CSR
Corporate Social Responsibility at Intel®
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A "Conflict-Free" Minerals Goal

Gary_Niekerk
Employee
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Intel has been regularly updating our progress on conflict minerals in white papers, Corporate Responsibility Reports and blogs. Recently, we set an internal goal around manufacturing a "conflict-free" microprocessor, and that goal was shared with Intel employees through a video by Brian Krzanich, Intel's Chief Operating Officer. The video and goal were intended to inspire employees and set a challenging target for Intel.

We define a "conflict-free" microprocessor as a microprocessor that is made with metals (tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold) only from smelters that are validated to be conflict-free.  In reality, our products may already be free of conflict minerals,  but that's the issue - you don't really know unless you have a system to validate - which is what Intel and other industry members have been working towards.  This is still very much a stretch goal for us, as all of the pieces to achieve this goal have not yet come together.  We have mapped out most of the supply chain (over 90%) and have identified most of the smelters, but there are still some roadblocks and obstacles we need to overcome to achieve this very challenging goal.

In support of transparency, we decided to share the video externally and publish the goal in our latest U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission annual 10-K report. Intel has disclosed and integrated corporate responsibility information into our 10-K for a number of years, so it made sense to disclose the goal there.  I hope our goal will inspire other companies to set their own goals (either internal or external) around conflict minerals, and that collectively our efforts in the long-term will improve the situation in the DRC and surrounding region.

Read the new conflict-free microprocessor goal in our latest 10-K report.