Item 1A. Risk FactorsOur operations and financial results are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including those described in the Risk Factors sections in our Annual Report and this Quarterly Report, that could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows, liquidity, revenue, growth, prospects, demand, reputation, and the trading price of our common stock, and make an investment in us speculative or risky. We have updated two three of the risk factors since our Annual Report, as set forth in our Quarterly Report Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period quarters ended March 31, 2026 and June 30, 2026 and below. The risks described in our Annual Report and this Quarterly Report do not include all of the risks that we face, and there may be additional risks or uncertainties that are currently unknown or not believed to be material that occur or become material.
Uncertainty in the global economy and instability within international relations, including changes in governmental policies relating to technology, may negatively affect our business and reduce our bookings levels and revenue.
Uncertainty caused by challenging global political and economic conditions, including inflation, interest rates, bank failures, government deficit concerns, government shutdowns or political stalemates, geopolitical conflicts and other adverse changes to international relationships among countries in which we or our customers operate or do business, protectionist measures or decline in corporate or consumer spending could negatively impact our customers businesses, reducing the number of new chip designs and their overall research and development spending, including their spending on our products and services, and as a result decrease demand for our products and services. Adverse developments that affect financial institutions, transactional counterparties or other third parties, such as bank failures and failure by the U.S. Congress to increase the U.S. federal debt ceiling on a timely basis, or concerns or speculation about any similar events or risks, have led and could lead to further credit downgrades and market-wide liquidity problems, which in turn may cause customers and other third parties to become unable to meet their obligations under various types of financial arrangements as well as general disruptions or instability in the financial markets. Public health emergencies and reactionary measures by governments and businesses have also had, and could in the future have, the effect of curtailing economic activity and causing substantial volatility and disruption in global markets. Decreased bookings for our products and services, customer bankruptcies, consolidation among our customers, or problems or delays with our hardware suppliers or with the supply or delivery of our hardware products could also adversely affect our ability to grow our business or adversely affect our future revenue and financial results.
Tensions are rising around the world, and there are a number of ongoing armed conflicts, including in Iran, other parts of the Middle East and Ukraine. There is inherent risk, based on the complex relationships between certain countries and within regions, that political, diplomatic or military events could result in trade disruptions and other disruptions in the markets and industries we serve and our supply chain. A significant disruption in any area where we or our customers operate or do business or that is critical to our or their supply chain could reduce customer demand, make our products and services more expensive or unavailable for customers, increase the cost of our products and services, have a negative impact on customer spending, make our products less competitive, or otherwise have a materially adverse impact on our future revenue and profits, our customers and suppliers businesses, and our results of operations. In addition, there is currently significant uncertainty in the global economy and the future relationship among the United States and various other countries, caused by increased geopolitical instabilities and changes in global trade policies. For example, the ongoing geopolitical and economic uncertainty between the United States and China, where we conduct business and have derived a substantial percentage of our revenue, the unknown impact of current and future U.S. and Chinese trade regulations, including tariffs and other trade restrictions, and geopolitical risks with respect to Taiwan, which serves as a central hub for the technology industry supply chain, could, directly or indirectly, materially harm our business, financial condition and results of operations. Similarly, many of our suppliers, vendors and other entities with whom we do business have strong ties to doing business in China and other countries impacted by recent tariffs and other trade restrictions. Their ability to supply materials to us, buy products or services from us, or otherwise work with us is affected by their ability to do business in impacted countries. Moreover, these tariffs and any other trade restrictions imposed on our suppliers could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations through reduced demand for our products and services, cancelled orders, supply chain disruptions, increased transaction costs and increased expenses.
Our future business and financial results, including demand for our products and services, are subject to considerable uncertainties that could impact our stock price. Further, political or economic conflicts between various global actors, and responsive measures that have been or could be taken, have created and can further create significant global economic uncertainty that could prolong or expand such conflicts, which could have a lasting impact on regional and global economies and harm our business and operating results.
We are subject to governmental export and import controls that subject us to liability and impair our ability to compete in global markets as well as a variety of other laws and regulations.
We must comply with the import and export restrictions and regulations and economic sanctions laws of the United States and of certain other countries in selling, providing or shipping our products and transferring our technology outside the United States, to foreign nationals (including foreign nationals within the United States) or across borders. Changes in our products or services, or changes in and continued expansion of these laws and regulations, including new or increased tariffs, trade protection measures, sanctions, trade embargoes and other trade barriers, may create delays in the introduction of our products or services into international markets and prevent our customers from deploying our products or services. In some cases, such changes have prevented and may further prevent the export or import of our products or services to certain countries, governments or persons altogether, or may result in increased costs for us, which could reduce our competitiveness, or for our customers, which could affect their purchasing behaviors. Any decreased use of our products or services or limitation on our ability to export to or sell our products or services in international markets would likely harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.
