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Latest 10-Q filed 11/12/2025 · Compared against 8/6/2025
Risk-factor words are +321.0% above peer average (27,157 vs 6,450 across 445 peers).
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ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS.
A description of the risks and uncertainties associated with our business is set forth below. You should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described below, together with all of the other information in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, including the section titled Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations and our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements and related notes. Our business, results of operations, financial condition, and prospects could also be harmed by risks and uncertainties not currently known to us or that we currently do not believe to be material. If any of the risks actually occur, our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects could be harmed. In that event, the market price of our common stock could decline, and you could lose part or all of your investment.
Risk Factor Summary
We face significant competition from larger companies as well as from third-party providers who may deploy their resources to develop IP solutions internally.
Our operating results are subject to significant fluctuations and, as a result, period-to-period comparisons of our results of operations are not necessarily meaningful and should not be relied upon as indicators of future performance.
Our interim results of operations may be difficult to predict as a result of seasonality.
Substantial, prolonged economic downturns and softening demand in key industrial sectors and in major economic regions in which we operate, including China, have resulted and may continue to result in reduced software solutions sales and lower revenue growth.
The success of our business depends on sustaining or growing our software license revenue and our maintenance and service revenue and the failure to increase such revenue would lead to a material decline in our results of operations.
We also depend on growth in the semiconductor and photonics industries and in the end markets that use our products. Any slowdown in the growth of these industries and end markets could harm our business.
If we are unable to deliver new and innovative software solutions or software license enhancements ahead of rapid technological changes in the market, our revenues could be materially adversely affected.
We may have to invest more resources in research and development than anticipated, which could increase our operating expenses and negatively affect our operating results.
Our international sales and operations constitute a substantial portion of our revenue and business operations and could be negatively affected by disruptions in international geographies caused by government actions, trade disputes, direct or indirect acts of war or terrorism, international political or economic instability or other similar events.
A substantial portion of our revenue comes from our international sales channels, and we have significant operations in numerous international geographies. As such, any adverse fluctuations in exchange rates could adversely affect our performance.
If we are unable to protect our proprietary technology and inventions through patents and other intellectual property rights, our ability to compete successfully and our financial results could be adversely impacted.
Our success depends on the interoperability of our software solutions with our customers intended use cases and with products and services of other companies, including our competitors.
If our information technology systems, or those of third parties upon which we rely, or our data are or were compromised, we could experience adverse consequences resulting from such compromise, including but not limited to, regulatory investigations or actions, litigation, fines and penalties, disruptions of our business operations, reputational harm, loss of revenue or profits, and other adverse consequences.
Adverse developments affecting the financial services industry could adversely affect our liquidity, financial condition and results of operations, either directly or through adverse impacts on certain of our vendors and customers.
We may not realize the anticipated benefits of our acquisitions or investments, our business could be disrupted because of acquisitions or investments and, depending on how we finance such acquisitions, we could use significant amounts of cash.
We may not be able to continue to obtain licenses to third-party software and intellectual property on reasonable terms or at all, which may disrupt our business and harm our financial results.
Any dispute regarding our intellectual property may require us to indemnify customers, the cost of which could harm our business.
As long as we are a controlled company, your ability to influence matters requiring stockholder approval will be limited, and the interests of our controlling shareholder may conflict with or differ from your interests as a stockholder.
Pending or future investigations or litigation could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and our stock price.
We have experienced a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting in the past. If we experience material weaknesses in the future or otherwise fail to maintain an effective system of internal controls in the future, we may not be able to report our financial condition or results of operations accurately or on a timely basis, prevent fraud or file our periodic reports in a timely manner and may incur additional costs to remediate, all of which may adversely affect investor confidence in us and our reported financial information and, as a result, the value of our common stock.
Risks Related to Our Business and Industry
We face significant competition from larger companies as well as from third-party providers who may deploy their resources to develop IP solutions internally.
We are engaged in a competitive segment of the global semiconductor and photonics industries. Our competitive landscape is characterized by competition from companies that have significantly greater resources than us. A variety of factors could adversely impact our ability to compete, including rapid technological change in our software solution design, customers that make purchase decisions based on a mix of factors of varying importance and continuous declines in average selling prices of our software solutions. We compete principally on the basis of technology, license quality and features, license terms, compatibility, reliability, interoperability among products and price and payment terms.
We compete against larger companies including Synopsys, Inc., Ansys, Inc., Coventor, Inc., a Lam Research company, Cadence Design Systems, Inc., Siemens EDA, Arm Limited, and CEVA, Inc. Such companies have greater name recognition than us and possess substantial financial, technical, research and development and engineering resources that can be deployed so they can develop competing TCAD, EDA and SIP solutions. Varying combinations of these resources provide advantages to these competitors that enable them to influence industry trends and the pace at which industries adapt to these trends. A strong competitive response from one or more of our competitors to our marketplace efforts, or a shift in customer preferences to competitors products, could result in increased pressure to lower our prices more rapidly than anticipated, increased selling and marketing expense, and/or market share loss. The consolidation of our competitors or collaboration among our competitors to deliver more comprehensive offerings than they could prior to consolidation may also impact our ability to compete effectively. In addition, new market entrants with novel technology could change the competitive landscape, potentially resulting in reduced market share, additional pressure to lower prices, or further increases in selling and marketing expense. To the extent our revenue is negatively impacted by competitive pressures and reduced pricing, our business could be harmed.
In addition, our ability to compete in our market is subject to a variety of factors, many of which are beyond our control. In particular, any of the below factors could significantly affect our ability to compete and could harm our business:
Our ability to anticipate and lead critical software solution development cycles and technological shifts as driven by our target markets, to innovate rapidly and efficiently and to improve our existing solutions;
Decisions by semiconductor companies and/or OEMs to develop IP internally, rather than license IP from outside vendors due to strategic changes, enhanced internal capability, budget constraints or excess engineering capacity;
Our ability to maintain and improve upon our current research and development collaboration agreements;
Whether any competitor substantially increases its engineering and marketing resources to compete with our software solutions;
The challenges of developing, or acquiring externally developed, technology solutions that are adequate and competitive in meeting the rapidly evolving requirements of next-generation design challenges;
Our ability to expand into established market segments;
Our ability to compete on the basis of payment terms; and
The potential effects of geopolitical conflicts, such as the ongoing trade disputes between the United States and China and Russias invasion of Ukraine, including retaliatory and regulatory actions, on purchasing, development, sales and innovation responses and trends in response to such conflicts.
We may also be unable to reduce the cost of our software solutions sufficiently to enable us to compete with our competitors or other third-party providers who may deploy their resources to develop IP solutions internally. Our cost reduction efforts may not allow us to keep pace with competitive pricing pressures and could adversely affect our gross margins. To the extent we are unable to reduce the prices of our software solutions and remain competitive, our revenue will likely decline, resulting in further pressure on our gross margins, which could harm our business.
Our operating results are subject to significant fluctuations and, as a result, period-to-period comparisons of our results of operations are not necessarily meaningful and should not be relied upon as indicators of future performance.
The majority of our software license revenue is treated as point in time revenue at the start of the license period, so past revenue may not be indicative of the amount of revenue in any future period. Significant portions of our anticipated future revenue, therefore, will likely depend upon our success in attracting new customers or continuing or expanding our relationships with existing customers. However, revenue recognized from licensing arrangements can vary significantly from period to period, depending largely on bookings recorded during a quarter as well as the timing of the receipt of purchase orders, and is difficult to predict. Revenue that we anticipate will be recognized in a given quarter may end up being recognized in subsequent quarters as a result of the timing of the booking, the specifics of the licensing arrangements or other factors. For example, in the third quarter of 2024, we expected to receive a significant purchase order of approximately $5.0 million but the purchase order was not received until the first week of the fourth quarter. As a result, we did not recognize any revenues from that purchase order in the third quarter of 2024. In addition, as we expand our business into new markets, our licensing contracts may be smaller in volume but greater in value, which may result in further fluctuations in our software license revenue quarter to quarter. Our ability to succeed in our licensing efforts will depend on a variety of factors, including the market positioning, performance, quality, breadth and depth of our current and future IP and solutions as well as our sales and marketing success. Our failure to obtain future licensing customers would impede our future revenue growth and could materially harm our business.
Additionally, fluctuations may be caused by many other factors, including the timing of new software license releases or enhancements by us or our competitors, the license mix and timing of bookings and TBL renewals, software bugs or defects or other software solution quality problems, competition and pricing changes, customer booking or renewal deferrals in anticipation of new software solutions or enhancements, changes in demand for our software solutions, changes in operating expenses, changes in the mix of software license and maintenance and service revenue, timing of our collection of cash, personnel changes and general economic conditions.
Further, we and our customers are affected by general business and economic conditions in the United States and globally. These conditions include short-term and long-term interest rates, inflation, money supply, political issues, legislative and regulatory changes, including the imposition of new tariffs affecting our or our customers products and services, fluctuations in both debt and equity capital markets and broad trends in industry and finance, all of which are beyond our control. There recently have been significant changes to U.S. trade policies, sanctions, legislation, treaties and tariffs, including, but not limited to, trade policies and tariffs affecting products outside of the U.S., and the current presidential administration has announced significant new tariffs on foreign imports into the U.S, some of which have subsequently been invalidated by courts. The extent and duration of increased tariffs and the resulting impact on general economic conditions and on our business are uncertain and depend on various factors, such as negotiations between the U.S. and affected countries, the responses of other countries or regions, ancourt decisions regarding the legality of the tariffs, and exemptions or exclusions that may be granted. Adverse changes in general domestic and global economic conditions that may occur in the future, including any recession, economic slowdown or disruption of credit markets, may lead to lower demand for products that incorporate our solutions. Even in the absence of tariffs, the related uncertainty and the market's fears relating to international trade may lead to continuing volatility in U.S. and global financial and economic conditions and commodity markets, declining consumer confidence, significant inflation and diminished expectations for the economy. Macroeconomic conditions that affect the economy and the economic outlook of the United States and the rest of the world, including inflation and changes in currency valuations, could adversely affect us, our customers and vendors, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
As a result of these and other factors, you should not rely on the results of any prior interim or annual periods, or any historical trends reflected in such results, as indications of our future revenue or operating performance. Fluctuations
in our revenue and operating results could cause our stock price to decline and, as a result, you may lose some or all of your investment.
Our interim results of operations may be difficult to predict as a result of seasonality.
Our results of operations have fluctuated significantly as a result of seasonality. For example, new year celebrations in certain countries in Asia, summer holidays in Europe and the United States, and winter holidays globally have, in the past, resulted in a slowdown in demand for our software solutions in affected locations. The impact of this cyclicality on our business is evident in lower bookings, including software license renewals and revenue in the second and third quarters of certain years as compared to first and fourth quarters of that year. The seasonality of our business is also affected by our customers research and development cycles. For example, our bookings generally increase when our customers increase their research and development spend on their next generation products, which we traditionally see occur in the first quarter and last quarter of each year in part due to our customers budgetary cycles. We may also be affected by additional seasonal trends in the future, particularly as our business continues to mature. Such seasonality may result from a number of factors, including a slowdown in our customers procurement process during certain times of the year, both domestically and internationally, and customers choosing to spend remaining budgets shortly before the end of their fiscal years. Seasonality has in the past caused, and may cause in the future, fluctuations in our results of operations and financial metrics, and make forecasting our future results of operations and financial metrics more difficult.
Substantial, prolonged economic downturns in key industrial sectors and in major economic regions in which we operate, including China, may result in reduced software solution sales and lower revenue growth.
Our sales are based significantly on end user demand for our software solutions in the display, power devices, automotive, memory, HPC, IoT, and 5G/6G mobile markets. Many of these markets periodically experience economic declines. These economic declines may be exacerbated by other economic factors, such as the recent increase in global energy prices, and more recently by economic uncertainties as a result of changes in trade policies and the imposition of new tariffs. These economic factors may adversely affect our business by extending sales cycles and reducing revenue.
