Green IT: 10 years of cooperation on the circular economy with a record in 2023

Villach, May 14, 2024 - This is the tenth anniversary of the cooperation between Infineon Technologies Austria AG and AfB social & greenIT. By recycling used IT equipment from Infineon, around 3,800 tons of CO2 equivalents have been avoided so far. The results and also the record year 2023 have now been presented to Infineon Austria in a certificate by the AfB representatives.

Sustainability, inclusion and social responsibility: The partnership between Infineon Austria and the non-profit AfB "Arbeit für Menschen mit Behinderung" has proven to be an important contribution to the circular economy and inclusion in the labor market. The remanufacturing of IT equipment also supports jobs for people with disabilities. The year 2023 was a very special one: 10 years for the circular economy

Infineon Austria has been one of AfB's first partners since 2014 and was therefore also a founding partner of the AfB site in Klagenfurt, which has also been in existence for 10 years. 86 percent of the more than 33,000 IT devices provided by Infineon have been refurbished for a second life through AfB's certified process. This has avoided a total of around 3,800 tons of CO2 equivalents since 2014. This sustainable effect of the "Green IT Cooperation" was confirmed with the hand-over of the certificates at Infineon by AfB representatives Gernot Hochfellner - Managing Director of AfB in Austria, Fabio Papini - AfB Branch Manager Klagenfurt and Daniel Büchle - AfB Managing Director Germany.

Jörg Eisenschmied, CFO Infineon Technologies Austria AG: "We are very pleased to have AfB as a strong partner who perfectly supports our commitment to sustainability in the IT sector. We are united by the fact that sustainability is not a fashionable topic, but that we are pursuing this socio-ecological mission together. Our long-standing collaboration has had an impressive impact and we want to further strengthen this successful cooperation."

Hansjörg Sonnleitner, Head of Infineon IT-Services GmbH: "Our IT team set a real starting point in 2014 with the partnership, which not only makes social sense, but also has an ecologically sustainable impact. In order to meet the growing hardware requirements, Infineon employees' laptops are replaced every four years on average. We make these devices available to AfB for refurbishment. With this extended useful life, we are making a real contribution to conserving resources. I am particularly pleased that we have been able to extend our IT partnership to other Infineon sites: In addition to Austria, Infineon Germany has also been involved in IT reuse since 2019."

Daniel Büchle, Managing Director AfB Germany: "It's great that this green IT partnership has developed across national borders. It means we can give even more IT devices a second life in the spirit of the circular economy. After all, every smartphone or notebook that does not end up in the bin but is given a second life through refurbishing, has a positive impact on the environment and climate protection."

The impact of 10 years of socio-ecological IT partnership:

• Period: 01/2014 to 12/2023
• 33,266 IT and mobile devices (laptops, PCs, monitors, printers) with a total weight of 99.3 tons
• 86 percent refurbishment "ReUse" and thus
• 707,523 kilograms of CO2 savings
• 24,397,004 liters of water savings

2023 - Record for social inclusion: Six jobs secured in Klagenfurt

Thanks to the collaboration, over 6,500 appliances were handed over to AfB at the Klagenfurt site last year and 87 percent were reconditioned through a certified process. The trained AfB employees ensure that the IT devices are refurbished to a high standard and resold in the company's own salesroom and online store. This has secured six jobs for people with disabilities in Klagenfurt. This number has doubled compared to the previous year.

Gernot Hochfellner, Managing Director of AfB in Austria: "The cooperation with Infineon Austria makes a significant contribution to our mission: to promote ecological action in the IT industry and to promote inclusion in the labor market. I am very pleased that Infineon is also strengthening our location in Klagenfurt as a result. In addition to environmental protection, we also focus on people - as employees, partners and customers."

About AfB "Arbeit für Menschen mit Behinderung" gemeinnützige GmbH

AfB "Arbeit für Menschen mit Behinderung" GmbH is Europe's largest non-profit IT company that takes over, refurbishes and resells used IT from companies. The inclusion company employs around 660 people, around 48% of whom are people with disabilities, in the five countries of Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Infineon Technologies Austria AG is a subsidiary of Infineon Technologies AG, a global semiconductor leader in power systems and IoT. Semiconductors are essential for mastering the energy-related challenges of our time and helping to shape the digital transformation. Infineon's microelectronics drive decarbonization and digitalization and enable groundbreaking solutions for green and efficient energy, clean and safe mobility as well as a smart and secure IoT.

Infineon Austria pools competencies for research and development, production as well as global business responsibility. The head office is in Villach, with further branches in Graz, Klagenfurt, Linz, Innsbruck and Vienna. With 5,886 employees (including around 2,500 in research and development) from 79 nations, the company generated revenue of EUR 5.6 billion in the 2023 fiscal year (ending 30 September). With research expenditure of 672 million euros, Infineon Austria is one of the strongest research companies in Austria.