Nordic Semiconductor recently announced a significant advancement in its environmental strategy, by becoming one of the first semiconductor companies to utilise component reels made from recycled plastic. This initiative is set to cut plastic waste by approximately 15,000 kilograms annually.
“We’re continuously looking for ways to minimise our environmental impact,” said Ole-Fredrik Morken, Executive Vice President of Supply Chain, Nordic Semiconductor, “So, we are delighted that we, together with our trusted OSAT partners, have been able to achieve this milestone. This is especially important given that Nordic’s customers are some of the world’s largest ‘consumers’ of wireless IoT connectivity semiconductor chips, deploying hundreds of millions of devices each year with Nordic components inside.”
The expansion of the Internet of Things (IoT) promises an increase in the consumption of these chips across various applications, including smart homes, healthcare, asset tracking, professional lighting, building automation, smart agriculture, utility metering, wireless audio, and retail sectors.
“It’s a small but significant contribution to sustainability,” added Geir Langeland, Executive Vice President of Sales & Marketing at Nordic Semiconductor. “When you consider the market potential for the IoT applications that Nordic is at the forefront of, such as AI and machine learning, it’s foreseeable that Nordic could soon be supplying billions of devices annually.”
A significant proportion of Nordic’s component packaging now uses ground-up old plastics. Achieving this milestone required the company to rigorously test its recycled plastic component reels to ensure they matched the performance and reliability of traditional, non-recycled alternatives and adhered to all relevant industry standards for component tape-and-reel. The packaging was designed to endure shipping, safeguard the valuable semiconductor components within, and function seamlessly in high-speed PCB placement machines.
“Our customers have put our recycled plastic component reels into their production processes without issue,” concluded Morken. “Regarding ESG [Environmental, Social, and Governance], we make an effort to walk our green talk. There are many industry-standard, minimum good-practice regulations for what a semiconductor chip supplier should do to minimise its environmental impact. However, climate change and the environment are too important to work to minimum standards. You try to go beyond that and do your part for the environment. And that is what we’ve done here.”
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