Strengthening Chip Industry Commitment to Ethics
In news articles on BBC and The New York Times, several US residents report that they or their cars have been followed using Apple AirTags.
AirTags are miniature devices introduced and created by Apple to locate items in the Find My network. After the release, several reports were made in the United States about the surveillance conducted with such devices. Now many users question whether Apple is doing enough to protect them.
The main goal of AirTags is to improve consumer comfort. But in the wrong hands — private or public — AirTags or any other modern device can become a tool for illegal surveillance or acts of digital oppression.
Because of this, modern technologies need to be monitored to ensure their safety. A wide range of measures is being taken to prevent the use of the industry’s semiconductors throughout its entire ecosystem of its technologies to commit human rights abuses. To ensure compliance with relevant laws and regulations and mitigate the harmful effects of technology, companies engage in robust trade compliance and due diligence practices. SIA (Semiconductor Industry Association) and its members urged companies in the industry to prohibit the use of semiconductor technologies that violate human rights.
In order to successfully curb the malign use of these technologies, effective public-private partnerships and international collaborations are required. This involves identifying technologies, capabilities, practices, and parties of concern and collaborating on common practices.
Who are the leaders?
According to the list of winners of the World’s Most Ethical Companies 2021 award, the leaders in the semiconductor industry are:
- Intel
- Onsemi
- Arm
How to avoid troubles?
Educate.
Training, educating, and raising awareness among the employees.
Be in touch.
Create an online support line where every employee can immediately share a problem or clarify an issue.
Re-check.
And it’s not only about pre-release testing. In light of your company’s annual human rights review, it is vital to align your policies with global trends.
In the long run, it is better to create effective local and international partnerships. Recent market reports indicate that the semiconductor industry plans to expand and develop.
SIA reported that semiconductor sales grew 23.5% year-on-year in November 2021. The amount reached 49.7 billion dollars, an increase of 23.5% from November 2020.
TSMC has announced that it plans to spend up to $44 billion in 2022 to expand manufacturing capacity to ease the global chip shortage and meet growing demand.
Let’s develop together!
At ABC Assembly, we are ready to assist you in creating safe devices that will improve the quality of our lives. We offer a dynamic and flexible approach to the electronics industry. As your design partner, we can also handle your assembly needs. Our services are designed from the ground up, which means we can provide you with a complete set of optimized electronic designs and efficient manufacturing.