air transportation. In recent years, a move has been made to sea shipping, which currently stands at a rate of 50% of the total volume of imports.