Product Responsibility

Making our products more sustainable

We continuously monitor opportunities to improve our products and make them as sustainable as is technically and commercially possible. Through our environmental management system (EMS) and various hazardous substance elimination programs, we address the environmental, health and safety effects of all our products. One hundred percent of our products are subject to our EMS and/or our hazardous substance elimination programs. Across our business units, we practice the “precautionary principle” of identifying and taking preventative measures regarding chemicals, even in circumstances in which there is a high degree of scientific uncertainty regarding potentially hazardous chemicals. You can read more about our efforts toward socially and environmentally responsible innovation here.

Introduction of our lead-free flip chip

In 2010, we overcame significant technical challenges to introduce several lead-free flip-chip integrated circuit (IC) products. Legislation in the United States and Europe does not specifically prohibit lead in solders used to complete a viable electrical connection between semiconductor die and carrier within IC flip-chip packages. But we believed creating an alternative to lead solders was prudent from both an environmental and regulatory perspective.

Our effort to remove lead from our products has a long history. We began exploring the removal of lead from our IC products in 1999—long before the European Union’s (EU) Restriction on Hazardous Substance (RoHS) Directive became effective in 2006. In 2003, we became one of the leading IC manufacturers to introduce lead-free chip-scale package products.

Ongoing removal of hazardous substances

In 2003, we began prohibiting the use of various hazardous substances in our IC product designs. We currently prohibit the use of 22 substances in addition to those subject to the EU REACH Substances of Very High Concern requirements.

As of January 2009, all of our IC products incorporate bromine/chlorine-free package design.

Some brominated and chlorinated compounds (e.g., brominated flame retardants and PVC) have been widely used in electronic devices, but are linked to environmental or health concerns. Although legislation does not require complete elimination of brominated and chlorinated compounds from our products, we have been proactive in eliminating them.

We began eliminating brominated and chlorinated compounds from our products in 2003, starting with incorporation of bromine-free mold compounds. As of January 2009, all of our IC products incorporate the bromine/chlorine-free package design. In 2010, we converted a number of high-volume legacy products to bromine/chlorine-free designs. These include single-chip solution and MSM7xxx Series products.

We have extended our bromine/chlorine-free design to our non-IC products as well, including our embedded Gobi 3G module for notebooks and netbooks. As of January 2010, all new Gobi designs are bromine- and chlorine-free.

Making distribution more efficient in Singapore

In 2010, we improved packaging and material handling practices at our Singapore Distribution Center, helping to reduce our carbon footprint. We now:

  • Reuse inbound pallets at the distribution center and reuse empty boxes for shipment.
  • Recycle corrugated cardboard boxes from suppliers instead of incinerating them.
  • Employ battery-operated handling equipment instead of diesel-run equipment.
  • Reuse steel cages and trolleys more often than disposable palettes and cartons when moving material between suppliers and our distribution center, which also lets us consolidate shipments and save fuel.
  • Only use loose cartons and unpalletized shipments when steel cages and trolleys are impractical.