Our customers supply semiconductor solutions to a wide spectrum of goods and services providers in all major economic regions. Our performance is materially impacted by general economic conditions and the performance of our customers. Our management team forecasts macroeconomic trends and developments and integrates them through long-range planning into budgets, research and development strategies and a wide variety of general management duties. To the extent that our forecasts are overly optimistic or overly pessimistic about the performance of an economy or sector, our performance may be hindered because of a failure to properly match corporate strategy with economic conditions.
Terrorist attacks, war and other increased global hostilities, including the ongoing conflicts between Russia and Ukraine and Israel and its adversaries, Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran, pandemics, including the COVID-19 pandemic, and natural disasters have, at times, contributed to widespread uncertainty and speculation in the semiconductor markets.
During the three and sixnine months ended JuneSeptember 30, 2025, 2816% and 2119% of our revenue was derived from customers in China, respectively. For the comparable periods in 2024, customers in China accounted for 1725% and 147% of our revenue, respectively. China has experienced an eEconomic slowdown, which,s in China hasve adversely impaaffected our revenue derived from China-based operations and, if continued,in prior years and could continue to have an adverse impaly affect on our revenue derived from China-based operations in future periods. Further, geopolitical disruptions among the United States and China could result in the suspension or delay of purchases of our software solutions by our customers in China, which could inhibit our ability to secure similar levels of revenue in the future from such customers or otherwise. See We face risks associated with doing business in China. Similar uncertainties and speculation may result in further economic contraction, resulting in the suspension or delay of purchases of our software solutions by our customers, which could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.
The success of our business depends on sustaining or growing our software license revenue and our maintenance and service revenue and the failure to increase such revenue would lead to a material decline in our results of operations.
Our revenue consists of software license fees and other fees and royalties paid for access to our technologies and other maintenance and services we provide to our customers. Our success at continuing to derive revenue from existing customers requires that we continue to service their needs adequately and provide them with solutions that drive value for them. Our ability to secure and renew the software licenses from which our revenue is derived depends on our customers adopting our solutions and may require us to incur significant expenditures and dedicate
engineering resources to the development or enhancement of our software licenses without assurance that our solutions will be licensed. If we incur such expenditures and fail to secure revenue from such customers, our results of operations may be adversely affected. If we fail to grow our software license revenue, we are likely to consequently
fail to grow our maintenance and service revenue, which would further adversely affect our results of operation. Further, because of the significant costs associated with qualifying new suppliers, customers are likely to use the same or an enhanced version of solution from existing suppliers across a number of similar and successor products for a lengthy period of time. As a result, if we fail to sell our solutions to any particular potential new customer, we may lose the opportunity to make future sales of those solutions to that potential customer for a significant period of time, or at all, and we may experience an associated decline in revenue relating to those products.
We may not be able to maintain or expand sales to our significant customers for a variety of reasons, and our customers can stop incorporating or using our solutions, decline to renew their agreements or terminate their agreements, often with limited notice to us and often with little or no penalty. The loss of any significant customers, a reduction in sales to any significant customers, a significant delay or negative development in our customers product development plans, or our inability to attract new significant customers or secure new significant design wins, could negatively impact our business.
The cyclical nature of the semiconductor and photonics industries may limit our ability to maintain or improve our revenue.
The semiconductor and photonics industries are highly cyclical and are prone to significant downturns from time to time. Cyclical downturns can result from a variety of market forces including constant and rapid technological change, rapid product obsolescence, price erosion, evolving standards, short product life cycles and wide fluctuations in product supply and demand, all of which can result in significant declines in semiconductor demand and thus demand for our software solutions. We have experienced downturns in the past and may experience such downturns in the future. For example, the industry experienced a significant downturn in connection with the global recession in 2008, and further experienced a downturn in 2020, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
These downturns have been characterized by diminished product demand, production overcapacity, high inventory levels and accelerated erosion of average selling prices. Recent downturns have directly impacted our business, as has been the case with many other companies, suppliers, distributors and customers in the semiconductor and photonics industries and other industries around the world, and any prolonged or significant future downturns in the semiconductor and photonics industries could harm our business.
We depend on growth in the semiconductor and photonics industries and in the end markets that use our products. Any slowdown in the growth of these industries and end markets could harm our business.
The growth of our TCAD, EDA and SIP markets are dependent on the semiconductor and photonics industries. A substantial portion of our business and revenue depends upon the commencement of new design projects by semiconductor manufacturers, systems companies and their customers. The increasing complexity of designs of SoC, ICs and electronic systems, and customers concerns about managing costs, have previously led to, and in the future could lead to, a decrease in design starts and design activity in general. For example, in response to this increasing complexity, some customers may choose to focus on one discrete phase of the design process or opt for less advanced, but less risky, manufacturing processes that may not require new or enhanced design solutions. Demand for our software solutions and services could decrease and our financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected if growth in the semiconductor and photonics industries slows or stalls, including due to the impact of inflation or a sustained global supply chain disruption. Inflation has fluctuated in the last several years in the United States and globally, including significant increases as a result of global supply chain issues, increased government spending and monetary policy, a rise in energy prices, and strong consumer demand coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic. As we experienced, an inflationary environment can increase our cost of labor, energy and other operating costs and could also impact and reduce the number of customers who purchase our software solutions as credit becomes more expensive or unavailable.
Furthermore, many of our customers outsource the manufacturing of their semiconductor designs to foundries. Our customers also frequently incorporate third-party IP, whether provided by us or other vendors, into their designs to improve the efficiency of their design process. However, if we fail to optimize our EDA and SIP solutions for use with major foundries manufacturing processes or major IP providers products, or if our access to such foundry processes or third-party IP licenses is hampered, then our solutions may become less desirable to our customers, resulting in an adverse effect on our business and financial condition.
Our continued success will also depend in large part on general economic growth and growth within our target markets including the display, power devices, automotive, memory, HPC, IoT, and 5G/6G mobile markets. Factors
affecting these markets could seriously harm our customers and/or end customers and, as a result, harm us, examples of which include:
Reduced sales of our customers and/or end customers products;
The effects of catastrophic and other disruptive events at our customers and/or end customers offices or facilities;
Increased costs associated with potential disruptions to our customers and/or end customers supply chain and other manufacturing and production operations, including supply chain issues like those caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and similar disruptions that may occur in future;
The deterioration of our customers and/or end customers financial condition;
Delays and project cancellations as a result of design flaws in the products developed by our customers and/or end customers;
The inability of our customers and/or end customers to dedicate the resources necessary to promote and commercialize their products;
The inability of our customers and/or end customers to adapt to changing technological demands resulting in their products becoming obsolete; and
The failure of our customers and/or end customers products to achieve market success and gain broad market acceptance.
Any slowdown in the growth of these end markets could harm our business.
If we are unable to deliver new and innovative software solutions or software license enhancements ahead of rapid technological changes in the market, our revenues could be materially adversely affected.
We operate in an industry generally characterized by rapidly changing technology and frequent new product introductions that can render existing products obsolete or unmarketable. A major factor in our future success will be our ability to anticipate technological changes and to develop and introduce, in a timely manner, enhancements to our existing software solutions to meet those changes. If we are unable to introduce new software solutions and to respond quickly to industry changes, our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows could be materially adversely affected.
The introduction and marketing of new or enhanced software solutions requires us to manage the transition from existing software licenses to minimize disruptions in customer purchasing patterns. There can be no assurance that we will be successful in developing and marketing, on a timely basis, new software solutions, or software license enhancements that our new software licenses will address the changing needs of the marketplace, or that we will successfully manage the transition from existing products. From time to time, we may agree to hold back certain of our software license enhancements for exclusive use of one or a small number of customers, which may limit our ability to timely adapt our broader software solutions range to meet technological innovation by our competitors or the needs of our other customers.
Our success depends on the interoperability of our software solutions with our customers intended use cases and with products and services of other companies, including our competitors.
The success of our software solutions depends on the interoperability of our software with our customers intended use cases and often depends on the existing products and services of other companies, including our direct competitors. As a result, our customers bookings may rapidly evolve, utilize multiple standards, include multiple versions and generations of our software. In addition, to the extent that hardware and software vendors, including our competitors, perceive that their applications or technologies compete with our software solutions or services, they may have an incentive to withhold any cooperation necessary to ensure interoperability, decline to share access or sell to us their proprietary protocols or formats, or engage in practices to actively limit the functionality, compatibility and certification of our software solutions. In addition, competitors may fail to certify or support or continue to certify or support our software solutions for their systems.
If any of the foregoing occurs, our software solutions development efforts may be delayed or foreclosed and it may be difficult and more costly for us to achieve functionality that would make our offerings attractive to our customers or potential customers, and we may, among other consequences, lose or fail to increase our market share and experience reduced demand for our services, any of which could negatively impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We may have to invest more resources in research and development than anticipated, which could increase our operating expenses and negatively affect our operating results.
To contend with industry performance requirements and new applications, engineers, researchers, and other professionals rely extensively on TCAD and EDA software tools to design and optimize advanced IC components. Reliance on TCAD and EDA software tools has increased in recent years as design challenges have become increasingly complex, which influences our development cycle and consequently our performance and results of operations. Additionally, shrinking manufacturing process geometries, application specific customization to improve
computing performance, and adoption of new materials for high voltage applications and photonics computing has led to a rapid increase in the complexity of SoCs. We currently devote substantial resources to the research and development of new and enhanced software solutions. However, we may be required to devote more resources than anticipated to address requirements for specific target markets, new competitors, technological advances in the semiconductor and photonics industries or by competitors, our acquisitions, our entry into new markets, or other competitive factors. If we are required to invest significantly greater resources than anticipated without a corresponding increase in revenue, our operating results could decline. Additionally, our periodic research and development expenses may be independent of our level of revenue, which could negatively impact our financial results. We expect these expenses to increase in the foreseeable future as our technology development efforts continue, and there can be no guarantee that our research and development investments will result in software solutions that result in additional revenue.
We may also decide to increase our research and development investment to seize customer or market opportunities, which could negatively impact our financial results.
Consolidation among our customers and within the industries in which we operate may negatively impact our operating results.
A number of business combinations, including mergers, asset acquisitions and strategic partnerships, among our customers in the semiconductor and photonics industries have occurred over the last several years, and more could occur in the future. Consolidation among our customers could lead to fewer customers or the loss of customers, increased customer bargaining power or reduced customer spending on software and services. Consolidation among our customers could also reduce the demand for our software solutions and services if customers streamline research and development or operations, reduce purchases or delay purchasing decisions.
Reduced customer spending or the loss of a number of customers, particularly our large customers, could adversely affect our business, financial position and results of operations. In addition, we and our competitors from time to time acquire businesses and technologies to complement and expand our respective software solutions offerings. Consolidated competitors could have considerable financial resources, channel influence, and broad geographic reach, allowing them to engage in competition on the basis of software solution differentiation, pricing, marketing, services, support and more. If any of our competitors consolidate or acquire businesses and technologies that we do not offer, they may be able to offer a larger technology portfolio, additional support and service capability or lower prices, which could negatively impact our business and results of operations.
Our international sales and operations constitute a substantial portion of our revenue and business operations and could be negatively affected by disruptions in international geographies caused by government actions, trade disputes, direct or indirect acts of war or terrorism, international political or economic instability or other similar events.
A significant portion of our revenue comes from outside the United States. During the three and sixnine months ended JuneSeptember 30, 2025, 7045% and 7663%, respectively, of our revenue was from international customers. For the comparable periods in 2024 international customers accounted for 4970% and 624% of our revenue, respectively. Risks inherent in our international business activities include imposition of government controls, export license requirements, restrictions on the export of critical technology, products and services, political and economic instability, trade restrictions, changes in tariffs and taxes, difficulties in staffing and managing international operations, longer accounts receivable payment cycles and the burdens of complying with a wide variety of foreign laws and regulations. Effective patent, copyright and trade secret protection may not be available in every foreign country in which we sell our software solutions and services. Our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows could be materially adversely affected by any of these risks.