For example, U.S. trade control laws and regulations have been amended over the past several years, including through the imposition of certain export control restrictions concerning advanced node IC production in China, the inclusion of additional Chinese technology companies on BIS Entity List and regulations governing the sale and export of certain technologies. If a customer was added to the Entity List or became subject to new or expanded trade restrictions, it could have a negative effect on our ability to sell products and provide services to these customers. In addition, the issuance of new or expanded trade restrictions, such as the continued expansion of the military end-user and military end-use rule, the foreign-direct product rules, or any other rule that prevents or places restrictions on a class of commodities, software or technology from export or re-export to any specific country or countries without a license, could increase our costs or expenses.
In addition, as previously disclosed, on May 23, 2025, BIS informed us that a license was required for the export, re-export or in-country transfer of EDA Software and Technology when a party to the transaction is located in China or is a Chinese "military end user" on the "Military End-User List," wherever located. On July 2, 2025, BIS informed us that the license requirements set forth in the May 23, 2025 letter from BIS were rescinded effective immediately. While we have since restored access to EDA Software and Technology for affected customers in accordance with these updated U.S. export regulations, the temporary license requirements negatively impacted our revenue in China during this period. However, in light of continued negotiations between the United States and China, the United States may consider reimposing these or additional restrictions on the export, re-export or in-country transfer of EDA Software and Technology or our other products and services in China in the future.
Anticipated or actual changes in trade restrictions could also affect customer purchasing behaviors. Entity List restrictions and other trade restrictions may also encourage customers to seek substitute products from our competitors, including a growing class of foreign competitors and open source alternatives, that are not subject to these restrictions or to develop their own solutions, thereby decreasing our long-term competitiveness. In particular, Chinas stated national policy to be a global leader in all segments of the semiconductor industry by 2030 has resulted in and may continue to cause increased competitive capability in China. In addition, although customers on the Entity List are not prohibited from paying (and we are not restricted from collecting) for products we previously delivered to them (in compliance with applicable law), the credit risks associated with outstanding receivables from customers on the Entity List including receivables from anti-piracy enforcement efforts and litigation settlements and other trade restrictions could increase.
We cannot predict whether or when any additional changes will be made that eliminate or decrease these limitations on our ability to sell products and provide services to these Entity List customers or other customers impacted by other trade restrictions. We are unable to predict the duration of the export restrictions imposed with respect to any particular customer, technology, country or region or the long-term effects on our business or our customers businesses. For example, effective September 29, 2025, BIS issued an interim final rule that extended the export restrictions imposed on entities identified on the Entity List or the Military End-User List and certain other sanctioned parties, to entities that are 50% or more owned by one or more of such entities. However, BIS subsequently suspended the rule for one year, through November 9, 2026. In September 2026, the United States and China announced an extension of their trade arrangements through January 10, 2027, which is expected to extend the suspension; however, as of the date of this Quarterly Report, BIS has not formally extended the suspension. In addition, there may be indirect impacts to our business which we cannot reasonably quantify, including that certain restrictions, even if not directly applicable to us, may impact our customers' products which may have an adverse effect on demand for our products, or that a country-specific export control may limit or prevent our employees who are nationals of the restricted country from performing their duties unless a license can be obtained. Additionally, our business may also be impacted by other trade restrictions that may be imposed by the United States, China or other countries. For example, the United States and other global actors have imposed economic sanctions on Russia and other entities and individuals as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and conflicts in the Middle East. New or increased tariffs and other changes in U.S. trade policy, including new sanctions, have triggered and could continue to trigger retaliatory actions by affected countries. For instance, the United States has increased use of Section 232 trade authorities to impose tariffs on certain commodities, including certain articles of steel, aluminum and copper. In response to these and other U.S. measures, China and other countries have taken a range of retaliatory measures. These include the imposition of retaliatory tariffs on certain U.S.-origin goods; the implementation of new export controls by China on various critical minerals, including rare earth metals; the scheduling of further retaliatory tariff measures; and other actions that may affect us directly or indirectly. The Chinese government has also responded to U.S. actions by adding U.S. companies to an unreliable entity list, which limits the ability of listed companies to engage in business with Chinese customers.
