Lam Research

Lam Research partners with Girls Inc. of the Pacific Northwest to enable girls in underserved communities to explore science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. The company also follows industry best practice by disclosing the number of people with disabilities it employs and its community investments.

The company has a programme that teaches coding and robotics to elementary and junior high school students from remote and disadvantaged areas in Taiwan. It also provides multimedia classrooms to primary schools in underprivileged communities in China.

Lam Research follows industry norms in disclosing senior-level oversight of cybersecurity. The company also has a high-level public policy statement for data privacy. Furthermore, it discloses the number of data breaches it experiences.

The company partners with universities on research projects. It also makes venture capital investments and supports start-ups and non-profits.

There is an opportunity for the company to show how it supports universal and affordable access to digital technologies for vulnerable groups. Although the company discloses the number of people with disabilities it employs, it can also make a high-level commitment to increasing accessibility and support for people with disabilities. Additionally, the company should disclose how the economic value it generates is distributed among its stakeholders as well as its taxes paid and employment in its main markets. 

The company can expand its support for digital skills development and conduct impact assessments for its existing initiatives in this area.

Lam Research should make a high-level commitment to cybersecurity as well as to child online safety. While the company has an information security management certificate, it should also make the certificate publicly available.

Lam research should report how many women it employs in tech roles and how it considers ethics in its research and development (R&D) activities.

Lam Research places expectations on its business relationships to commit to upholding the ILO fundamental rights at work. The company can consider describing its processes for assessing its human rights risks. The company has a grievance mechanism for reporting complaints and concerns related to the company and the channel is open for anyone to make a report.However, the company could make it clear if complainants can choose to remain anonymous when reporting unfair treatment.

The company has a public policy statement committing to respect worker health and safety and it expects its business partners to do the same. However, it does not state whether it requires its workers to work more than the regular and overtime hours. The company’s transparency related to collective bargaining agreements and metrics about its workforce is notable. The company also has 40% women on its board. However, it can consider making a publicly available commitment to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment.

The company prohibits bribery and corruption and has a grievance mechanism for workers and external stakeholders to raise related concerns. However, it can improve its disclosure on tax strategy. The company discloses its lobbying and political engagement approach and states that it does not make political contributions.