Sustainability Management and Strategy

Who we are and what we do

The AIXTRON Group (“AIXTRON” or “the company”) is a leading provider of deposition equipment to the semiconductor industry. The company was founded in 1983, is headquartered in Herzogenrath (Aachen City Region), Germany, and has subsidiaries and representative offices in Asia, the USA, and Europe. In 2021, we had a total of 739 employees (headcount; all figures in this report are headcounts).

As well as being listed in the TecDAX, since 2020 AIXTRON has also been listed in the MDAX.

AIXTRON’s business activities involve the development, production, and installation of equipment for use in the deposition of complex semiconductor materials, the development of process technologies, consulting and training, and customer support.

Our products are used worldwide by a wide range of customers to manufacture high-performance devices for electronic and optoelectronic applications based on compound or organic semiconductor materials. These devices are used in numerous innovative applications, technologies, and industries. These include, for example, LED and display technologies, data transmission, sensor technology, energy management and conversion, communications, SiC and GaN power management and conversion, signal and lighting technology, and many other sophisticated high-tech applications.

In the 2021 year under report we generated revenues of EUR 429 million (2020: EUR 269 million) and invested EUR 57 million in research and development (2020: EUR 58 million). This corresponds to around 13 % of our revenues. Our equity ratio stood at 80 % (2020: 84 %). Asia accounted for the major share of our revenues, at just under 70 % (2020: 73%), and was followed by Europe with 20 % (2020: 16 %) and America with 10 % (2020: 11 %).

Our self-image and our values

Alongside our economic performance, we are also committed to taking responsibility for ecological and social challenges. We are convinced that sustainability is a prerequisite for long-term economic success.

As a company which equips an important forward-looking industry, we execute our business transactions prudently, responsibly, and with due consideration of the interests of material stakeholders with the aim of ensuring sustainable development on all stages of the value chain.

For this reason, responsible action is one of our four corporate values. It forms a core component of our corporate culture and underpins everything we do at AIXTRON. The Executive Board and our managers bear a particular responsibility in this respect and act as role models.

Efficient and resource-optimized operations have always formed part of our core business as a forward-looking technology company. Our products enhance the performance of semiconductors and make them more resource-efficient.

This in turn boosts the efficiency of large numbers of products, including applications in areas such as the energy supply, e-mobility, entertainment electronics, and communications. This means that our products are helping to shrink not only our own ecological footprint, but also that of our customers and in particular those of end consumers in these areas (cf. Innovations as key competitive factor).

Our sustainability strategy

Sustainability has become ever more firmly anchored as an important principle of corporate management at our company in recent years, a process which result in the formulation of our sustainability strategy in 2018. This led to the definition of sustainability criteria on top management level between the Supervisory and Executive Boards in 2020, with target achievement now incentivized. Thanks to this measure, non-financial targets now enjoy greater weighting alongside our financial targets.

One major objective within our sustainability strategy was to become climate neutral. We achieved this in 2019. To this end, we procure our electricity from renewable energies and offset all unavoidable CO2 emissions with climate protection projects. One major strategic step in the current year under report was to compile a complete climate balance sheet that also portrays upstream and downstream production processes (Scope 3).

For us, sustainability means acting on the basis of an opportunity and risk analysis in order to bring long-term economic success in line with environmental protection and our social responsibility.

We are endeavoring to continuously improve our sustainability activities, as well as the associated guidelines, standards, and programs in order to meet the needs and satisfy the expectations of our stakeholders.

The five core topics of AIXTRON’s sustainability strategy

Against this backdrop, we have identified five priority topics. These five topics cover the following areas: Environment and Ecology; Society and Social Welfare; Employees and Occupational Health and Safety; Combating Corruption and Bribery, and Respect for Human Rights.

These topics have been defined in our “Sustainability Policy” and are also guided by the Sustainable Development Goals (“SDGs”) of the United Nations.

The SDGs we support address the following goals:

• No poverty
• Good health and well-being
• Quality education
• Gender equality
• Affordable and clean energy
• Decent work and economic growth
• Industry, innovation and infrastructure
• Responsible consumption and production
• Climate action
• Life on land

These goals provide orientation for our day-to-day work and strategic planning.

The SDGs we support relate to the above goals

Determination of material topics

In an extensive process conducted in 2020, we evaluated the main economic, ecological, and social aspects that have a material influence on our company. To this end, we questioned those internal specialists and employees who exchange information on an ongoing basis with our material stakeholders (cf. External Stakeholders). The findings were compared with the results of dialogs with external stakeholders and structured by reference to the GRI standards. This process ended with an iterative discussion process with internal experts and the Executive Board, which resulted in the definition of the five topic clusters presented in the chart below. We reviewed this allocation in the 2021 year under report and did not identify any need to make changes.

Organizational implementation

The Executive Board of AIXTRON SE bears overall responsibility for the topic of sustainability. It is advised by the Sustainability Manager and the Sustainability Workgroup and reaches decisions on key sustainability-related matters. Responsibility for implementing the targets and projects resolved by the Executive Board lies with the relevant specialist departments and subsidiaries of AIXTRON SE.

The Sustainability Workgroup meets several times a year and consists of members of staff who are responsible for the respective topic, such as innovation, technology, human resources, Works Council, compliance, quality assurance, or purchasing. The aim is to develop relevant sustainability topics based on the corporate strategy, to raise awareness for sustainable business operations, and to anchor sustainability in all company departments. Within the Workgroup, the employees with relevant responsibilities inform the other members at regular intervals on the progress made with individual projects at the company and actively promote these projects.

Our CSR Policy provides a formal and mandatory definition of the key principles underlying our sustainability management for all units at AIXTRON SE.