Social Contributions

Together with the Baguio City Environment and Parks Management Office, we planted trees at the Baguio Botanical Garden, one of the largest in the Philippines. The botanical garden is an oasis in the city and plays an important role in the city's greening policy. Eight employees from the Philippines participated in the event, and together we planted 16 coffee trees. The tree-planting event generated a strong sense of camaraderie among employees who participated and contributed to a greener future for the Earth.

At a forest protection campground in Anji city, Zhejiang Province, employees engaged in bamboo forest conservation activities such as bamboo cutting and forest road maintenance under the guidance of local forest rangers. Bamboo forests have a huge carbon sequestration capacity and play a major role in combating global climate change mitigation. However, if they are left unattended, bamboo forests resources deteriorate and pose unprecedented challenges. The employees cut down a total of 16 bamboo trees and effectively reused the bamboo by making vases, pen holders, chopsticks, and other handicrafts from the bamboo they cut down.

Employees volunteered to clear undergrowth during their lunch break at our biotope. Undergrowth clearance aims to cut back weeds and seedlings to promote and conserve the growth of target species. This time, we cut "Azumanezasa" (species of bamboo grass). This bamboo grass needed to be removed since if neglected, it would spread all over the area and make it difficult for other flora and fauna to grow in their natural habitat. With the guidance of our biotope manager, the employees were able to understand the value of biodiversity and the importance of protecting ecosystems through the undergrowth clearance.

52 employees participated in volunteer activities at two Active Ageing Centers located near our office. Participants were divided into six groups and spent a heartwarming time together while enjoying fun memory quizzes and musical performances with approximately 90 elderlies aged between 60 to 95. The games and performances brought a lot of laughter and smiles to the elderlies and some of them even mentioned that it was their best day of the year.

Advantest Malaysia collaborated with Mutiara Food Bank and organized a Ramadhan Charity Cookout for the community in need. Mutiara Food Bank is a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) based in Penang, established with the aim of distributing food and meals to the people in need. The employees prepared tomato rice, red sauce chicken, and other dishes using ingredients and kitchen supplies donated by Advantest Malaysia, and packed the meals into 200 boxes, which were then distributed by the Mutiara Food Bank to families in need. Through this activity, employees were able to support and contribute to the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goal 2, which is about creating a world free of hunger by 2030.

With the aim of providing a leisure opportunity for the visually impaired, 12 employees volunteered to participate in the fishing experience event and assisted the visually impaired. One volunteer was assigned to each visually impaired participant, who helped inserting baits and removing the hook when a fish was caught, allowing those who cannot see to enjoy the experience. The cost of this activity, KRW 6,000,000, was reimbursed by the Company.

Volunteers partnered with Habitat for Humanity East Bay/Silicon Valley, an international NGO that supports housing construction, to build playhouses for the local community/family in need. Employees and their children participated in the project, cutting and attaching shingles onto the roof, doing woot cutouts, and painting to add artwork to the two playhouses, which were given to families in need. The recipient families sent thank you messages, saying that their children loved them so much that they played in them every day.

Advantest Italia S.r.l. donated EUR 5.000 to the foundation and relief organization “Specchio d'Italia” to support the victims of flooding caused by the torrential rains in May 2023 in the Emilia-Romagna region, northern Italy. The funds donated contributed towards humanitarian aid, including emergency relief supplies, shelter assistance, and community rebuilding initiatives. The donation recipient sent a letter of thanks to our Italian office.

On December 19, 2023, we prompted donated 260 sleeping bags in response to the urgent assistance appeal from the government and society of the disaster-stricken Jishishan County, Gansu Province. Thanks to our prompt shipment with priority, the sleeping bags arrived at the site on December 25 and were used to help set up temporary shelters and provide protection for affected residents.

In the early 2010s, the Japanese semiconductor industry was in decline due to a long period of stagnant performance. Students were being discouraged from undertaking electronics and engineering studies and finding employment in semiconductor-related companies. Facing this reality, Advantest realized that unless we could build a foundation and acquire human capital for the continued growth of the semiconductor industry, it would be difficult for us to sustain our own growth. That aim drives our support for the Power Device Enabling Association (PDEA)which was established in 2012 in anticipation of growing demand for power devices*, from the conceptual stage, and we have been working with car manufacturers, electronic device manufacturers, semiconductor manufactures, and public organizations under the auspices of the PDEA over the past 10 years.