In addition, we have offices globally with our sales and research and development being conducted in offices located in numerous geographical locations. Moreover, conducting business outside the United States subjects us to a number of additional risks and challenges, including:
Changes in a specific countrys or regions political, regulatory or economic conditions;
Our ability to maintain our offices and/or operations in countries or regions experiencing military, political or social instability;
A pandemic, epidemic or other outbreak of an infectious disease, such as COVID-19, which may cause us or our distributors, vendors and/or customers to temporarily or completely suspend our or their respective operations in the affected city or country;
Compliance with a wide variety of domestic and foreign laws and regulations (including those of municipalities or provinces where we have operations) and unexpected changes in those laws and regulatory
requirements, including uncertainties regarding taxes, social insurance contributions and other payroll taxes and fees to governmental entities, tariffs, quotas, export controls, export licenses and other trade barriers;
Unanticipated restrictions on our ability to sell to foreign customers where sales of software solutions and the provision of services may require export licenses or are prohibited by government action, unfavorable foreign exchange controls and currency exchange rates;
Evolving impacts from tariffs, sanctions or other trade tensions between the United States and other countries, including implementation of new tariffs and retaliatory measures, including specifically U.S.-China trade tensions;
Potential for substantial penalties and litigation related to violations of a wide variety of laws, treaties and regulations, including labor regulations, export control, sanctions and anti-corruption regulations (including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as amended, and the U.K. Bribery Act);
Difficulties and costs of staffing and managing international operations across different geographic areas, time zones and cultures;
Changes in diplomatic and trade relationships;
Potential political, legal and economic instability, armed conflict, and civil unrest in the countries in which we and our customers are located;
Difficulty and costs of maintaining effective data security;
Inadequate protection of our IP;
Nationalization and expropriation;
Restrictions on the transfer of funds to and from foreign countries, including withholding taxes and other potentially negative tax consequences;
Unfavorable and/or changing foreign tax treaties and policies;
Increased exposure to general market and economic conditions outside of the United States; and
Currency exchange rate fluctuations and the resulting effect on our revenue and expenses, and the cost and risk of entering into hedging transactions if we choose to do so in the future.
Our ability to increase our customer base and achieve broader market acceptance of our software solutions will depend to a significant extent on our ability to expand our international sales force. We plan to continue expanding our sales force, both domestically and internationally. We also plan to dedicate significant resources to our sales and marketing programs. All of these efforts will require us to invest significant financial and other resources. Our business will be harmed if our sales and marketing efforts do not generate significant increases in revenue or if the increases in revenue are smaller than anticipated. We may not achieve anticipated revenue growth from expanding our sales force if we are unable to hire, develop, integrate and retain talented and effective sales personnel, if our new and existing sales personnel, on the whole, are unable to achieve desired productivity levels in a reasonable period of time, or if our sales and marketing programs are not effective, the occurrence of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Additionally, countries in certain international regions in which we operate have continued to experience weaknesses in their currency, banking, and equity markets. These weaknesses could adversely affect customer demand for our software solutions and could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We face risks associated with doing business in China.
We face increased regulatory uncertainties with respect to our China-based operations, including our wholly foreign-owned enterprise operating in China, any joint ventures we may form or contribute IP or other resources to in the future and sales to China-based customers.
During the three and sixnine months ended JuneSeptember 30, 2025, 2816% and 2119% of our revenue was derived from customers in China, respectively. For the comparable periods in 2024, customers in China accounted for 1725% and 147% of our revenue, respectively. Our operating expenses in China were $0.91.2 million and $1.72.9 million, respectively, for the three and sixnine months ended JuneSeptember 30, 2025 and $0.8 million and $1.52.4 million, respectively, for the comparable periods in 2024.
On June 3, 2021, President Biden issued Executive Order 14032 (Addressing the Threat from Securities Investments that Finance Certain Companies of the Peoples Republic of China) targeting entities that are deemed part of the
Chinese military-industrial complex. Additionally, on October 7, 2022, the Bureau of Industry and Security of the U.S. Department of Commerce (BIS), issued new export controls related to the Chinese semiconductor manufacturing, advanced computing and supercomputer industries. The new export controls impose broad end-use and other restrictions on facilities in China that develop or produce semiconductor chips or manufacturing equipment, which may impact our ability to license or support our software solutions to entities in or doing business with certain advanced AI or supercomputer design companies, foundries and manufacturers of assemblies and components in China. In addition, in October 2023 and December 2024, BIS tightened restrictions and compliance burdens on the
transfer to China (including Macau) of certain advanced artificial intelligence chips, semiconductors and supercomputing items, software and technology subject to U.S. export controls, in addition to restricting sales to certain semiconductor fab facilities in China. Moreover, restrictions were implemented on U.S. persons activities in support of the transfer of certain items not subject to U.S. export controls. The extraordinary complexity of these rules, combined with the likelihood of further amendments from BIS, significantly increases our risk of non-compliance, which could result in fines and other penalties, and could change how these rules impact us. While we continue to adjust our policies and practices to ensure compliance with these regulations, and we will seek to mitigate their impact, there can be no assurances that current or future regulations and tariffs will not have a material adverse effect on our business. We maintain policies and procedures reasonably designed to ensure compliance with applicable trade control requirements, laws, and restrictions, including prohibiting the export, re-export or transfer of technology to companies on the Entity List maintained by BIS or other governmental restricted party lists, as well as prohibiting the sale of our products in certain countries. However, due to our global operations, we cannot ensure that our policies and procedures, including related safeguards, will effectively prevent violations, including the unauthorized diversion of products to countries or persons that are the target of U.S. sanctions; the export, re-export, or transfer of technology to companies on BISs Entity List or other governmental restricted party lists; failure to comply with rules related to import and export of products; appropriate import product classifications; or other trade accounting requirements, laws, and restrictions.
On August 9, 2023, President Biden issued an executive order addressing investments by U.S. persons in companies located in designated countries of concern, currently, China (including Hong Kong and Macau) that engage with certain categories of sensitive technology and products, including semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies and AI. The executive order requires regulations that would implement limits and potential notification requirements on such investments and was accompanied by an advance notice of proposed rule-making that outlines the intended scope of the program and solicits input from the public regarding the implementation of the executive order. There are no currently effective restrictions or notification requirements; further rule-making is needed to implement the executive order. While we believe it is possible that such regulations may impact our customers, our suppliers, or our business with respect to China, given the uncertainties with respect to the timing and ultimate requirements of these regulations, we are unable to assess the extent of any such impact.
In May 2025, the BIS sent letters to certain U.S. developers of EDA tools that export licenses would be required for exporting EDA software to China, although we did not receive such a letter. BIS revoked these export restrictions on July 3, 2025, as part of an agreement intended to ease bilateral trade tensions with China around advanced technologies.
Further U.S. government escalation of restrictions related to China and increased restrictions on Chinese exports may lead to regulatory retaliation by the Chinese government and possibly further escalate geopolitical tensions, and any such scenarios may adversely impact our business. Furthermore, we may, in the future, develop or sell software solutions that are subject to such rules and restrictions. In addition, such export control rules may change or be expanded or interpreted to include the sale of our current software solutions. In addition, geopolitical disruptions among the United States and China could cause general market disruptions and subject our sales efforts in China to licensing restrictions in the future. The prospect of future export controls that are implemented in a similar manner may continue to have an ongoing impact on our business, results of operations or financial conditions. To the extent we are unable to license our software solutions or support to customers in China, our business, including our revenues and our prospects, would be adversely affected.
Our customers may fail to pay us in accordance with the terms of their agreements.
If our customers fail to pay us in accordance with the terms of our agreements, we may be adversely affected both from the inability to collect amounts due and the cost of enforcing the terms of our agreements, including litigation and arbitration costs. The risk of these issues increases with the term length of our customer arrangements. Furthermore, some of our customers may seek bankruptcy protection or other similar relief and fail to pay amounts due to us, which we have experienced in the past, or may pay those amounts more slowly, either of which could adversely affect our results of operations, financial condition and cash flow.
Our operations could be disrupted by geopolitical conditions, trade disputes, international boycotts and sanctions, political and social instability, acts of war, terrorist activity or other similar events, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Since we operate on a global basis, our operations could also be disrupted by geopolitical conditions, trade disputes, international boycotts and sanctions, political and social instability, acts of war, terrorist activity or other similar events.
For example, as a result of the conflict between Israel and Hamas, Israel and other regional adversaries, including Hezbollah and Iran, have engaged in direct military hostilities. While we do not currently consider the conflict between
Israel and its adversaries to have had a material impact on our business, the ongoing regional conflict could have a negative impact on the economy and business activity globally, and therefore could adversely affect our results of operations, financial condition and cash flow.
In addition, in response to Russias invasion of Ukraine, the United States and certain other countries imposed significant sanctions and export controls against Russia, Belarus and certain individuals and entities connected to Russian or Belarusian political, business and financial organizations, and the United States and certain other countries could impose further sanctions, trade restrictions, and other retaliatory actions should the conflict continue or worsen.
Our board of directors is responsible for overseeing the risks to our business, including risks related to the ongoing conflict between Israel and its adversaries and between Russia and Ukraine. Such risks include an increased risk of cybersecurity attacks, sanctions, risks related to our employees, service-providers and operations in the affected regions and supply chain disruptions that may affect our customers globally. During the three and sixnine months ended JuneSeptember 30, 2025, we generated $0.3 million20,000 and $0.52 million in revenues from customers in the Middle East, respectively. For the comparable periods in 2024, we generated $0.12 million and $0.23 million from customers in the Middle East, respectively. We had no employees in the Middle East during the sixnine months ended JuneSeptember 30, 2025 and the year ended December 31, 2024. While none of our revenue is derived from Russia or Ukraine, we have employees based in both countries and had, prior to the beginning of the conflict, offices in both countries. In response to the ongoing conflict, we closed our office in Moscow, Russia, and our office in Kyiv, Ukraine, has been temporarily closed. Our board of directors has received periodic reports from management regarding the impact of the conflict on us and considered whether such events have had, or are reasonably likely to have, a material impact on us. Unless and until the conflict in Ukraine is stabilized, we do not intend to reopen office locations in either country.
As of JuneSeptember 30, 2025, we had 10 employees and 4 , 3 contractors in and 4 interns in Ukraine, all of whom were working remotely. If our employees in Ukraine become subject to a military draft or are unable to work due to the ongoing conflict, the development of our next generation software could be delayed, which could negatively impact our business.
We have taken security measures designed to help protect against cyber-attacks, security breaches and impermissible downloads in Russia and Ukraine. To the extent that our security measures do not timely detect or prevent such cyber-attacks, security breaches or impermissible downloads, we may be subject to a number of risks, including those risks discussed below in Risks Related to Intellectual Property, Information Technology and Data Privacy and SecurityIf our information technology systems, information, or other resources or those of third parties upon which we rely are or were compromised, we could experience adverse consequences resulting from such compromise, including but not limited to damage to our reputation and our business, exposure to liability, and material and adverse effects to our results of operations, potentially irreparably.
It is not possible to predict the broader consequences of either the Israeli conflict or Russias invasion of Ukraine, including related geopolitical tensions, and the measures and retaliatory actions taken by the United States, and other countries in respect thereof as well as any counter measures or retaliatory actions by Russia or Belarus in response, including, for example, potential cyberattacks or the disruption of energy exports, which are likely to cause regional instability, geopolitical shifts, and could materially adversely affect global trade, currency exchange rates, regional economies and the global economy. The situation remains uncertain, and while it is difficult to predict the impact of any of the foregoing, the conflict and actions taken in response to either conflict could, but are not presently expected to, materially increase our costs, disrupt our supply chain, reduce our sales and earnings, impair our ability to raise additional capital when needed on acceptable terms, if at all, or otherwise further adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
A substantial portion of our revenue comes from our international sales channels, and we have significant operations in numerous international geographies. As such, any adverse fluctuations in exchange rates could adversely affect our performance.