Failure to obtain import, export or re-export licenses or permits when required or restrictions on trade imposed by the United States or other countries could harm our business by rendering us unable to sell or ship products and transfer our technology outside of the United States or across borders. Delays, uncertainty or an inability to obtain required export licenses in a timely manner, including as a result of government processing backlogs or policy changes, could cause delays in scheduled shipments and may impact our business and customer relationships. In addition, if our customers fail to obtain appropriate import, export or re-export licenses or permits for re-sale of our products, we may also be adversely affected through reputational harm and penalties and may not be able to provide support related to those items. Although we have implemented risk-based policies and procedures that are reasonably designed to comply with all applicable trade restrictions, from time to time we and governmental authorities inquire into particular transactions.
Specifically, as previously disclosed, on July 27, 2025, we reached a settlement with each of BIS and the U.S. Department of Justice ("DOJ") that resolved matters relating to export control violations that occurred between 2015 and 2021 primarily involving sales initiated by a Cadence subsidiary of products and services valued at $45.3 million in total over that period to a customer in China, as well as the subsequent transfer of technology involved in those sales to a third party in China, without the requisite authorization from BIS. As part of the settlements, we entered into a plea agreement with the DOJ pursuant to which we agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit export controls violations. The plea agreement has a three-year probationary term and includes obligations to implement additional export compliance programs and policies, including ongoing reporting and certification requirements and risk assessments, as well as obligations to cooperate in any ongoing or future investigations. In addition, we have entered into an administrative settlement agreement with BIS. Obligations under the administrative settlement agreement include two internal annual audits of our export compliance programs. Compliance with the administrative settlement agreement is a condition to our continued ability to export products. Under the agreements, we paid BIS and the DOJ aggregate net penalties and forfeitures of $140.6 million during the three months ended September 30, 2025.
Failure to comply with the terms of the plea agreement, the administrative settlement agreement or our probation could result in further criminal, civil, or administrative proceedings or denial of export privileges. Such failure or any resulting further government action could materially and adversely affect our reputation, business, financial condition and results of operations. Further, our ongoing obligations under these agreements will generally apply to any new business entities we acquire, which could limit our ability to acquire new businesses that may be strategically important to us, and our continued acquisition and integration of other businesses could increase our risk of a violation. Our ongoing obligations under these agreements will also generally apply to any purchaser of our company or our material business operations, which could deter a potential acquisition of our company. In addition, political, media or other scrutiny surrounding these matters or their outcome could cause significant expense and reputational harm and distract senior executives from managing normal day-to-day operations. Entry into the settlements, including the plea agreement and the administrative settlement agreement, exposes us and our directors, officers and employees to further inquiries or other actions by other governmental authorities, including in China, which could materially and adversely affect our ability to operate and do business in China. We could also face challenges in our future business dealings with government agencies, including the potential for debarment from U.S. government contracts. Any of the foregoing could further materially and adversely affect our reputation, business, financial condition and results of operations.
The laws and policies of the United States and other countries in this area are evolving and changing, and we have experienced and may continue to experience challenges in complying with new rules as they become effective. The application and interpretation of these laws and policies can also be uncertain and change over time, and we may need to adjust our policies and procedures accordingly. In addition to the matters described above, any further failure or alleged failure to comply with these laws and policies could have negative consequences, including significant legal costs, government investigations, penalties, denial of export privileges and debarment from participation in U.S. government contracts, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business, financial condition and results of operations.
In addition to trade control laws, our global operations are subject to numerous U.S. and foreign laws and regulations, including those related to anti-corruption, anti-bribery, tax, corporate governance, financial and other disclosures, competition, antitrust, data privacy, data protection, cybersecurity and employment. These laws and regulations are complex and may have differing or conflicting legal standards, making compliance difficult and costly, and changes to these laws, or their interpretations, may require us to make significant changes to our business operations that may adversely affect our business overall. The policies and procedures we have implemented to assist our compliance with these laws and regulations do not provide complete assurance that our employees, contractors, agents or partners will not violate such laws and regulations. Any violation individually or in the aggregate could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business, financial condition and results of operations. For more information about the import and export restrictions and regulations that we may be subject to, see Governmental RegulationsTrade under Item 1 of Part I of our Annual Report.
Cyberattacks that compromise the confidentiality, integrity or availability of our or our third-party providers' information technology systems or confidential information could materially harm our reputation, business, financial condition and results of operations.
