Product and service

Ardentec’s major energy consumption during testing is electricity. Ardentec is committed to energy saving projects, minimizing environmental consumption, optimizing cost management, and reducing the impact of global warming to enhance our competitiveness and achieve environmental sustainability goals.

To promote Green Service and Green Manufacturing, testing service carbon footprint verification was conducted, and verified by 3rd party according to ISO 14067 standard to ensure its credibility. The verification included Wafer Probing Services in Tingshin, Kaiyuan and Paoching sites, as well as Final Testing Service in Gaosheng site.

Supply chain and/or value chain

Semiconductor testing is positively correlated to the consumption of energy and water resources, waste generation and the amount of test equipment used. Ardentec establishes specific energy-saving and waste-saving projects and includes them in long-term improvement goals. In that way it can achieve reduction and encourage external suppliers and contractors to achieve the goal of greenhouse gas reduction in the industry chain.

Adaption and mitigation activity

Adaptation

A Business Continuity Management Committee was set up, and certification obtained for the ISO 22301 Business Continuity Management System (BCMS) international standard. Through the results of business impact analysis and risk assessment, we develop business continuity plans for high-risk impact events, such as typhoons, earthquakes, water disruptions, fires, major infectious diseases, energy shortages and cyberattacks to reduce the impact caused by disasters. We have established an emergency response capability for protecting stakeholders, business reputation and brand image.

Mitigation

Installation and procurement of renewable energy included into step by step objectives.

1. Solar power generation facilities started to generate electricity in February 2022, and 499 kW of      installed capacity was provided.

2. Started using renewable energy (RE) from 2021, RE rate will be steadfastly growing

3. Setting the target for total GHG reduction: Category 1 and Category 2 reductions is 2025: 10%;          2030: 20%; 2040: 60%; and 2050: to achieve carbon neutrality.

4. Setting energy conservation target: Ardentec has obtained ISO 50001:2018 Energy                              Management System certification, setting an energy management target of reducing average       energy consumption by no less than 1% between 2015~2024.

Policy and regulations

Ardentec pays close attention to changes in domestic and international laws and regulations. When performing climate change risk and opportunity assessments, the Company also takes into account information on domestic regulatory trends and relevant laws such as, the Renewable Energy Law, etc., in order to review the company's response to an impact on the types of regulations and policies.

Market

In the face of the trend of climate change, Ardentec also incorporated the expectation from the stakeholders, such as the markets and the investors, into the risk assessment of climate change. Besides, Ardentec also strives to promote more green services, including measures such as implementing carbon footprint inventories, to enhance the competitiveness of the Company's services respond to climate change.

Business reputation

Companies around the world expect to perform environmental actions to achieve sustainability goals. Ardentec applied TCFD framework to estimate the business and revenue impact from investors and customers who highly concern to climate change. The impact is made thru quantitative analysis from financial aspect for long-term planning.

Immediacy

According to the IPCC AR6 assessment report, climate change will speed up global water cycle, and future global precipitation will be higher than that of 1995-2014. Moreover, according to the "Taiwan Climate Change Assessment Update Report" jointly released by the 5 organizations, including the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Research Center for Environmental Change of Academia Sinica, it is estimated that the average annual rainfall in Taiwan will increase by 15% in 2050 under the worst climate change scenario (SSP5-8.5), and the highest 1-day rainfall intensity in a year will increase by about 20%.

When facing extreme weather conditions, such as heavy rainfall and flooding, certain parts in the factories have been raised to minimize damage to assets and equipment due to extreme weather conditions, and to ensure that the Company can respond more quickly to cope with climate change.

Long-term

According to the IPCC assessment report and the “Taiwan Climate Change Assessment Update Report” jointly released by the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Research Center for Environmental Change of Academia Sinica, etc., it is estimated that the average temperature in all regions will continue to rise, and in the worst climate change scenario (SSP5-8.5), the average temperature may increase by more than 1.8°C in 2050. Furthermore, regarding extreme high temperature events in the future, the number of days with high temperature above 36°C will also continue to increase. In order to maintain factory operations at high temperatures, energy usage, such as related cooling equipment or air conditioning, will increase, which in turn will also raise operating costs.

Regarding the financial impact of long-term physical risks caused by climate change, the long-term climate instability in the future includes that an increase in average temperature may result in higher energy use, higher operating costs and depreciation of Fabs and equipment, and shorter service life, which in turn will increase overall operating costs. We introduced the ISO 50001 Energy Management System, and a cross-site energy saving team was formed to continuously improve the performance of energy use.