During the three and sixnine months ended JuneSeptember 30, 2025, 7045% and 7663%, respectively, of our revenue was from international customers. For the comparable periods in 2024 international customers accounted for 4970% and 624% of our revenue, respectively. We expect to continue to generate a significant amount of revenue through international sales in the future. Our international sales team sells our software solutions to new and existing customers, expands installations within the existing customer base, offers consulting services and provides the first line of technical support. The revenues and expenses associated with our international direct sales channels are subject to foreign currency exchange fluctuations, including the potential of a weakening American dollar, which would impact our ability to compete internationally. Fluctuations in exchange rates for Japanese Yen have adversely affected our revenue because of a stronger American dollar in recent years. Our future financial results may be impacted by fluctuations in exchange rates, including Korean Won, Chinese Yuan, and Japanese Yen.
We currently do not hedge any of our foreign currency exposure. However, our financial strategies may include hedging practices aimed at mitigating risks associated with foreign exchange fluctuations. However, if our hedging strategies are not executed accurately or if market conditions evolve unpredictably, it could result in significant financial misjudgments. This misalignment in our hedging approach could adversely impact our financial performance.
Our ability to raise additional capital in the future may be limited and could prevent us from executing our growth strategy.
Our ability to operate and expand our business depends on the availability of adequate capital, which in turn depends on cash flow generated by our business and future debt, equity or other applicable financing arrangements. We believe that our cash flow from operations and existing cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities balances will satisfy our anticipated cash requirements for at least the next 12 months. However, we have based this estimate on our current operating plans and expectations, which are subject to change, and cannot assure you that that our existing resources will be sufficient to meet our future liquidity needs. We may require additional capital to respond to business opportunities, challenges, acquisitions or other strategic transactions and/or unforeseen circumstances. The timing and amount of our working capital and capital expenditure requirements may vary significantly depending on numerous factors, including:
market acceptance of our SIP and other solutions, and our IP deployment solutions;
the need to adapt to changing technologies and technical requirements;
the existence of opportunities for expansion; and
access to and availability of sufficient management, technical, marketing and financial personnel.
If our capital resources are insufficient to satisfy our liquidity requirements, we may seek to sell additional equity securities or debt securities or obtain additional debt financing. The sale of additional equity securities or convertible debt securities would result in additional dilution to our stockholders. Additional debt would result in increased expenses and could result in covenants that would restrict our operations and our ability to incur additional debt or engage in other capital-raising or other activities. There can be no assurance that additional financing, if required, will be available in amounts or on terms acceptable to us, if at all. If we are unable to obtain adequate financing or financing on terms satisfactory to us, when we require it, our ability to continue to grow and support our business and respond to business opportunities and challenges could be significantly limited.
Our employees, consultants and third-party providers have in the past and may in the future engage in misconduct that materially adversely affects us.
Our employees, consultants and third-party providers have in the past and may in the future engage in misconduct that materially and adversely affects us. For example, a former employee in China impermissibly used our computers and software to write and configure software for other companies. Misconduct by these parties could include intentional failures to comply with the applicable laws and regulations in the United States and abroad, report financial information or data accurately, violate our internal security policies or duties of confidentiality or disclose unauthorized activities to us. Such misconduct could result in loss of proprietary information or trade secrets, legal or regulatory sanctions, loss of important business information and cause serious harm to our reputation. It is not always possible to identify and deter misconduct, and any precautions we take to detect and prevent this activity may not be effective in controlling unknown or unmanaged risks or losses, or in protecting us from governmental investigations or other actions or lawsuits stemming from a failure to comply with these laws or regulations. If any such actions are instituted against us, and we are not successful in defending ourselves or asserting our rights, those actions could result in the imposition of significant civil, criminal and administrative penalties, which could have a significant impact on our
business. Whether or not we are successful in defending against such actions or investigations, if any of our employees, consultants or third-party providers were to engage in or be accused of misconduct, we could be exposed to legal liability, incur substantial costs, loss of proprietary information, our business and reputation could be materially adversely affected, and we could fail to retain key employees.
Periodic reorganizations and adjustments to our sales force could temporarily impact productivity and adversely disrupt our sales.
We rely heavily on our direct sales force. From time to time, we reorganize and make adjustments to our sales force in response to such factors as management changes, performance issues, market opportunities and other considerations. These changes may result in a temporary lack of sales production and may adversely impact revenue in future quarters. There can be no assurance that we will not restructure our sales force in future periods or that the transition issues associated with such a restructuring will not recur.
Variations in actual sales activity from sales forecasts could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We make many operational and strategic decisions based upon short-term and long-term sales forecasts. Our sales personnel continually monitor the status of all proposals, including the estimated closing date and the value of the sale, in order to forecast quarterly and annual sales. These forecasts are subject to significant estimation and are impacted by many external factors. For example, a slowdown in research and development spending or economic factors could cause purchasing decisions to be delayed. A variation in actual sales activity from forecast could cause us to plan or to budget incorrectly and, therefore, could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
In addition, if we provide the investment community with estimates of our expected results of operations based on sales forecasts that vary from actual results, as has previously occurred, we may experience a decrease in our stock price which, in turn, could negatively impact our ability to conduct equity financing and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We may not realize the anticipated benefits of our acquisitions or investments, our business could be disrupted because of acquisitions or investments and, depending on how we finance or fund such acquisitions or investments, we could use significant amounts of cash or incur substantial debt.
Our success depends in part on our ability to continually enhance and broaden our software solutions offerings in order to support our long-term strategic direction, strengthen our competitive position, expand our customer base, provide greater scale to increase our investments in research and development to accelerate innovation, provide increased capabilities to our existing software solutions, supply new software solutions and services, and enhance our distribution channels. Accordingly, our success depends in part on our ability to identify, complete and integrate acquisitions. Over the past several years, we have completed several such acquisitions of companies or strategic assets, and from time to time we will likely seek to acquire or invest in businesses, products, or technologies, such as our March 2025 acquisition of a suite of optical proximity correction tools from Cadence Design Systems, Inc. and, our April 2025 acquisition of Tech-X Corporation and our August 2025 acquisition of Mixel Group, Inc.. Any acquisition, investment or business relationship may result in unforeseen operating difficulties and expenditures, as we have experienced historically. In particular, we may encounter difficulties assimilating or integrating the businesses, technologies, products, personnel or operations of the acquired companies, particularly if the key personnel of the acquired company choose not to work for us, their software is not easily adapted to work with our software solutions or we have difficulty retaining the customers of any acquired business due to changes in ownership, management or otherwise. For example, we have in the past and may in the future face challenges associated with the integration and migration of processes, including issue tracking, release procedures and standardization of license models, which can delay introduction of software solutions. We may be unable to successfully integrate previously acquired businesses and technologies or those acquired in the future, which could adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Acquisitions and investments involve numerous risks, including:
the inability to complete the acquisition or investment on commercially acceptable terms;
the inability to obtain timely approvals from governmental authorities under competition and antitrust laws and the resulting delay in consummating the acquisition;
the risk that we may have difficulty incorporating the acquired technologies or products with our existing software solutions and maintaining uniform standards, controls, procedures, and policies;
the risk that we may not realize the anticipated increase in our revenue if a larger than predicted number of customers decline to renew annual leases or software license updates and license support or, if we are unable to sell or license the acquired solutions to our customer base;
unforeseen difficulties in legal entity merger integration activities that may result in legal and tax exposures or the loss of anticipated tax benefits;
disruption of our ongoing businesses and diversion of management attention;
the risk that our relationships with current and new employees, customers, partners and distributors could be impaired;
difficulties in integrating the acquired entities, products or technologies and overcoming any unforeseen technical problems with the acquired products or technologies;
difficulties in operating the acquired business profitably;
difficulties in preserving and transitioning important licensing, research and development, and customer, distributor and supplier relationships;
difficulties in implementing the appropriate controls and procedures to ensure the acquired entity is in compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act;
the risk that the acquisition may result in increased litigation or contingencies, including as described in Pending or future investigations or litigation could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and our stock price below;
risks associated with entering lines of business or geographies in which we have no or limited prior experience; and
unanticipated costs, expenses or liabilities.
In addition, any future acquisitions or investments may result in:
issuances of dilutive equity securities, which may be at a discount to market price;
use of significant amounts of cash;
the incurrence of debt;
the assumption of significant liabilities;
unfavorable financing terms;
large one-time expenses; and
the creation of certain intangible assets, including goodwill, the write-down of which may result in significant charges to earnings.
Any of these factors could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
If we lose the services of our senior executives or key technical personnel who possess specialized industry knowledge and technical skills, or are unable to hire additional key personnel, it could reduce our ability to compete, to manage our operations effectively, or to develop new software solutions and services.
We are highly dependent upon the ability and experience of our senior executives and our key technical and other management employees, and we do not maintain key person insurance for any of our employees. Although we have employment agreements with certain employees, the loss of these employees, or any of our other key employees, could adversely affect our ability to conduct our operations. We have recently experienced a CEO and CFO transition and could have additional executive leadership changes as part of overall succession plans. Such leadership transitions can be inherently difficult to manage, and an inadequate transition could cause disruption to our business, including our relationships with our employees, customers, suppliers, and business partners, and fluctuations in the price of our stock.
Further, to be successful, we must also attract and retain key employees who join us organically and through acquisitions. There are a limited number of qualified engineers with specialized applicable skills, and competition for these individuals and other qualified employees is intense and has increased globally, including in major markets such as Asia. Our employees are often recruited aggressively by our competitors and our customers worldwide. Any failure to recruit and retain key employees could harm our business, results of operations and financial condition. Additionally, efforts to recruit and retain qualified employees could be costly and negatively impact our operating expenses.
Historically we have issued equity awards as a key component of our overall compensation. If we are unable to grant attractive equity-based packages in the future, it could limit our ability to attract and retain key employees.
We may not be able to effectively manage our growth, and we may need to incur significant expenditures to address the additional operational and control requirements of our growth, either of which could harm our business and operating results.
In order to succeed in executing our business plan, we will need to manage our growth effectively as we make acquisitions and significant investments in research and development and sales and marketing and expand our operations and infrastructure both domestically and internationally. In addition, in connection with operating as a public company, we will incur additional significant legal, accounting and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company. If our revenue does not increase to offset these increases in our expenses, we may not achieve or maintain profitability in future periods.
To continue to grow and to meet our ongoing obligations as a public company, we must continue to expand our operational, engineering, accounting and financial systems, procedures, controls, personnel and other internal management systems. We must also expand our reporting and compliance infrastructure to ensure that relevant information is shared with and among management and our board of directors, including with respect to actual or alleged wrongdoing within our Company. We have in the past experienced inadequate reporting and communication regarding wrongdoing, which resulted in delays and inefficiencies in taking appropriate action. Such expansions may require substantial managerial and financial resources, and our efforts in this regard may not be successful. Our current systems, procedures and controls may not be adequate to support our future operations and we may be unable to meet reporting obligation deadlines under the Exchange Act or may face additional failures with respect to our reporting and compliance infrastructure. Unless our growth results in an increase in our revenue that is
proportionate to the increase in our costs associated with this growth, our operating margins will be adversely affected. If we fail to adequately manage our growth, improve our operational, financial and management information systems, improve our reporting and compliance infrastructure or effectively motivate and manage our new and future employees, it could harm our business.
Our estimates of market opportunity and forecasts of market growth may prove to be inaccurate.
