AIXTRON-Group 
 

2022 at a glance

* In terms of the EU taxonomy regulation ** incl. 24 employees who will not start their work at AIXTRON until the 2023 financial year

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The year 2022 was not only very successful for AIXTRON in economic terms. We were also able to make further major progress in the area of sustainability & ESG (environmental, social, and corporate governance).

In 2022, AIXTRON was able to increase the share of taxonomy-aligned revenues to 58% of total revenues of EUR 463 million (2021: 57%). Thus, with EUR 271 million in taxonomy-aligned revenues, the majority of AIXTRON's business activities were ecologically sustainable in the sense of the EU taxonomy (2021: 243 million). In the previous year, we voluntarily reported on the taxonomy alignment of our business activities in accordance with the new EU taxonomy regulation for the first time.

In our core business of equipment technologies for compound semiconductors, we continue to invest substantially in research and development. We are currently in the process of completely renewing our system portfolio: In the third quarter, we presented our new product platform G10-SiC, a significant innovation for the production of components for power electronics based on silicon carbide (SiC). In the future, SiC technology will play a decisive role in the field of electromobility, among other things — both in the electric drive train and in the expansion of the necessary high-performance charging infrastructure. In January 2023 we publicly presented our new G10-AsP to the world; Among other things, it paves the way for the next generation of high-resolution Micro LED displays, which are considered to be particularly energy-efficient. In this way, we serve the current megatrends of sustainability, electrification and digitization, and help to bring technologies to the market that offer an improved CO2 balance.

Our focus on sustainable future technologies is also reflected in our EU aligned operating expenses (OpEX)1 and capital expenditures (CapEx)1. We were able to increase the high proportion of taxonomy-aligned operating expenses (OpEx)1 from EUR 43 million (72%) in 2021 to EUR 45 million (73%) in the reporting year. The taxonomy-aligned capital expenditures (CapEx) has also improved again and has almost doubled in the reporting period — from EUR 8 million (39%) in 2021 to EUR 14 million (38%).

Wide-band-gap (WBG) Power semiconductors based on gallium nitride (GaN) and silicon carbide (SiC) form the basis for the energy-efficient power electronics of the future. Micro LEDs enable the next generation of displays and laser diodes for data communication bring decisive advantages in the further digitization of our world. In addition, we are looking at other exciting technologies in the field of renewable energies (e.g. solar cells).

Our sustainable business model is also confirmed by positive ESG ratings. For example, our current MSCI rating is AA (2021: A). 

We also continuously strive to improve in the area of energy efficiency and directly controllable CO2 emissions. AIXTRON has been climate neutral since 2019. For several years we have been successfully using waste heat generated in our laboratories at our central location in Herzogenrath and using it specifically for heating the building. At the end of 2022, a new heat pump was also installed, which is expected to save most of the remaining gas consumption. Since 2019, we have been sourcing electricity exclusively from renewable energies at our European locations and also in the USA. In 2022, AIXTRON also replaced the existing lighting systems at its locations with state-of-the-art LED lighting technology in order to further reduce energy consumption.

Our employees are the key to our company's success. Their creativity and problem-solving skills, their commitment and their understanding of the industry in combination with an extraordinary willingness to perform are still the foundation of AIXTRON. In 2022 we were able to add more than 230 highly qualified colleagues. We were able to further increase the diversity and internationality of our workforce: We already employ people from around 50 nations (2021: 42).

At the same time, we are very focused on developing our employees. We are therefore very proud that we managed to more than double the learning hours per employee last year. In 2022 they amounted to 32.8 hours per employee (2021: 13.3 hours).

Our board members Dr. Jochen Linck, Dr. Felix Grawert and Dr. Christian Danninger (f.l.t.r.).

Our focus is also on the careful and responsible further development of our strong, AIXTRON-specific corporate culture. This also includes our awareness that we have a responsibility towards society. With our social and community activities, we therefore support initiatives and institutions that improve people's lives. In the course of the 2022 reporting year, we donated a total of EUR 50,000 to support war refugees from Ukraine in our region. The German Red Cross, the joint aid campaign of the RWTH Aachen and the university hospital as well as the emergency aid Ukraine of the "Aktion Deutschland Hilft" were considered.

Effective and efficient corporate governance is the basis and sets the framework for our financial and non-financial success. Since many years, we have had highly developed corporate governance systems in place as the basis for good corporate management. For details, we refer to the further explanations in this report or in our annual report.

