When we design our products, we start by asking: How do we solve a problem for our customers that will persuade them to buy our products? We also work to minimize the impact our products – and the way we make them – have on the environment. Marketability is important. So is environmental responsibility. We see these as complementary values.

Before production begins, we continuously seek to reduce, eliminate or substitute more benign chemicals in place of those that pose a risk. This enables both our company and our customers to meet and exceed stringent chemical use guidelines. In many cases, we also can custom-manufacture products that meet customers' specific needs depending on the nature of their production systems or their green product criteria.

As an industry leader in providing digital and analog solutions with low power consumption and greater energy efficiency, TI's innovations enable our customers to meet and exceed stringent energy guidelines.

For example, our power management chips and digital power technologies improve the reliability of power supplies by enabling our customers to design systems that lose less energy from the power source to the product or device. These savings result in reduced cooling requirements, extended life spans, improved reliability through failure prediction and more precise performance.

Clean and renewable power sources like wind and solar also benefit from TI's experience in power management. Our products are used among the key electronics in solar power systems, including inverters, which convert electricity from the panels into a usable household voltage. These high-performance inverters enable maximum system efficiency during all weather conditions, including cloudy days.

TI finished integrated circuits (IC) that are "Pb-free" meet current environmental laws, including the EU's RoHS Directive. Addressing environmental concerns beyond what's legally required, TI's "green" defined IC products meet the Pb-free requirements and are bromine-free and antimony-free (do not exceed 0.1 percent by weight of homogeneous material). We completed the majority of our conversion to green compounds at the end of 2005 and continue to convert more today. Additionally, we do not supply integrated circuit components that use a mold compound containing inorganic (red) phosphorous as an alternative flame-retardant system.