Market opportunity estimates and growth forecasts whether obtained from third-party sources or developed internally, are subject to significant uncertainty and are based on assumptions and estimates that may prove to be inaccurate. The estimates and forecasts we have or may make relating to the size and expected growth of our target market and market demand may also prove to be inaccurate. Assumptions as to the future growth of the integrated circuits and electronic manufacturing markets, and the continued advancement of technology in those industries, may prove to be inaccurate or incorrect. In addition, the estimated global EDA market may not materialize in the timeframe we expect, if ever, and even if the markets meet our current expectations, this should not be taken as indicative of our future growth or prospects. In order to be successful, we will need to continue to develop and advance our software solutions, secure new and renewed bookings, obtain sufficient capital to finance our business and otherwise successfully scale our business and operations. We face a number of challenges in achieving these objectives, including those described elsewhere in these risk factors. There can be no assurance that we will be able to achieve our objectives or successfully grow our business, capture meaningful market share or take advantage of market opportunities.
Risks Related to Intellectual Property, Information Technology and Data Privacy and Security
If we are unable to protect our proprietary technology and inventions through patents and other intellectual property rights, our ability to compete successfully and our financial results could be adversely impacted.
We seek to protect our proprietary technology and innovations, particularly those relating to our software solutions, through patents, trade secrets and other intellectual property rights. Maintenance of our patent portfolios, particularly outside of the United States, is expensive, and the process of seeking patent protection is lengthy and costly. While we intend to maintain our current portfolio of patents and to continue to prosecute our currently pending patent applications and file future patent applications when appropriate, the value of these actions may not exceed their expense. Existing patents and those that may be issued from any pending or future applications may be subject to challenges, invalidation or circumvention, and the rights granted under our patents may not provide us with meaningful protection or any commercial advantage. In addition, the protection afforded under the patent laws of one country may not be the same as that in other countries. This means, for example, that our right to exclusively commercialize a product in those countries where we have patent rights for that product can vary on a country-by-country basis. We also may not have the same scope of patent protection in every country where we do business.
Additionally, it is difficult and costly to monitor the use of our intellectual property. It may be the case that our intellectual property is already being infringed and infringement may occur in the future without our knowledge. Litigation may be necessary to enforce our intellectual property rights. Additionally, defending our intellectual property
rights might necessitate significant financial and legal resources. Any such expenditure could negatively impact our financial performance.
While it is our policy to protect and defend our rights to our intellectual property, we cannot predict whether steps taken by us to enforce and protect our intellectual property rights will be adequate to prevent infringement, misappropriation, or other violations of our intellectual property rights. Any inability to meaningfully enforce our intellectual property rights could harm our ability to compete. Moreover, in any lawsuit we bring to enforce our intellectual property rights, a court may refuse to stop the other party from using the technology at issue on grounds that our intellectual property rights do not cover the technology in question. Further, in such proceedings, the defendant could counterclaim that our intellectual property is invalid or unenforceable and the court may agree, in which case we could lose valuable intellectual property rights. Any litigation of this nature, regardless of outcome or merit, could materially harm our business and hurt our competitive advantage.
We generally control access to and use of our confidential information and trade secrets using internal and external controls, including contractual protections with employees, contractors, and customers. We rely in part on the laws of the United States and international laws to protect our trade secrets. All employees and consultants are required to execute confidentiality agreements in connection with their employment and consulting relationships with us. We also require them to agree to disclose and assign to us all inventions conceived or made in connection with the employment or consulting relationship. However, we cannot guarantee that we have entered into such agreements with every such party and we may not have adequate remedies in case of a breach of any such agreements. Our trade secrets could be disclosed to our competitors or others may independently develop substantially equivalent
technologies or otherwise gain access to our trade secrets. Trade secrets can be difficult to protect and some courts inside and outside of the United States are less willing or unwilling to protect trade secrets.
Despite our efforts to protect our intellectual property, unauthorized parties have, and may in the future copy, misappropriate, or otherwise obtain and use our software, technology, or other information that we regard as our proprietary intellectual property. In addition, we intend to expand our international operations, and effective patent, copyright, trademark, and trade secret, and other intellectual property protection may not be available or may be limited in some foreign countries. We currently have no trademark registrations or pending applications to register trademarks in foreign countries. Further, intellectual property law, including statutory and case law, particularly in the United States, is constantly developing, and any changes in the law could make it harder for us to enforce our rights.
We have predominantly developed our proprietary technology and other intellectual property internally, through development by our employees and independent contractors and externally, including through our research institution partners and their students. Our development has taken place globally, including the United States, Brazil, Europe, the Middle East and India. We attempt to protect our intellectual property, technology, and confidential information by requiring our employees, consultants, contractors and developer partners who develop intellectual property on our behalf to enter into confidentiality and invention assignment agreements. However, these agreements may not have been properly entered into on every occasion with the applicable counterparty, and such agreements may not always have been effective when entered into in granting ownership of, controlling access to and distribution of our proprietary information or technology. Certain state laws may require that we provide certain notices with respect to the assignment of particular inventions in such agreements, and we may not have been able to include such specific notice requirements in every occasion that it required. Further, if we failed to enter into one of these agreements, or if the assignment language is found to be insufficient under applicable laws, it may not have effectively granted ownership of certain technology or other intellectual property to us. In such an event, there would be a risk that the applicable counterparty would not be available to (or would not be willing to) assist us in perfecting our ownership of the technology or intellectual property, or the counterparty may even assert ownership rights against us and make claims for fees, damages, or equitable relief with respect to such technology or intellectual property, which may have an adverse effect on our ability to utilize, perfect, or protect our proprietary rights over such technology and intellectual property. Each jurisdiction has different rules regarding the correct language and procedures required to effectively assign intellectual property rights, and we may not have effectively implemented such language and procedures in each jurisdiction on every occasion, which may also limit our ability to perfect and protect our technology and intellectual property rights. Further, these agreements do not prevent our competitors or partners from independently developing technologies that are substantially equivalent or superior to our products. In addition, these agreements may not effectively prevent unauthorized use or disclosure of our confidential information, intellectual property, or technology and may not provide an adequate remedy in the event of unauthorized use or disclosure of our confidential information or technology, or infringement of our intellectual property.
From time to time, particularly over the last several years, we have acquired a portion of our intellectual property from one or more third parties. While we have conducted diligence with respect to such acquisitions, because we did not participate in the development or prosecution of such acquired intellectual property, we cannot guarantee that our diligence efforts identified and/or remedied all issues related to such intellectual property, including potential
ownership errors, potential errors during prosecution of such intellectual property, and potential encumbrances that could limit our ability to enforce such intellectual property rights.
Our technology is subject to the threat of piracy, unauthorized copying and other forms of intellectual property infringement.
We regard our technology as proprietary and take measures to protect our technology and other confidential information from infringement. Piracy and other forms of unauthorized copying and use of our technology may become persistent, and policing is difficult. Further, the laws of some countries in which our products are or may be distributed either do not protect our intellectual property rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States, or are poorly enforced. Legal protection of our rights may be ineffective in such countries. In addition, although we take steps to enforce and police our rights, we have in the past and may in the future experience piracy, as factors such as the proliferation of technology designed to circumvent the protection measures used by our business partners or by us, may expand the unauthorized copying and use of our technology.
If we are unable to protect our proprietary technology and inventions through trade secrets, our competitive position and financial results could be adversely affected.
As noted above, we seek to protect our proprietary technology and innovations, particularly those relating to our software solutions, as patents, trade secrets and other forms of intellectual property. Additionally, while software and other forms of our proprietary works may be protected under patent or copyright law, in some cases we have chosen not to seek any patents or register any copyrights in these works, and instead, primarily rely on protecting our
software as a trade secret. In the United States, trade secrets are protected under the federal Economic Espionage Act of 1996 and the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016, or the Defend Trade Secrets Act, and under state law, with many states having adopted the Uniform Trade Secrets Act, or the UTSA. In addition to these federal and state laws inside the United States, under the World Trade Organizations Trade Related-Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement, or the TRIPS Agreement, trade secrets are to be protected by World Trade Organization member states as confidential information. Under the UTSA and other trade secret laws, protection of our proprietary information as trade secrets requires us to take steps to prevent unauthorized disclosure to third parties or misappropriation by third parties. In addition, the full benefit of the remedies available under the Defend Trade Secrets Act requires specific language and notice requirements in the relevant agreements, which may not be present in all of our agreements. While we require our officers, employees, consultants, distributors, and existing and prospective customers and collaborators to sign confidentiality agreements and take various security measures to protect unauthorized disclosure and misappropriation of our trade secrets, we cannot assure or predict that these measures will be sufficient. The semiconductor and photonics industries are generally subject to high turnover of employees, so the risk of trade secret misappropriation may be amplified. If any of our trade secrets are subject to unauthorized disclosure or are otherwise misappropriated by third parties, our competitive position may be materially and adversely affected.
We may be subject to claims that we have wrongfully hired an employee from a competitor, or that our employees, consultants or independent contractors have wrongfully used or disclosed confidential information of third parties or that our employees have wrongfully used or disclosed alleged trade secrets of their former employers.
Many of our employees, consultants and advisors, or individuals that may in the future serve as our employees, consultants and advisors, are currently or were previously employed at companies including our competitors or potential competitors. Although we try to ensure that our employees, consultants, independent contractors and advisors do not use the confidential or proprietary information, trade secrets or know-how of others in their work for us, we may be subject to claims that we have inadvertently or otherwise used or disclosed confidential or proprietary information, trade secrets, or know-how of these third parties, or that our employees, consultants, independent contractors or advisors have inadvertently or otherwise used or disclosed confidential information, trade secrets, or know-how of such individuals current or former employer. If we fail in defending any such claims, in addition to paying monetary damages, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights or personnel. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these claims. Even if we are successful in defending against these claims, litigation could result in substantial cost and be a distraction to our management and employees. Claims that we, our employees, consultants, or advisors have misappropriated the confidential or proprietary information, trade secrets, or know-how of third parties could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
If our information technology systems, or those of third parties upon which we rely, or our data are or were compromised, we could experience adverse consequences resulting from such compromise, including but not limited to, regulatory investigations or actions, litigation, fines and penalties, disruptions of our business operations, reputational harm, loss of revenue or profits, and other adverse consequences.
In the ordinary course of our business, we and the third parties upon which we rely, routinely receive, collect, store, process, generate, use, transfer, disclose, make accessible, protect, secure, dispose of, transmit, and share (collectively, process) personal data and other sensitive information, including proprietary technology, trade secrets and other confidential information about our business and our customers, suppliers, and business partners (collectively, sensitive data).
As a result, we and the third parties upon which we rely regularly face a variety of evolving risks and threats that could cause security incidents. Cyber-attacks, malicious internet-based activity, online and offline fraud, and other similar activities threaten the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of our sensitive data and information technology systems, and those of the third parties upon which we rely. Such threats are prevalent and continue to rise, are increasingly difficult to detect, and come from a variety of sources, including traditional computer hackers, threat actors, hacktivists, organized criminal threat actors, personnel (such as through theft or misuse), sophisticated nation-states, and nation-state supported actors.
Some actors now engage, and are expected to continue to engage, in cyber-attacks, including without limitation, nation-state actors for geopolitical reasons and in connection with military conflicts and defense operations. During times of war and other major conflicts, we and the third parties upon which we rely may be vulnerable to a heightened risk of these attacks, including retaliatory cyber-attacks that could materially disrupt our systems, supply chain and operations and ability to provide our services.
We and the third parties upon which we rely are subject to a variety of evolving threats, including but not limited to social-engineering attacks (including through deep fakes, which may be increasingly more difficult to identify as fake, and phishing attacks), malicious code (such as viruses and worms), malware (including as a result of advanced
persistent threat intrusions), denial-of-service attacks (credential stuffing), credential harvesting, personnel misconduct or error, ransomware attacks, supply chain attacks, software bugs, server malfunctions, software or hardware failures, loss of data or other information technology assets, adware, attacks enhanced or facilitated by AI, telecommunications failures, earthquakes, fires, floods, and other similar threats. We have experienced, and will likely continue to experience, cybersecurity incidents in the normal course of our business; however, to our knowledge, we have not experienced a material cybersecurity incident to date.