We rely on hardware, software, digital infrastructure and computing networks for both internal and customer-facing operations that are critical to our business (collectively, IT Systems). We own and manage certain IT Systems but also rely on third parties for IT Systems and related products and services, including cloud computing. In addition, we and certain third-party providers collect, maintain and process data about our customers, employees, business partners and others, including information that relates to individuals and/or constitutes personal data, personal information, "personally identifiable information" or similar terms under applicable data privacy laws (collectively Personal Information), as well as proprietary data such as trade secrets (together with Personal Information, Confidential Information).
We face numerous, evolving cybersecurity risks that threaten the confidentiality, integrity and availability of our IT Systems, Confidential Information, products and services, including from diverse threat actors, such as state-sponsored organizations, opportunistic hackers and malicious insiders, as well as through diverse attack vectors, such as social engineering (including phishing), malware (including ransomware) and denial-of-service attacks, and due to human or technological error, such as misconfigurations, bugs or other vulnerabilities in software or hardware. Additionally, advances in technology, an increased level of sophistication and expertise of hackers, widespread access to generative AI, and new discoveries in the field of cryptography increase the risk of significant compromises or breaches of our IT Systems or security measures implemented to protect our systems. From time to time, we and certain of our third-party service providers experience varying degrees of cyberattacks and other security incidents. Any such incidents could compromise our or our providers' IT Systems, which could cause system disruptions or slowdowns and lead to the Confidential Information stored on our or third-party systems being accessed, publicly disclosed, lost or stolen. Any actual or perceived unauthorized access to or disclosure to of our Confidential Information poses significant risk to our business as it could result in reputational and financial harm and further subject us to liability to our customers, suppliers, business partners and others. For example, as described in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended March 31, 2026, we learned that a threat actor obtained a limited amount of Confidential Information from certain of our IT systems including a limited amount of test files, configuration setting files and source code files which are not material to our business. We notified law enforcement, and we believe that the incident was contained. There was no operational disruption, and customer environments were not impacted.
Cyberattacks are expected to accelerate on a global basis in frequency and magnitude as threat actors are becoming increasingly sophisticated in using techniques and tools including AI that circumvent security controls, evade detection and remove forensic evidence. Techniques used to obtain unauthorized access or to sabotage information systems change frequently and include zero-day software vulnerabilities that are unknown until exploited by threat actors. As a result, we may be unable to promptly or effectively detect, investigate, remediate or recover from future attacks or incidents, or to avoid a material adverse impact to our IT Systems, Confidential Information or business. Furthermore, state-supported and geopolitical-related cyberattacks against companies such as ours may increase due to geopolitical conditions. A cyberattack on our IT Systems or IT Systems of one of our third-party providers or customers could result in material adverse impacts due to any or all of the following: compromise to our Cadence Cloud portfolio, which includes both our managed and customer-managed environments, and our data centers and those of our customers and end users; corruption or stealing of Confidential Information such as proprietary information related to our (or our customers') business, products, services and infrastructure or Personal Information; manipulation or stealing of financial data and assets; and/or disruption of our systems and services and those of our customers and others. As a result, we could be exposed to a risk of loss or misuse of Confidential Information, loss of financial assets, business interruption, regulatory investigations, litigation and other liabilities and costs.
Because we make extensive use of third-party suppliers and service providers, such as cloud services that support our internal and customer-facing operations, successful cyberattacks that disrupt or result in unauthorized access to third party providers IT Systems, including those that store our Confidential Information, can materially impact our operations and financial results. Moreover, hardware, software or applications we develop or procure from third parties or through open source solutions may contain defects in design or manufacture or other vulnerabilities and are susceptible to compromise. In addition, we have acquired and continue to acquire companies with less sophisticated security measures, and it takes time to align their security practices to meet our information security policies, procedures and controls, which exposes us to increased cybersecurity and other integration risks. There can be no assurance that our cybersecurity risk management strategy, program, policies, processes and controls will be fully implemented, complied with or effective in protecting any systems or information.
An actual or perceived breach of IT Systems or Confidential Information managed by us or a vendor could significantly impact our business through diminished market perception of the effectiveness of our security measures, legal or regulatory actions, substantial fines, penalties and required changes to our business practices, damage to our reputation or our business, loss of existing customers and our ability to obtain new customers (including government customers), significant restoration, remediation and compliance costs, and cause harm to our financial condition. Any or all of the foregoing could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Also, we cannot guarantee that any costs and liabilities incurred in relation to an attack or incident will be covered by our existing insurance policies or that applicable insurance will be available to us in the future on economically reasonable terms or at all.