Chip Industry Not Ready for U.S. Conflict Minerals Law
IHS has said that only 11.3 percent of a total of 5,994 companies have complied with the requirements of the U.S. Conflict Minerals Law so far.
The new law will go in effect in July 2014 and requires data, declarations, or documentation about the presence of certain minerals in their supply chain.
The law defines conflict minerals as those including gold; columbite-tantalite, used to produce tantalum; cassiterite, used to make tin; and wolframite, which used to produce tungsten. According to the IHS, the minerals are widely used in products ranging from "cellphones to hearing aids, to pacemakers and jet engines." IHS estimates that $93 million worth of tantalum was used in smartphones in 2012 alone.
The new law requires companies to disclose whether they use conflict minerals in their products and what efforts have been made to ensure that the use or purchase of the minerals have not caused and do not contribute to violence and killings. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is especially concerning as it is estimated to hold about $24 trillion worth of minerals, as well as adjacent countries.
The 11.3 percent of companies that have complied so far represent about 17.1 percent of active electronic components on the market, IHS said.
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Wolfgang Gruener is an experienced professional in digital strategy and content, specializing in web strategy, content architecture, user experience, and applying AI in content operations within the insurtech industry. His previous roles include Director, Digital Strategy and Content Experience at American Eagle, Managing Editor at TG Daily, and contributing to publications like Tom's Guide and Tom's Hardware.
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x4dm Once again, Intel has already taken the lead in corporate responsibilityReply
http://www.intel.com/content/dam/doc/policy/policy-conflict-minerals.pdf -
A Bad Day Good luck determining which are conflict and non-conflict minerals. Some bribery is all it takes to get the preferred ID.Reply -
deksman These morons should be creating electronics from superior synthetic materials that can be made in abundance (which was doable for a long time). The amount of patenting superior synthetic materials, means of production and usage in electronics (which in turn would create orders of magnitude more advanced technology) dating back decades is very large - and yet, we don't really use them.Reply
Why?
Oh wait... that's right... we have an economy based on artificially induced scarcity and monetary gain/profit.
Producing abundance is a big 'no' for the industry (and since we already do, most of it will be destroyed to create artificially induced scarcity - which is done with food for example).
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Achoo22This article fails for never explaining what an IHS is.Reply
A simple search would easily explain... -
lmlim who ever submit the information or adhere to this "law" is an IDIOT. US is trying to acquire this knowledge, but say it as a law of same kind. seemed like industrial spies activities to me, if you will... but renamed/manipulated...Reply
anyone see this? -
kcorp2003 china doesn't comply. goes buys the minerals then sells it back to the US companies 10x more ;) conflict free.Reply
but wow $24 trillion dollar worth of minerals! -
twisted politiks toxtethA simple search would easily explain...Reply
A simple search for IHS returns a lot of different information, none of which stands out as to what "IHS" this article is talking about.
Achoo22This article fails for never explaining what an IHS is.
They are talking about a company who deals with information.
http://www.ihs.com/