In particular, severe ransomware attacks are becoming increasingly prevalent and can lead to significant interruptions in our operations, ability to provide our services, loss of sensitive data and income, reputational harm, and diversion of funds. Extortion payments may alleviate the negative impact of a ransomware attack, but we may be unwilling or unable to make such payments due to, for example, applicable laws or regulations prohibiting such payments.
Remote work has become more common and has increased risks to our information technology systems and data, as more of our employees utilize network connections, computers, and devices outside our premises or network, including working at home, while in transit and in public locations. Additionally, future or past business transactions (such as acquisitions or integrations) could expose us to additional cybersecurity risks and vulnerabilities, as our systems could be negatively affected by vulnerabilities present in acquired or integrated entities systems and technologies. Furthermore, we may discover security issues that were not found during due diligence of such acquired or integrated entities, and it may be difficult to integrate companies into our information technology environment and security program.
In addition, our reliance on third-party service providers could introduce new cybersecurity risks and vulnerabilities, including supply chain attacks, and other threats to our business operations. We rely on third-party service providers and technologies to operate critical business systems to process sensitive data in a variety of contexts, including, without limitation, cloud-based infrastructure, data center facilities, encryption and authentication technology, employee email, content delivery to customers, and other functions. We also rely on third-party service providers to provide other products, services, parts, or otherwise to operate our business. Our ability to monitor these third parties information security practices is limited and these third parties may not have adequate information security measures in place. If our third-party service providers experience a security incident or other interruption, we could experience adverse consequences. While we may be entitled to damages if our third-party service providers fail to satisfy their data privacy or security-related obligations to us, any award may be insufficient to cover our damages, or we may be unable to recover such award. In addition, supply-chain attacks have increased in frequency and severity, and we cannot guarantee that third parties infrastructure in our supply chain or our third-party partners supply chains have not been compromised.
We, and our vendors may, have periodically experienced attempted cybersecurity attacks that have not resulted in any known breaches or access to our data to date. While we have implemented security measures designed to protect against security incidents, there can be no assurance that these measures will be effective. We take steps to detect, mitigate and remediate vulnerabilities in our information systems (such as our hardware and/or software, including that of third parties upon which we rely). We may not, however, detect and remediate all such vulnerabilities on a timely basis. Further, we may experience delays in developing and deploying remedial measures designed to address any such identified vulnerabilities. Such vulnerabilities could be exploited and result in a security incident.
Any of the previously identified or similar threats could cause a security incident or other interruption that could result in unauthorized, unlawful, or accidental acquisition, modification, destruction, loss, alteration, encryption, disclosure of, or access to our sensitive data or our information technology systems, or those of the third parties upon whom we rely. A security incident or other interruption could disrupt our ability (and that of third parties upon whom we rely) to provide our services.
We may expend significant resources or modify our business activities to try to protect against security incidents. Additionally, certain data privacy and security obligations may require us to implement and maintain specific security measures or industry-standard or reasonable security measures to protect our information technology systems and sensitive data.
Additionally, applicable data privacy and security obligations may require us to notify relevant stakeholders, including affected individuals, customers, regulators and investors, of security incidents. Such disclosures are costly, and the disclosure or the failure to comply with such requirements could lead to adverse consequences.
If we (or a third party upon whom we rely) experience a security incident or are perceived to have experienced a security incident, we may experience adverse consequences, such as government enforcement actions (for example, investigations, fines, penalties, audits, and inspections); additional reporting requirements and/or oversight; restrictions on processing sensitive data (including personal data); litigation (including class claims); indemnification obligations; negative publicity; reputational harm; monetary fund diversions; diversion of management attention;
interruptions in our operations (including availability of data); financial loss; and other similar harms. Security incidents and attendant consequences may prevent the use of our services or cause customers to stop using our services, deter new customers from using our services, and negatively impact our ability to grow and operate our business.
Our contracts may not contain limitations of liability, and even where they do, there can be no assurance that limitations of liability in our contracts are sufficient to protect us from liabilities, damages, or claims related to our data privacy and security obligations. Furthermore, we cannot be sure that our cyber insurance policies will be adequate or sufficient to protect us from or to mitigate liabilities arising out of our privacy and security practices, that such coverage will continue to be available on commercially reasonable terms or at all, or that such coverage will pay future claims.
In addition to experiencing a security incident, third parties may gather, collect, or infer sensitive data about us from public sources, data brokers, or other means that reveals competitively sensitive details about our organization and could be used to undermine our competitive advantage or market position. Additionally, our sensitive data or our customers sensitive data could be leaked, disclosed, or revealed as a result of or in connection with our employees, personnels, or vendors use of generative AI technologies.
Our software licenses contain third-party open source software components, and failure to comply with the terms of the underlying open source software licenses could restrict our ability to deliver our software licenses or subject us to litigation or other actions.
Some of our software licenses contain software modules licensed to us under open source licenses, and we expect to continue to incorporate such open source software in our software licenses in the future. Use and distribution of open source software may entail greater risks than use of third-party commercial software, as open source licensors generally do not provide support, warranties, indemnification, or other contractual protections regarding infringement claims or the quality of the code. In addition, the public availability of such software may make it easier for others to compromise our products.
Some open source licenses contain requirements that we make available source code for modifications or derivative works we create based upon the type of open source software we use, or grant other licenses to our intellectual property. We seek to ensure that our proprietary software is not combined with, and does not incorporate, open source software in ways that would require the release of the source code of our proprietary software to the public. However, if we combine our proprietary software with open source software in a certain manner, we could, under certain open source licenses, be required to release the source code of our proprietary software to the public. This would allow our competitors or new entrants to create similar offerings with lower development effort and time and
ultimately could result in a loss of our competitive advantages. Alternatively, to avoid the public release of the affected portions of our source code, we could be required to expend substantial time and resources to re-engineer some or all of our software. We incorporate software that is licensed under open source licenses which could require release of proprietary code if such license was released or distributed in any manner that would trigger such a requirement to third parties. We take steps to ensure that such software is not released or distributed. Additionally, some open source projects have vulnerabilities and architectural instabilities and are provided without warranties or services to actively provide us patched versions when available, and which, if not properly addressed, could negatively affect the performance of our products.
Although we have certain processes in place to monitor and manage our use of open source software to avoid subjecting our software licenses to conditions we do not intend, the terms of many open source licenses have not been interpreted by U.S. or foreign courts, and there is a risk that these licenses could be construed in a way that could impose unanticipated conditions or restrictions on our ability to provide or distribute our products. From time to time, there have been claims challenging the ownership of open source software against companies that incorporate open source software into their products, and the licensors of such open source software provide no warranties or indemnities with respect to such claims. As a result, we and our customers could be subject to lawsuits by parties claiming ownership of what we believe to be open source software. Moreover, we cannot assure you that our processes for monitoring and managing our use of open source software in our software licenses has been, or will be, effective.
If we are held to have breached or failed to fully comply with all the terms and conditions of an open source software license, or if an author or other third party that distributes such open source software were to allege that we had not complied with the conditions of one or more of these licenses, we could be required to incur significant legal expenses defending against such allegations, could be subject to significant damages, enjoined from the licensing of our software licenses or other liability, or be required to seek costly licenses from third parties to continue providing our software on terms that, if available at all, are not economically feasible, to re-engineer our software, to discontinue or delay the provision of our software if re-engineering could not be accomplished on a timely basis, or to make
generally available, in source code form, our proprietary code, any of which would adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Software bugs or defects could expose us to liability and harm our reputation and we could lose market share.
Software products frequently contain bugs or defects, especially when first introduced, when new versions are released, or when integrated with technologies developed by acquired companies, and the likelihood of bugs or defects may increase for our business if we accelerate the frequency of its product releases. Customers have in the past identified bugs or defects in our products, and there can be no assurance that bugs or defects will not be found in the future in new or enhanced products after commencement of commercial shipments. Product bugs or defects, including those resulting from third-party licensors, have in the past and may in the future affect the performance or interoperability of our products, could delay the development or release of new products or new versions of products and could adversely affect market acceptance or perception of our products. We are currently in receipt of a request from a customer for compensation as a result of alleged product bugs or defects, and there can be no assurance that we will resolve this matter, or any similar future complaint, in a manner that preserves the customer relationship and does not otherwise adversely affect our business or operating results. In addition, any allegations of manufacturability issues resulting from use of our IP products could, even if untrue, adversely affect our reputation and our customers willingness to license IP products from us. Any such bugs or defects or delays in releasing new products or new versions of products or allegations of unsatisfactory performance could cause us to lose customers, increase our service costs, result in diversion of resources, damage to our reputation and subject us to liability for damages, any one of which could materially and adversely affect our business and operating results.
We may not be able to continue to obtain licenses to third-party software and intellectual property on reasonable terms or at all, which may disrupt our business and harm our financial results.
We license third-party software and other intellectual property for use in research and development and, in several instances, inclusion in our products. We also license third-party software, including the software of our competitors, to test the interoperability of our software solutions with other industry software tools and in connection with our professional services. Our rights to use and employ software and other intellectual property that has been licensed to us, including our rights to develop, manufacture, or sell products covered by claims in licensed patents that are a subject of these licenses, are and will be subject to the continuation of and compliance with the terms of those licenses. We have and may in the future be in breach of a license, which may lead to the termination of rights granted to us under such license. This could result in competitors being able to enter our target markets and compete with us. We also may not be able to further develop, manufacture, or sell the affected products. Our third-party licenses may
need to be renegotiated or renewed from time to time, or we may need to obtain new licenses in the future. Some of these licenses may also be terminated by the counterparty for convenience with limited notice to us. Third parties may stop adequately supporting or maintaining their technology, they may become insolvent or cease conducting business in the ordinary course, or they or their technology may be acquired by our competitors. From time to time, our licensors may license their technology to us on condition that we do not provide such technology or licenses incorporating such technology to certain customers. If we are unable to obtain licenses to these third-party software and intellectual property on reasonable terms or at all, we may not be able to sell the affected products, our customers use of the licenses may be interrupted, or our software solutions development processes and professional services offerings may be disrupted, which could in turn harm our financial results, our customers, and our reputation.
The inclusion of third-party intellectual property in our software solutions can also subject us and our customers to intellectual property infringement claims. Although we seek to mitigate this risk contractually, we have not always been able to, and may not in future be able to sufficiently limit our potential liability. Regardless of outcome, infringement claims may require us to use significant resources and may divert managements attention. See the risk factor If we are unable to protect our proprietary technology and inventions through patents and other intellectual property rights, our ability to compete successfully and our financial results could be adversely impacted.
We are subject to stringent and evolving U.S. and foreign laws, regulations, and rules, contractual obligations, industry standards, policies and other obligations related to data privacy and security. Our actual or perceived failure to comply with such obligations could lead to regulatory investigations or actions, litigation (including class claims) and mass arbitration demands, fines and penalties, disruptions of our business operations, reputational harm, loss of revenue or profits, and other adverse business consequences.
As a regular part of our business, we process sensitive data and these processing activities subject us to numerous data privacy and security obligations, such as various laws, regulations, guidance, industry standards, external and internal privacy and security policies, contractual requirements, and other obligations relating to data privacy and security.
In the United States, federal, state, and local governments, have enacted numerous data privacy and security laws, including data breach notification laws, personal data privacy laws, consumer protection laws (e.g., Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act), and other similar laws (e.g., wiretapping laws).
In the past few years, numerous U.S. states, including California, Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, and Utah, have enacted comprehensive privacy laws that impose certain obligations on covered businesses, including providing specific disclosures in privacy notices and affording residents with certain rights concerning their personal data. As applicable, such rights may include the right to access, correct, or delete certain personal data, and to opt-out of certain data processing activities, such as targeted advertising, profiling, and automated decision-making. The exercise of these rights may impact our business and ability to provide our products and services. Certain states also impose stricter requirements for processing certain personal data, including sensitive information, such as conducting data privacy impact assessments. These state laws allow for statutory fines for noncompliance. For example, the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 (CPRA) (collectively, CCPA) applies to personal data of consumers, business representatives, and employees who are California residents, and requires businesses to provide specific disclosures in privacy notices and honor requests of such individuals to exercise certain privacy rights. The CCPA provides for fines of up to $7,500 per intentional violation and allows private litigants affected by certain data breaches to recover significant statutory damages.