When the PDEA launched its“ Semiconductor Engineer Career Certification ” in 2014, we published “Measuring × Understanding Semiconductor,” a series of three textbooks that enables comprehensive study of semiconductor fundamentals, development, manufacturing, testing, and quality assurance, to support people preparing for this examination. Although these materials were mainly aimed at engineers involved in semiconductor design, manufacturing, testing, quality assurance, in recent years, demand from learners in their 20s and 30s is increasing on account of changes in the semiconductor industry environment. The textbooks have also been adopted in special curricula at technical high schools and technical colleges in Kumamoto Prefecture, as well as in the education of new employees at major device manufacturers. Furthermore, these educational materials may enjoy even wider adoption in future, as evidenced by the joint seminars held using “Measuring × Understanding Semiconductor” in cooperation with affiliated organizations such as SEMI Japan, Kitakyushu Foundation for the Advancement of Industry, Science and Technology (FAIS), and Oita LSI Cluster Promotion Council.

Advantest will continue to focus on developing future talent with the aim of continuously developing and building a foundation for the semiconductor industry.

We held our first programming classes for 6th graders at two elementary schools near our office. On the day of the programming class, using a mouse-shaped robot developed by our training representatives, the students completed a program in which a sensor causes the robot to stop in front of a wall. Through these fun-filled classes, our employees were able to contribute to next-generation education.

We designed an educational camp for English and science for a remote elementary school in Hsin-Chu, with a total of 30 students. In the English class, we taught the students how to order food. At lunch time, we served the same dishes as those used in the class and the children were very pleased with the program. In the science class, we offered a DIY experience where children enjoyed learning about "non-Newtonian fluids”. The elementary school later presented us with a letter of appreciation for our educational support activities.

We have installed an interactive globe at Advantest's Gunma R&D Center, displaying real-time Earth data, for use in environmental education for children who, we believe, are the generations that will bear the responsibility of shaping the world's future, our employees, and our stakeholders. This tool not only allows us to learn about global atmospheric temperature changes, but also about the past, present, and future of the Earth.
In FY2022, this globe was also set up in the ESG corner of our booth at SEMICON Japan, a premier international exhibition offering latest insights into semiconductor manufacturing equipment and materials. It was well received by our visitors and provided an opportunity to discuss various social issues such as climate change. Likewise, we used the globe for environmental learning during the training of new employees in FY2023, following on from FY2022. We will continue to make effective use of this tool for environmental learning for a wide range of our stakeholders.

In addition to science classes for elementary school students, Advantest has also participated in the "EduTown SDGs Alliance" (produced by Nikkei Business Publications and TREE / operated by Tokyo Shoseki) project since fiscal 2021, which provides education on the SDGs to elementary and junior high school students.
The "EduTown SDGs Alliance" is a project that supports the development of creators of a sustainable society, and has created and operates the educational website "EduTown SDGs" as well as freely distributes supplementary materials (booklet).

Under the theme of "Social Contribution", Advantest (China) Co., Ltd. has been offering a program for universities, called “University Education Plan” since 2018. The program aims to strengthen the collaboration with universities and research institutions on talent development in the IC industry, especially in the field of IC testing. The program has been successfully implemented for the past several years and has brought IC test knowledge to thousands of students in universities.

In 2023, the program took a giant leap forward, after the pandemic. We invited a group of university faculty to our office to convince them how training with the CloudTesting™ Service (CTS) platform is suitable for university education. We hosted a seminar with over 30 faculty/professors from 26 universities to share their thoughts and plans for industry-university collaboration. We also visited over 10 universities to share our knowledge of IC testing with more than 900 students.

We are committed to fulfilling our social responsibility as a leading company in the industry and we believe these efforts will contribute to the realization of a more sustainable society. We plan to introduce more CTS systems and establish highly efficient working models so that we can collaborate with more universities in the future.

As part of our activities to support Ukrainian refugees, Advantest Europe GmbH decided to donate EUR 5,000 to Kindernothilfe e.V., a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in Duisburg that has been helping disadvantaged girls and boys and their families around the world. The goal of the donation was to provide a year's supply of medication for young refugees living in the Ukrainian shelters. The donation was handed over by local Advantest employees at the local Kindernothilfe e.V. office in Duisburg.

We held our annual raffle of retired IT equipment (laptops, smartphones, etc.) and raised a total of EUR 9,900. The money was distributed among eight charities (organizations for premature babies, those with severe disabilities, animal shelters, those dedicated to children, etc.) selected by the works councils.