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 details with each company.
Company name
Headquarters
Engagement with KnowTheChain (Apr 2019-May 2020)*
2020 Disclosure
2018 Disclosure
2016 Disclosure
AAC Technologies
China
No
No response
[Not included]
[Not included]
Arista Networks
United States
No
No response
[Not included]
[Not included]
BOE
China
No
No response
No response
No response
Broadcom
United States
No
No response
No response
No response
Canon
Japan
Yes
Sent link to RBA membership announcement
Responded and provided additional disclosure
Sent link to this webpage
Hikvision
China
No
No response
[Not included]
[Not included]
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
United States
Yes
Provided additional disclosure
Provided additional disclosure
[Not included]
Hexagon
Sweden
No
No response
[Not included]
[Not included]
HP
United States
Yes
Provided additional disclosure
Responded, provided additional disclosure, and further information
Intel
United States
Yes
Provided additional disclosure
Responded and provided additional disclosure, and further disclosure
IBM
United States
n/a
[Not included]
[Not included]
No response
KLA-Tencor
United States
No
No response
[Not included]
[Not included]
Kyocera
Japan
No
No response
No response
[Not included]
Lam Research
United States
Yes
Provided additional disclosure
Responded and provided additional disclosure
[Not included]
Largan Precision
Taiwan
No
No response
No response
[Not included]
LG Electronics
South Korea
No
No response
[Not included]
[Not included]
Maxim Integrated
United States
No
No response
[Not included]
[Not included]
Microchip Technology
United States
Yes
Sent link to RBA membership announcement
No response
[Not included]
Micron
United States
No
No response
Responded and disclosed excerpts from Sustainability Report and Purchase Order
[Not included]
Motorola Solutions
United States
No
No response
[Not included]
[Not included]
Murata
Japan
Yes
Provided additional disclosure
Responded, published a statement under the UK Modern Slavery Act, and provided additional disclosure
Nintendo
Japan
Yes
Provided additional disclosure
Responded and provided additional disclosure
[Not included]
NVIDIA
United States
Yes
Provided additional disclosure
Responded and provided additional disclosure
[Not included]
Qualcomm
United States
Yes
Provided additional disclosure
Responded, provided additional disclosure and further information
Renesas
Japan
No
No response
[Not included]
[Not included]
Sharp
Japan
No
No response
[Not included]
[Not included]
SK Hynix
South Korea
No
No response
No response
No response
TE Connectivity
Switzerland
Yes
Provided additional disclosure
Sent additional disclosure, further information and links
[Not included]
Texas Instruments
United States
No
No response
No response
No response
Walmart
United States
No
No response
[Not included]
[Not included]
Xiaomi
China
No
No response
[Not included]
[Not included]
Xilinx
United States
No
No response
[Not included]
[Not included]
ZTE
China
No
No response
[Not included]
[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.