Sustainability Materiality: Priority Areas for the Group’s Medium- to Long-term Growth

The Kioxia Group will continue to create value for society through our memory technology, based on our mission of “uplifting the world with ‘memory.’” We will contribute to the development of a sustainable society by strengthening the foundations supporting the Group’s medium- to long-term business activities, and by responding to the demands of our stakeholders as a member of global society.

Environmental issues such as climate change, energy and resource shortages due to industrialization, widening disparities of wealth, and the threat of new infectious diseases are just some of the growing challenges facing society. On the other hand, the development of digital technology continues to make people’s lives more convenient than ever. Technological innovation brought about by AI, IoT and the use of big data has changed social and industrial structures and is expected to rapidly generate needs that have not been seen before.
Taking these social changes into account, there are rising expectations of the role the Group should play in the sustainable development of society; we have therefore decided there is an urgent need to further enhance our sustainability management and clearly set out our policies.
We have established themes we see as particularly important for governing the sustainable development of the Group and of society, which we call Sustainability Materiality.

Sustainability Materiality comprises three domains.

The Kioxia Group will create social value in the medium- to long-term together with our partners by using memory technology to expand the possibilities of our current and future products and services based on our mission of “uplifting the world with ‘memory.’”

Our foundation of value creation is the driving force behind the Group’s continual provision of value to society, and this is an important foundation we will continue to strengthen.

Our stakeholders require us to conduct business activities as a member of global society, and this is a social requirement which is particularly important to the Group.

(1) Building a creative world through memory technology
Through memory technology we support value creation by working with partners to provide people with diverse experiences and creative means of expression and communication.

(2) Contributing to convenient and comfortable lifestyles
By enhancing flash memory with greater capacity, higher speed, lower power consumption and enhanced reliability, and by supplying more bits to more people, we will contribute to create a society in which more people can lead convenient and comfortable lives.

(3) Creating safe and secure societies and environments
Based on digital technology developments, we will contribute to solving social and environmental issues through providing storage to allow people to live safely and securely.

We will recruit and train highly specialized human resources to develop advanced technologies, and diverse human resources to meet expanding and diversifying market requirements.

We will promote continuous technological investment and initiatives for future-oriented advanced development.

We will build partnerships with customers, suppliers and research institutions to create products and services that anticipate the needs of society.

We will comply with international human rights principles and promote fair and sound business activities.

We will promote sustainable business activities by addressing human rights, labor, safety, environmental and other business risks, including those of our suppliers.

We will contribute to a decarbonized society by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and promoting the use of renewable energy in our business activities.

We will promote business activities in consideration of their environmental impact, focusing on areas such as waste reduction, chemical substance management and wastewater quality management, with the aim of enriching human life in harmony with the Earth.

We will strive to create safe and healthy workplaces, taking into account changes in society and behavioral patterns, with the aim of preventing occupational accidents, improving employees’ health and increasing productivity through enhanced vitality.

In the first half of 2021 we reviewed the CSR Materiality we set out in 2017 (respect for human rights, promotion of diversity, promotion of supply chain CSR, environmental management) from the perspective of trends in global society and requirements from stakeholders. Furthermore, we identified non-financial capital as a strength for the Kioxia Group over the medium- to long-term and extracted elements of Sustainability Materiality, taking into account the society we want to realize together with our partners and the societal impact of our products, services and technological developments. To do this we listened to the opinions of outside experts at meetings of the Sustainability Committee that became the focus of lively discussions at Sustainability Strategy Meetings.
Looking ahead, we will set targets and build a framework around which we will further evolve our activities.