In 2020, KnowTheChain assessed the 60 largest global ICT companies on their efforts to address forced labor risks in their supply chains. In addition to assessing information available on companies’ websites, KnowTheChain invited benchmarked companies over a period of three months (November 2019 -January 2020) to review the information identified, and to provide additional information.
- 45% of companies engaged during the 3 months period, by providing additional disclosure (38%) or sending links to existing disclosure (7%)
- 10% of companies engaged informally with KnowTheChain (i.e., outside of the formal three-month engagement period)
- 55% of companies did not engage with KnowTheChain between April 2019 and May 2020 (beyond confirming a contact for KnowTheChain)
Please find below details on the engagement with each company.
Please note, details on engagement are shown for the three most recent benchmarks.
Company name
Headquarters
Engagement with KnowTheChain (Apr 2019-May 2020)*
2022 Disclosure
2020 Disclosure
2018 Disclosure
AAC Technologies
China
No
[Not included]
No response
[Not included]
Apple
United States
No
Sent links
No response
Sent links
Arista Networks
United States
No
[Not included]
No response
[Not included]
Best Buy
United States
Yes
Provided additional disclosure
Provided additional disclosure
[Not included]
BOE
China
No
No response
No response
No response
Broadcom
United States
No
No response
No response
No response
Canon
Japan
Yes
Provided additional disclosure
Sent link to RBA membership announcement
Responded and provided additional disclosure
Cisco
United States
Yes
Provided additional disclosure
Provided additional disclosure
Responded and provided additional disclosure
Foxconn
Taiwan
Yes
No response
Provided additional disclosure
Responded and provided additional disclosure
Hikvision
China
No
No response
No response
[Not included]
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
United States
Yes
Sent links
Provided additional disclosure
Provided additional disclosure
Hitachi
Japan
Yes
Provided additional disclosure
Provided additional disclosure
Responded and provided additional disclosure
HP
United States
Yes
Provided additional disclosure
Provided additional disclosure
Responded, provided additional disclosure, and further information
Intel
United States
Yes
Provided additional disclosure
Provided additional disclosure
Responded and provided additional disclosure, and further disclosure
Keyence
Japan
No
Provided additional disclosure
No response
Responded and provided additional disclosure
Kyocera
Japan
No
No response
No response
No response
Lam Research
United States
Yes
Provided additional disclosure
Provided additional disclosure
Responded and provided additional disclosure
Largan Precision
Taiwan
No
[Not included]
No response
No response
LG Electronics
South Korea
No
Sent links
No response
[Not included]
Logitech
Switzerland
Provided additional disclosure
[Not included]
[Not included]
Luxshare Precision
China
No response
[Not included]
[Not included]
Maxim Integrated
United States
No
[Not included]
No response
[Not included]
Microchip Technology
United States
Yes
Provided additional disclosure
Sent link to RBA membership announcement
No response
Micron
United States
No
Provided additional disclosure
No response
Responded and disclosed excerpts from Sustainability Report and Purchase Order
Microsoft
United States
No
Provided additional disclosure
No response
Responded and provided additional disclosure
Motorola Solutions
United States
No
No response
No response
[Not included]
Murata
Japan
Yes
Provided additional disclosure
Provided additional disclosure
Responded, published a statement under the UK Modern Slavery Act, and provided additional disclosure
NAURA Technology Group
China
No response
[Not included]
[Not included]
Nintendo
Japan
Yes
No response
Provided additional disclosure
Responded and provided additional disclosure
NVIDIA
United States
Yes
Provided additional disclosure
Provided additional disclosure
Responded and provided additional disclosure
Qualcomm
United States
Yes
Provided additional disclosure
Provided additional disclosure
Responded, provided additional disclosure and further information
Renesas
Japan
No
No response
No response
[Not included]
Seagate
Ireland
No response
[Not included]
[Not included]
Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation
China
No response
[Not included]
[Not included]
Sharp
Japan
No
[Not included]
No response
[Not included]
STMicroelectronics
Switzerland
Yes
Provided additional disclosure
Provided additional disclosure
[Not included]
Sunny Optical Technology
China
No response
[Not included]
[Not included]
TE Connectivity
Switzerland
Yes
No response
Provided additional disclosure
Sent additional disclosure, further information and links
Walmart
United States
No
Sent links
No response
[Not included]
Western Digital
United States
No
Provided additional disclosure
No response**
Sent link to compliance statement
Xiaomi
China
No
No response
No response
[Not included]
Xilinx
United States
No
[Not included]
No response
[Not included]
ZTE
China
No
No response
No response
[Not included]
*KnowTheChain assesses engagement levels similarly to the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark:
- “Yes” indicates that a company participated in the research process by having an engagement call with KnowTheChain or submitted links or additional disclosure to KnowTheChain during the three-month engagement period (November 2019 to January 2020).
- “Informal” engagement means a company had some form of contact with KnowTheChain between April 2019 and May 2020. This could include an email enquiring about KnowTheChain or its benchmarking methodology or a call outside the engagement period.
- “No” means a company did not interact with KnowTheChain between April 2019 and May 2020.
** Note the 2020 KnowTheChain ICT benchmark includes information published up to October 2019, or January 2020 where companies provided additional disclosure. Some companies have since published relevant information. For example:
- Western Digital published a new sustainability report, modern slavery statement, and Global Human Rights Policy.
Company engagement process for the 2018 and 2016 benchmarks
- 2018: To reduce the reporting burden for companies, ahead of the 2018 benchmarks, we asked companies to respond to 2-3 questions to point us in the direction of relevant disclosure. Further, we provided companies an opportunity to review the initial research findings, and to provide additional disclosure for indicators where disclosure was missing.
- 2016: Ahead of benchmark publication, we had invited companies to respond to a set of engagement questions that correspond to the benchmark methodology.
Information made available by benchmarked companies outside the 2018 and 2016 disclosure periods is available here.
For further details on the human rights impacts of companies around the world, see the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre’s website.