Posted on Monday, May 21 2012 @ 20:56 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
Bit Tech
reports Intel has set a goal of phasing out the use of "conflict minerals" in its processors, promising to have at least one conflict-free chip by next year.
As part of its latest Corporate Responsibility Report, Intel announced that it would be working towards the goal of having at least one processor manufactured using only validated conflict-free minerals by 2013. According to Intel, it will be the first company to provably produce a chip with no conflict minerals present in its construction.
The company's march to conflict-free components began last year, when Intel identified 98 smelter sites where the raw ores are processed and visited 48 of them across 16 countries to lay the groundwork for third-party audits. These audits, Intel hopes, will demonstrate that Intel's sources of tantalum are conflict-free by the end of the year and lead to conflict-free certification across all four minerals for at least one processor next year.
