AMD published its annual Corporate Responsibility Report, detailing progress toward its strategic Corporate Responsibility goals in 2023. AMD focuses its efforts on key issues that have the greatest impact on its business and society, determined through an ESG materiality assessment, including environmental sustainability; digital impact; diversity, belonging and inclusion; and supply chain responsibility.
“We are in the midst of a major inflection point in the computing industry, and it is more important than ever to put our values into action and align our efforts with some of the biggest challenges facing our world, including addressing climate change and energy demand, enabling advancements in science and medicine, and respecting human rights,” said Justin Murrill, director of Corporate Responsibility at AMD. “At AMD, we continue to deepen collaboration with partners and peers to address these important issues and responsibly drive our industry forward.”
Key highlights from 2023 include:
Advancing Environmental Sustainability
- Through a holistic approach to chip design centered on performance and energy efficiency, AMD delivers a broad range of compute engines for end-to-end AI infrastructure. Innovations like the chiplet architecture AMD pioneered can address sustainability challenges during product use as well as in the manufacturing process. For instance, producing 4th Gen AMD EPYC™ CPUs with up to 12 separate compute chiplets instead of one monolithic die saved ~132,000 metric tons of CO2e in 2023 through avoidance of wafers manufactured, 2.8x the annual operational CO2e footprint of AMD in 2023, and 4.9x the water use of AMD operations in 2023. AMD also continues to make progress on its goal to deliver 30x energy efficiency improvement for processors and accelerators powering servers for HPC and AI training from 2020 to 2025, and AMD solutions power more than half of the top 50 most energy efficient supercomputers on the latest Green500 list.
- AMD designs AI and high-performance computing to help customers and partners tackle some of the world’s toughest challenges while achieving their sustainability goals. As AI becomes the dominant workload, AMD solutions are helping data center operators modernize their infrastructure to address space and power challenges. For example, a single 4th Gen EPYC™ server can replace five legacy servers, reducing rack space by 70% while consuming 65% less energy.
- Across its operations, AMD has reduced carbon emissions 24.5% since 2020. In 2023, AMD sourced 40% of its energy used from renewable sources, up from 18% in 2020. In the supply chain, AMD foundry partners reduced total water withdrawals from wafer manufacturing by increasing recycled water use by 34% (2022-2023).
Accelerating Scientific Research and STEM Education
- Since 2020, more than 150 universities, research institutions and non-profit organizations have received donated AMD technology through the AMD AI and HPC Fund and STEM initiatives, benefiting approximately 61 million people through scientific research and education. As part of these efforts, in 2023, AMD made donations to institutions working in areas such as AI and Machine Learning systems and applications research, incorporating AI in scientific applications and various HPC and AI teaching and training initiatives.
- The company also continues to expand STEM education with the AMD Learning Labs program and established a new lab at Maynooth University in Dublin, Ireland. In addition to technology and funding, AMD employees around the world provide mentoring and hands-on learning with students through a variety of programs and events.
Empowering People and Communities
- AMD empowers employees to do their most impactful work, supported by opportunities for development, engagement and belonging. Driven by these efforts, in the 2023 AMDer Survey, 92% of employees said AMD creates an environment where people of diverse backgrounds can succeed.
- In 2023, AMD launched Advancing Women in Tech, a comprehensive learning experience designed to empower, retain and support AMD women in technical careers. The program was completed by over 230 women in its inaugural year and is expanding with additional cohorts in 2024. AMD also welcomed its first cohort of veterans through the Hiring our Heroes program in 2023.
- AMDers around the world logged over 25,000 hours of volunteer time through individual and team-based activities throughout 2023.
Collaborating Across the Value Chain
- AMD cultivates strong partnerships across its value chain and carefully selected manufacturing partners to advance human rights, environmental sustainability and supply chain resilience. In 2023, AMD expanded due diligence efforts to mitigate adverse impacts to human rights where possible, including additional responsible minerals due diligence. Aligned to the company’s goals, 84% of AMD Manufacturing Suppliers had Responsible Business Alliance audits between 2020-2023.
- AMD continues to work closely with suppliers to expand education and resources on environmental and human rights issues. Over the last three years, 95% of AMD Manufacturing Suppliers across Malaysia, Taiwan and Japan that work with labor agents to recruit migrant workers have attended the RBA Forced Labor Prevention workshop.
AMD prepared this year’s report in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative Standards. In addition, the report includes climate-related disclosures included in the recommendations of the Taskforce on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures as well as relevant disclosures in applicable Sustainability Accounting Standards Board Standards. AMD also annually reports to CDP on climate change and water, as well as reporting on how AMD is making progress in alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.