Similar laws are being considered in several other states, as well as at the federal and local levels, and we expect more states to pass similar laws in the future. These developments may further complicate compliance efforts and increase legal risk and compliance costs for us and the third parties upon whom we rely.
Outside the United States, an increasing number of laws, regulations, and industry standards may govern data privacy and security. For example, the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the UKs GDPR, and Chinas Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL) impose strict requirements for processing personal data. For example, under the GDPR, companies may face temporary or definitive bans on data processing and other corrective actions, fines of up to 20 million Euros under the EU GDPR, 17.5 million pounds sterling under the UK GDPR or, in each case, up to 4% of annual global revenue, whichever is greater, or private litigation related to processing of personal data brought by classes of data subjects or consumer protection organizations authorized at law to represent their interests. Additionally, we also target customers in Asia and have operations in China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Singapore and may be subject to new and emerging data privacy regimes in Asia, including Japans Act on the Protection of Personal Information, and Singapores Personal Data Protection Act.
Our employees and personnel use generative AI technologies to perform their work, and the disclosure and use of personal data in generative AI technologies is subject to various privacy laws and other privacy obligations. Governments have passed and are likely to pass additional laws regulating generative AI. Our use of this technology could result in additional compliance costs, regulatory investigations and actions, and consumer lawsuits. If we are unable to use generative AI, it could make our business less efficient and result in competitive disadvantages.
In addition, we may be unable to transfer personal data from the EU, the UK and other jurisdictions to the United States or other countries due to data localization requirements or limitations on cross-border data flows. The EU, UK, and other jurisdictions have enacted laws requiring data to be localized or limiting the transfer of personal data to other countries. In particular, the EU and UK have significantly restricted the transfer of personal data to the United States and other countries whose privacy laws it generally believes are inadequate. Other jurisdictions may adopt similarly stringent interpretations of their data localization and cross-border data transfer laws. Although there are currently various mechanisms that may be used to transfer personal data from the EU and UK to the United States in compliance with law, such as the EU standard contractual clauses, the UKs International Data Transfer Agreement / Addendum, and the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework and UK extension thereto (which allows for transfers to relevant U.S.-based organizations who self-certify compliance and participate in the Framework), these mechanisms are subject to legal challenges, and there is no assurance that we can satisfy or rely on these measures to lawfully transfer personal data to the United States. If there is no lawful manner for us to transfer personal data from the EU, UK, or other jurisdictions to the United States, or if the requirements for a legally-compliant transfer are too onerous, we could face significant adverse consequences, including the interruption or degradation of our operations, the need to relocate part of or all of our business or data processing activities to other jurisdictions (such as the EU) at significant expense, increased exposure to regulatory actions, substantial fines and penalties, the inability to transfer data and work with partners, vendors and other third parties, and injunctions against our processing or transferring of personal data necessary to operate our business. Additionally, companies that transfer personal data out of the EEA and UK to other jurisdictions, particularly to the United States, are subject to increased scrutiny from regulators, individual litigants, and activist groups. Some European regulators have ordered certain companies to suspend or permanently cease certain transfers of personal data out of Europe for allegedly violating the GDPRs cross-border data transfer limitations.
In addition to data privacy and security laws, we are contractually subject to industry standards adopted by industry groups and may become subject to such obligations in the future. We are also bound by other contractual obligations related to data privacy and security, and our efforts to comply with such obligations may not be successful. We publish privacy policies, marketing materials, and other statements, such as compliance with certain certifications or self-regulatory principles, regarding data privacy and security. If these policies, materials or statements are found to be deficient, lacking in transparency, deceptive, unfair, or misrepresentative of our practices, we may be subject to investigation, enforcement actions by regulators or other adverse consequences.
Obligations related to data privacy and security (and consumers data privacy expectations) are quickly changing, becoming increasingly stringent, and creating uncertainty. Additionally, these obligations may be subject to differing applications and interpretations, which may be inconsistent or conflict among jurisdictions. Preparing for and complying with these obligations requires us to devote significant resources and may necessitate changes to our services, information technologies, systems, and practices and to those of any third parties that process personal data on our behalf.
We may at times fail (or be perceived to have failed) in our efforts to comply with our data privacy and security obligations. Moreover, despite our efforts, our personnel or third parties on whom we rely may fail to comply with such obligations, which could negatively impact our business operations. If we or the third parties on which we rely fail, or are perceived to have failed, to address or comply with applicable data privacy and security obligations, we could face significant consequences, including but not limited to: government enforcement actions (e.g., investigations, fines, penalties, audits, inspections, and similar); litigation (including class-action claims) and mass arbitration demands; additional reporting requirements and/or oversight; bans on processing personal data; and orders to destroy or not use personal data. In particular, plaintiffs have become increasingly more active in bringing privacy-related claims against companies, including class claims and mass arbitration demands. Some of these claims allow for the recovery of statutory damages on a per violation basis, and, if viable, carry the potential for monumental statutory damages, depending on the volume of data and the number of violations. Any of these events could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business, or financial condition, including but not limited to: loss of customers; inability to process personal data or to operate in certain jurisdictions; limited ability to develop or commercialize our products; expenditure of time and resources to defend any claim or inquiry; adverse publicity; or substantial changes to our business model or operations.
Risks Related to Intellectual Property Litigation
We may be subject to litigation, regardless of success or merit, that could cause us to incur substantial expenses, reduce our sales, and divert the efforts of our management and other personnel.
The semiconductor and photonics industries are characterized by vigorous protection and pursuit of intellectual property rights and positions, which has resulted in protracted and expensive litigation for many companies. We may receive communications alleging liability for damages or challenging the validity of our intellectual property or proprietary rights. Any litigation, regardless of success or merit, could cause us to incur substantial expenses, reduce our sales, and divert the efforts of our management and other personnel. In the event we receive an adverse result in any litigation, we could be required to pay substantial damages, seek licenses from third parties, which may not be available on reasonable terms or at all, cease sale of products, expend significant resources to develop alternative technology, or discontinue the use of processes requiring the relevant technology. Furthermore, an adverse determination of any litigation or defense proceedings could put our intellectual property at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly and could put our related pending patent applications at risk of not issuing. Furthermore, because of the substantial amount of discovery required in connection with intellectual property litigation, there is a risk that some of our confidential or sensitive information could be compromised by disclosure in the event of litigation. In addition, during the course of litigation, there could be public announcements of the results of hearings, motions or other interim proceedings or developments. If securities analysts or investors perceive these results to be negative, it could have a substantial adverse effect on the price of our common stock.
Our ability to compete successfully depends in part on our ability to commercialize our intellectual property solutions without infringing the patent, trade secret, trademark, copyright, or other intellectual property rights of others.
Just as we seek to protect our technology and inventions with patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets and other intellectual property rights, our competitors and other third parties do the same for their technology and inventions. We have no means of knowing the content of patent applications filed by third parties until they are published, and we may not be aware of any patent applications even following their publication or issue.
The semiconductor and photonics industries are rife with patent assertion entities and is characterized by frequent litigation regarding patent and other intellectual property rights. From time to time, we receive communications from
third parties that allege that our software solutions or technologies infringe their patent or other intellectual property rights. We are currently subject to litigation alleging we have misappropriated trade secrets, as described in further described in the risk factor Risks Related to Legal, Regulatory, Accounting and Tax MattersPending or future investigations or litigation could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and our stock price. As a public company with an increased profile and visibility, we may receive similar communications or lawsuits in the future. In a patent infringement claim against us, we may assert, as a defense, that we do not infringe the relevant patent claims, that the patent is invalid or both. The strength of our defenses will depend on the patents asserted, the interpretation of these patents, and our ability to invalidate the asserted patents. However, we may not be successful in advancing non-infringement and/or invalidity arguments in our defense. In the United States, issued patents enjoy a presumption of validity, and the party challenging the validity of a patent claim must present clear and convincing evidence of invalidity, which is a high burden of proof. Conversely, the patent owner need only prove infringement by a preponderance of the evidence, which is a lower burden of proof. Lawsuits or other proceedings resulting from allegations of infringement could subject us to significant liability for damages, invalidate our proprietary rights and harm our business.
In the event that any third party succeeds in asserting a valid claim against us or any of our customers, we could be forced to do one or more of the following:
discontinue selling access to certain technologies that contain the allegedly infringing intellectual property which may result in a decline in our revenue and could result in breach of contract claim by our affected customers and damage to our reputation;
discontinue using trademarks that allegedly infringe the trademarks of others;
stop receiving payment from a customer that can no longer sell the end-product if it contains allegedly infringing intellectual property;
seek to develop non-infringing technologies, which may be expensive and not be feasible;
incur significant legal expenses;
pay substantial monetary damages to the party whose intellectual property rights we may be found to be infringing; and/or
we or our customers could be required to seek licenses to the infringed technology that may not be available on commercially reasonable terms, if at all.
If a third party causes us to discontinue the use of any of our technologies, we could be required to design around those technologies. If a third party causes us to discontinue using any of our trademarks, we could be required to adopt alternative brand names. If a third party establishes that they are co-authors of a copyrighted work that we use, we could be required to account for profits arising from exploiting such intellectual property. Each of these scenarios could be costly and time consuming and could have an adverse effect on our results of operations. Any significant impairments of our intellectual property rights from any litigation we face could harm our business and our ability to compete in our industry.
Any dispute regarding our intellectual property may require us to indemnify customers, the cost of which could harm our business.
In any potential dispute involving our patents or other intellectual property, our customers could also become the target of litigation. While we generally try to avoid indemnifying our customers, some of our agreements provide for indemnification, and some require us to provide technical support and information to a customer that is involved in litigation involving use of our technology. In addition, we may be exposed to indemnification obligations, risks and liabilities that were unknown at the time that we acquired assets or businesses. Any of these indemnification and support obligations could result in substantial and material expenses. In addition to the time and expense required for us to indemnify or supply such support to our customers, a customers development, marketing and sales of licensed semiconductors, mobile communications and data security technologies could be severely disrupted or shut down as a result of litigation, which in turn could severely harm our business as a result of lower licensing or royalty payments.
Risks Related to Our Status as a Controlled Company
Upon completion of the IPO in May of 2024, we became a controlled company within the meaning of the Nasdaq listing rules and as such are exempt from certain corporate governance requirements.
As a result of Ms. Ngai-Pesic and the members of her immediate family collectively holding more than 50% of the voting power of our company, following the completion of the IPO in May, we became a controlled company within the meaning of the Nasdaq listing rules. Therefore, we are not required to comply with certain corporate governance rules that would otherwise apply to us as a listed company on Nasdaq, including the requirements that (i) we have a majority of independent directors on our board of directors; (ii) the compensation of our executive officers be
determined by a majority of the independent directors or a compensation committee comprised solely of independent directors; and (iii) director nominees selected or recommended for our board be approved either by a majority of the independent directors or a nominating committee comprised solely of independent directors. Following the IPO, we utilize the exemptions described in clauses (ii) and (iii) above and may continue utilizing some or all of the exemptions described above. As a result, while we remain a controlled company, we may not have a majority of independent directors on our board of directors. In addition, our compensation and nominating and corporate governance committees may not consist entirely of independent directors and may not be subject to annual performance evaluations. Should the interests of Ms. Ngai-Pesic and her immediate family members differ from those of our other stockholders, it is possible that the other stockholders might not be afforded such protections as might exist if our board of directors, or our committees, were required to have a majority, or be composed exclusively, of directors who were independent of Ms. Ngai-Pesic and her immediate family members or our management.