In this sustainability report we give you an overview of our sustainability strategy and its concrete implementation. We would like to present the results we have achieved to you and also show you what we are working on today and in the future.

The Executive Board of AIXTRON SE

With this sustainability report, AIXTRON documents the ecological and social performance and the progress made in implementing its sustainability goals for the 2022 reporting year. This should make it clear to our stakeholders how ecological and social goals and measures have contributed to the company's success.

You can find the economic data and performance of AIXTRON for the 2022 financial year in our annual report.

The reporting period corresponds to the 2022 financial year, i.e. the period from January 01, 2022 to December 31, 2022.

The report covers the following locations and subsidiaries of the AIXTRON Group. These essentially include:

• AIXTRON SE, Germany                                                    
• AIXTRON Korea Co. Ltd., Korea
• AIXTRON Ltd., Great Britian                                     
• AIXTRON China Ltd., China
• AIXTRON, Inc., USA                                                             
• AIXTRON Taiwan Co. Ltd., Taiwan
• AIXTRON K.K., Japan                                                           
• AIXTRON, Sdn. Bhd., Malaysia
   

As of December 31, 2022, AIXTRON has one production site and one research/development site in Herzogenrath and one in Cambridge (UK) as well as sales and service sites in the USA and Asia. The vast majority of our employees work at our location in Germany and a considerably smaller number in Great Britain. The focus of the reporting is therefore on these two locations.

We refer here to further information e.g. on the structure and management of the company in the chapters "Fundamentals of the Group" of the current annual report of the AIXTRON Group.

Editorial note
 

For better legibility, we refer to “employees” throughout this report. That includes all genders. The same applies to similar terms such as participants, representatives, etc.

The sustainability report is prepared in accordance with the Sustainability Reporting Standards of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). The table at the end of the report provides information on the assignment of the content to the requirements of the GRI framework. On our AIXTRON website under the menu item "Sustainability," you will find accompanying explanations of the information and projects presented in this report.

With the report, we primarily want to give our interest groups (stakeholders) the most comprehensive possible picture of the non-financial aspects and key figures of our business activities. Individual key figures were recorded for the first time in the 2022 reporting year and included in this report. If in individual cases, we do not have any data from previous years, it is not possible to compare these key figures with previous years. In this case, this is indicated by a corresponding note.

The requirements of the German CSR Directive Implementation Act oblige AIXTRON to publish a non-financial statement. With our separate non-financial report, we meet the requirements that arise for us from Section 315b (1-3) HGB.

All sections of text, tables, and graphics in the sustainability report that are assigned to the non-financial report are marked with an omega symbol Ω. Therefore, not all information contained in this report is also a mandatory part of the separate non-financial statement. References to information in the management report are part of the non-financial statement.

According to Section 289c (3) HGB, we are obliged to examine topics for their “double materiality”. Dual materiality requires disclosures on non-financial aspects to be made as soon as the following criteria are met:

1. The information is necessary to understand the course of business, the business result, and the position of the company.
2. The information makes it possible to understand how the company's business activities affect non-financial aspects.

We checked the issues identified for this double materiality. The topics that fit this definition are also marked in the report by an omega sign Ω. These topics are assigned to the respective chapters in this report. In terms of Sections 289c Paragraphs 2 and 3, 315c HGB, no “material risks” have been identified either with regard to our business activities or with regard to our business relationships, products, and services that have or will have “very likely serious negative effects”.

The non-financial information and key figures on our sustainability activities given in this report were subjected to an independent review with “limited assurance” by KPMG AG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft, Duesseldorf (Germany) using the relevant auditing standards for sustainability reporting (ISAE 3000 Revised).

We maintain trusting and long-term partnerships with our stakeholders. In doing so, it is important to us - just as in our company to each other - that we treat each other in a spirit of partnership, respectful and constructive. We see ourselves as part of this society. That is why we are committed to community and social projects – particularly in the region where our headquarters are located.

The key interest groups for AIXTRON are:

• Customers
• State and politics
• Employees
• Media
• Capital market participants
• Science and Research
• Delivery

The identification of the most important stakeholders and their interests are crucial for a successful stakeholder dialogue (see also the chapter on sustainable corporate management and sustainability strategy / materiality analysis). The interest groups were categorized and prioritized based on the following criteria:

• Interests of the stakeholders
• Stakeholder Influence
• Stakeholder expectations of AIXTRON
• Dependence of stakeholders on AIXTRON
• Value for AIXTRON to get in touch with this stakeholder