SK hynix Unveils Roadmap for Use of Recycled Materials in Chip Production

SK hynix Announces Roadmap for Utilizing Recycled Materials in Chip Production

SK hynix Inc., a leading semiconductor company, unveils its pioneering roadmap to integrate recycled and renewable materials into chip production processes. This strategic initiative marks a significant step towards establishing a circular economy system within the semiconductor industry.

SK hynix Commitment to Sustainability and Innovation

Driven by the global imperative to achieve Net Zero emissions and foster environmental sustainability, SK hynix is dedicated to implementing a mid-to-long-term plan focused on increasing the utilization of recycled materials in its semiconductor products. Through strategic partnerships, rigorous quality evaluation processes, and alignment with international standards, they are poised to lead the semiconductor industry towards a more sustainable future.

The press release:

SK hynix Inc. (or “the company”, www.skhynix.com) announced today that it has established a roadmap to actively utilize recycled and renewable materials in production, marking the first case that a semiconductor company lays out such mid- to long-term plan.

“In order to achieve Net Zero, or Carbon Neutrality, establishing a circular economy system centered on resource recycling has become an important task for countries and companies around the world,” SK hynix said. “In line with this trend, we have decided to preemptively establish and faithfully implement the goal of increasing the use of recycled materials in stages.”

Through this roadmap, SK hynix aims to raise the proportion of recycled materials used in the products currently manufactured by the company to 25% by 2025 and more than 30% (based on weight) by 2030.

As part of the plan, they will start with essential metals for semiconductor production, such as copper, tin, and gold, and replace them with recycled materials. Industry experts point out that metal materials are the most effective when it comes to resource circulation as they account for a large proportion of the weight of finished memory products and are difficult to replace with other materials.

The company also plans to make all-out efforts to promote resource circularity, including replacing the plastic packaging used to protect finished semiconductor products with recycled plastic.

To this end, they prepared an implementation system for the goals in the roadmap.

The company will strengthen certification procedures and quality evaluation for recycled materials purchased directly by the company, and decide whether to apply the materials included in the parts supplied by business partners after receiving and reviewing the quality evaluation. In addition, SK hynix plans to encourage its suppliers to join the efforts to obtain validation from publicly trusted external organizations, such as ISO 140213, to verify the use and proportion of recycled materials. In this process, the company will provide its unsparing support to its suppliers if necessary.

“As a company that takes ESG management seriously, we intend to actively participate in the establishment of a global circular economy,” said Junho Song, Vice President and Head of Advanced Quality & Analysis, of SK hynix. “While implementing this roadmap, we will work together with all stakeholders in the semiconductor supply chain, including customers and suppliers, to achieve practical results.”

¹Recycled Materials: Materials extracted, recovered and reprocessed from pre-consumer waste generated in the manufacturing process before arrival at end users or from post-consumer waste disposed of after use.
²Renewable Materials: Sustainable materials that originate from nature and can be regenerated naturally over time, ultimately not depleted (e.g. wood, etc.).

³ISO 14021: Type 2 environmental label established by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) that manufacturers adopt to declare themselves environmentally friendly

SOURCE: SK hynix Inc.

Website:

SK hynix website