Global tech giants NVIDIA, Fujifilm and Panasonic and key Apple suppliers BOE and Luxshare Precision Industry are among dozens of firms putting the lives and livelihoods of supply chain workers at risk by failing to meet even the most basic expectations of human rights due diligence, a new report published today reveals.

Only three out of 45 of the world’s biggest ICT companies scored over 50/100 for addressing forced labour risks and impacts in their supply chains, and the average score was just 20/100, the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre found.

The analysis comes from our KnowTheChain ICT Benchmark 2025, a critical tool for businesses and investors to identify and assess forced labour risks and impacts in supply chains using a range of indicators including: recruitment, purchasing and monitoring practices, and workers’ rights to organise.

Key headline findings from the Benchmark include:

- Across all 45 companies, the average score was just 20/100, showing how most struggle to meet even the most basic expectations of human rights due diligence

- Almost half (20) of firms scored less than 15/100 including BOE (0), SMIC (3), Luxshare Precision Industry (4), Broadcom and Infineon Technologies (both 8), FujiFilm (9), Panasonic (10), NVIDIA (11), Texas Instruments (12), Motorola and Canon (both 13), and Qualcomm (14).

- Only three scored over 50 - Samsung Electronics (61), Hewlett Packard Enterprise (53) and Cisco Systems (51).

- 93% of companies scored zero for supporting freedom of association.

- Purchasing practices (5/100) and Enabling Workers’ Rights (5/100) are the areas where companies performed worst.

- ‘Just-in-Time’ production models widely used in the sector create a greater risk of abuse to workers.

- Taiwan produces 90% of the world’s advanced chips meaning that protecting its vast migrant workforce from heightened forced labour risks such as illegal recruitment fees and contract deception, is even more crucial to the stability of the global tech industry.

- Two thirds disclosed how they conduct human rights risk assessments on their supply chains but just one in five gave examples of engaging with stakeholders to assess risks showing little evidence of commitment to worker-centric models of risk identification.

Áine Clarke, Head of KnowTheChain and Investor Strategy at the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre said: ‘The ICT sector continues to neglect its responsibility to uphold worker rights across supply chains and underperforms on key issues like support for freedom of association. It must step up its efforts to root out forced labour in supply chains as a matter of urgency.

‘The benchmark findings on corporate human rights due diligence are particularly concerning as most electronics manufacturing is done in jurisdictions that pose heightened risk of forced labour notably including China, Taiwan and Malaysia where human rights risks are well documented.

‘While many companies are adept at disclosing human rights policies, there is little evidence these commitments are being implemented in practice or having an effect on workers on the ground. The identified and widening gap between corporate commitments and their implementation means workers continue to be at risk of exploitation

‘Paper promises are not enough to meet growing legal and stakeholder expectations. ‘Businesses must engage directly with rightsholders and move beyond a tick-box attitude to due diligence.’

With Europe introducing mandatory human rights due diligence laws and growing investor scrutiny on supply chain ethics, KnowTheChain is calling on business leaders and supply chain and recruitment professionals to take immediate action by:

• Ensuring full risk based human rights due diligence across their entire supply chains.
• Employing robust and ethical governance, purchasing and recruitment practices.
• Engaging with unions and other appropriate worker representative groups to uphold labour rights and prevent exploitation.
• Using upcoming human rights due diligence laws as a floor to due diligence practices to mitigate risks to supply chain workers.

The business case is clear: companies that fail to address forced labour risks not only harm workers in already precarious conditions, but also risk losing their social license to operate, amid a raft of new legislation and consumer expectations of ethical business. Investors in turn must take an active role in holding ICT firms accountable, ensuring that human rights violations do not become material risks in their portfolios.

To see the full KnowTheChain ICT Benchmark 2025 briefing click here

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For more information or to arrange an interview please contact: Anil Dawar, media officer, Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, +44 (0) 7766 317 434, dawar@business-humanrights.org

Note to editors:
Methodology: Research was conducted from June 2024 to December 2024. KnowTheChain invited all benchmarked companies to introductory webinars and offered them the opportunity to review the initial research findings and disclose additional information which KTC then evaluated.

KnowTheChain is a project from the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre providing companies and investors with the resources to address forced labour in global supply chains. To visit the KnowTheChain website click here.

The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre is an international NGO that tracks the human rights impacts of companies across the globe.
https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/