As long as we are a controlled company, your ability to influence matters requiring stockholder approval will be limited, and the interests of our controlling stockholder may conflict with or differ from your interests as a stockholder
The Pesic Family (as defined below) collectively own more than 65% of our total outstanding common stock. For so long as the Pesic Family continue to collectively hold at least 50% of our outstanding common stock, they will be able to elect the members of our board of directors and will have the ability to control all matters affecting us, including:
through our board of directors, any determination with respect to our business plans and policies, including the appointment and removal of our officers;
any determinations with respect to mergers and other business combinations;
our acquisition or disposition of assets;
our financing activities;
the allocation of business opportunities that may be suitable for us;
the payment of dividends on our common stock; and
the number of shares available for future issuance and also issuance under our stock plans.
Further, for so long as the Stockholders Agreement, dated April 12, 2024, among us and the Pesic Family remains in effect and the Pesic Family owns in the aggregate, at least 25% of the voting power of the then outstanding shares of
our capital stock, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provide that the prior written approval or consent of the Pesic Family shall be required for us to (i) implement any amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or bylaws that would adversely affect the Pesic Familys rights thereunder, (ii) effect or consummate a change of control or approve another merger, consolidation, business combination, sale or acquisition that results in changes in the rights and privileges of holders of equity securities, and (iii) effect the liquidation or dissolution or winding up of our business operations.
Additionally, the Stockholders Agreement provides the Pesic Family has the ability to designate up to four nominees for our board of directors and one non-voting board observer, depending on ownership levels.
The Pesic Familys collective voting control may discourage transactions involving a change of control of us, including transactions in which you as a holder of our common stock might otherwise receive a premium for your shares over the then current market price.
The Pesic Family are not prohibited from selling a controlling interest in us to a third party and may do so without the approval of other stockholders and without providing for a purchase of shares of common stock held by other stockholders. Accordingly, the shares of common stock held by other stockholders may be worth less than they would be if the Pesic Family did not maintain voting control over us.
The interests of the Pesic Family could conflict with or differ from the interests as a holder of other stockholders. For example, the concentration of ownership held by the Pesic Family could delay, defer or prevent a change of control of us or impede a merger, takeover or other business combination that other stockholders may otherwise view favorably. So long as the Pesic Family continue to beneficially own a significant amount of our equity, even if such amount is less than 50%, they may continue to be able to strongly influence or effectively control our decisions.
Our inability to resolve any disputes that arise between us and Ms. Ngai-Pesic, or other members of the Pesic Family, with respect to our past, future and ongoing relationships may adversely affect our operating results.
We lease several office facilities from entities controlled by Ms. Ngai-Pesic pursuant to which we recorded a rent expense of $0.1 million and $0.34 million during the three and sixnine months ended JuneSeptember 30, 2025, respectively, and $0.12 million and $0.24 million, respectively for the comparable periods in 2024. Because we are controlled by the Pesic
Family, we may not have the leverage to negotiate extensions or amendments to our agreements on terms as favorable to us compared to those we would negotiate with an unaffiliated third party. See Note 6 to our condensed consolidated financial statements and Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of OperationsLiquidity and Capital Resources.
More generally, disputes may arise between Ms. Ngai-Pesic, or other members of the Pesic Family, and us or members of our board of directors or management in a number of areas relating to our or their past and ongoing relationships. We may not be able to resolve any potential conflicts, and even if we do, the resolution may be less favorable than if we were dealing with an unaffiliated party.
Risks Related to Legal, Regulatory, Accounting and Tax Matters
We are subject to anti-corruption and anti-money laundering laws with respect to our operations and non-compliance with such laws can subject us to criminal and/or civil liability and harm our business.
We are subject to anti-corruption, anti-bribery, anti-money laundering, and similar laws in the United States and other countries in which we conduct activities, including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as amended, or the FCPA, the U.S. domestic bribery statute contained in 18 U.S.C. 201, the U.S. Travel Act, the USA PATRIOT Act, and the United Kingdom Bribery Act 2010. Anti-corruption and anti-bribery laws, which have been enforced aggressively and are interpreted broadly, generally prohibit companies and their employees, agents, intermediaries and other third parties from directly or indirectly promising, authorizing, making or offering improper payments or other benefits to government officials and others in the private sector. We use third parties, including intermediaries and partners, to support sales of our products. We and these third parties may have direct or indirect interactions with officials and employees of government agencies or state-owned or affiliated entities and we may be held liable for the corrupt or other illegal activities of these third-party intermediaries and partners, our employees, representatives, contractors, and other third parties, even if we do not explicitly authorize such activities. While we have policies and procedures intended to address compliance with anti-corruption, anti-bribery, anti-money laundering and similar laws, we cannot assure you that all of our employees, representatives, contractors, partners, agents, intermediaries or other third parties have not taken, or will not take, actions in violation of our policies and applicable law, for which we may be ultimately held responsible.
Noncompliance with anti-corruption, anti-bribery, and anti-money laundering laws could subject us to investigations, severe criminal or civil sanctions, settlements, prosecution, loss of export privileges, other enforcement actions, disgorgement of profits, significant fines, damages, other civil and criminal penalties or injunctions, whistleblower complaints, adverse media coverage and other consequences. Any investigations, actions or sanctions could harm our reputation, business, operating results and financial condition.
We are subject to governmental export and import controls and sanctions, laws and regulations that could impair our ability to compete in international markets due to licensing requirements and subject us to liability if we do not comply with applicable laws and regulations.
Our software solutions and technology are subject to export control and import laws and regulations of applicable jurisdictions. Certain of our software solutions are subject to U.S. export controls and sanctions, including the Export Administration Regulations, U.S. Customs regulations, and the economic and trade sanctions regulations administered by the U.S. Treasury Departments Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). These laws and regulations may limit our ability to export our software solutions and technology or may require export authorizations and conditions prior to export. Export control and sanctions laws may also prohibit us from selling or providing our software solutions and technology to embargoed countries, regions, governments, persons, and entities. In addition, various countries regulate the importation of certain products, including through import licensing and permitting requirements, which could limit or restrict our ability to sell our products. The exportation, re-exportation, and importation of our software solutions and technology must comply with these laws and regulations. If we fail to comply with these laws and regulations, we and certain of our employees could be subject to substantial civil or criminal penalties, including the possible loss of export or import privileges, as well as reputational harm.
Complying with export control and sanctions laws and regulations can be time-consuming and result in the delay or loss of sales opportunities. We have taken precautions to prevent our software solutions and technology from being provided in violation of such laws and regulations. However, our software solutions and technology have previously been, and could in the future be, provided in violation of such laws despite the precautions in place. Between August 2019 and June 2022, we filed various voluntary disclosures with BIS regarding potential violations of U.S. export control laws and regulations, specifically, the export of our licenses to certain parties designated on BISs Entity List and Unverified List, and the export of certain software modules without a license which was required at the time of the transaction but that were declassified by BIS in October 2020 to a lesser controlled export classification, meaning that such software generally no longer requires an export license. In April 2025, BIS issued a warning letter in response to
the voluntary self-disclosures instead of pursuing criminal or administrative penalties or taking other enforcement action. However, BIS reserved the right to take future enforcement action should additional information warrant renewed attention. In July and October 2022 and January 2023, we also filed voluntary disclosures with OFAC regarding potential violations of OFAC sanctions programs, specifically the download of certain Company software modules by users in U.S. embargoed countries. In October 2023, we also filed voluntary disclosures with OFAC regarding certain banking transactions made by our third party service provider in Russia on our behalf, through a bank that was sanctioned by OFAC. In July 2024, OFAC issued a cautionary letter regarding the sanctions matters instead of pursuing a civil monetary penalty or taking other enforcement action. However, OFAC reserved the right to take future enforcement action should additional information warrant renewed attention. If either BIS and OFAC chooses to bring an enforcement action against us in relation to any potential violations in the future, such actions could result in the imposition of significant penalties against us.
Changes in our software solutions or technology or changes in applicable export or import laws and regulations may create delays in the introduction and sale of our software solutions and technology in international markets, prevent our customers from deploying our software solutions and technology or, in some cases, prevent the export or import of our software solutions and technology to certain countries, governments or persons altogether.
Any change in export or import laws and regulations, shift in the enforcement or scope of existing laws and regulations, or change in the countries, governments, persons or technologies targeted by such laws and regulations, could also result in decreased use of our software solutions and technology, or in our decreased ability to export or sell our software solutions and technology to existing or potential customers. Any decreased use of our software solutions and technology or limitation on our ability to export or sell our software solutions and technology would likely adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Pending or future investigations or litigation could have a material adverse effect on our financial position, results of operations and our stock price.
We are involved in various investigations, claims and legal proceedings from time to time that arise in the ordinary course of our business activities, including intellectual property, collaboration, licensing agreement, product liability, employment, class action, whistleblower and other litigation claims, and governmental and other regulatory investigations and proceedings. For example, we have previously commenced legal proceedings against certain of
our customers to protect our intellectual property rights and we may do so again in the future, which could result in resentment within our customer base and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Our proceedings currently include customary audit activities by various taxing authorities and legal proceedings.
For example, in December 2020 we sought declaratory relief in the California Superior Court to clarify our obligations regarding the earnout payments due to the former shareholders of Nangate following its acquisition by us in 2018. In May 2025, we and the other parties to the litigation entered into a settlement agreement pursuant to which Silvaco and our co-defendants agreed to pay the Nangate parties an aggregate amount of $32.5 million (the Settlement Payment) in full resolution of all claims. See Note 6 and Note 11 of our condensed consolidated financial statements for further discussion.
Changes in our tax rates or exposure to additional tax liabilities or assessments could affect our profitability, and audits by tax authorities could result in additional tax payments for prior periods.
We are subject to various U.S. and non-U.S. taxes, including direct and indirect taxes, such as corporate income, withholding, customs, excise, value-added, sales and other taxes imposed on our global activities. Significant judgment is required in determining our provisions for taxes, and there are many transactions and calculations where the ultimate tax determination is uncertain.
Our tax returns are subject to audit by U.S. federal, state and local tax authorities and by non-U.S. tax authorities. If audits result in tax liabilities or assessments different from our reserves, our future results may include unfavorable adjustments to our tax liabilities, and our financial statements could be adversely affected.
Changes in tax laws could adversely affect our business, financial position and results of operations.
Any significant changes to the tax system in the United States or in other jurisdictions could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
The U.S. Congress, government agencies in non-U.S. jurisdictions where we and our affiliates do business, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), have recently focused on issues related to the taxation of multinational corporations. One example is in the area of base erosion and profit shifting, where profits are claimed to be earned for tax purposes in low-tax jurisdictions, or payments are made between affiliates from a
jurisdiction with high tax rates to a jurisdiction with lower tax rates. The OECD has released several components of its comprehensive plan to create an agreed set of international rules for addressing base erosion and profit shifting.
Because we operate in numerous taxing jurisdictions, the application of the relevant tax laws can be subject to diverging and sometimes conflicting interpretations by the taxing authorities of these jurisdictions. It is not uncommon for taxing authorities in different countries to have conflicting views with respect to, among other things, whether a permanent establishment exists in a particular jurisdiction, the manner in which the arms length standard is applied for transfer pricing purposes, or the valuation of intellectual property. For example, if the taxing authority in one country where we operate were to reallocate income from another country where we operate, and the taxing authority in the second country did not agree with the reallocation asserted by the first country, we could become subject to tax on the same income in both countries, resulting in double taxation.
If taxing authorities were to allocate income to a higher tax jurisdiction, subject our income to double taxation or assess interest and penalties, it could increase our tax liability, which could adversely affect our business, financial position and results of operations.
In the United States, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act enacted in 2017, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act enacted in 2020, and the Inflation Reduction Act enacted in 2022 made many significant changes to U.S. tax laws. For example, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 eliminated the option to deduct research and experimental expenditures in the year incurred in tax years beginning after December 31, 2021, and taxpayers are instead required to capitalize and amortize such expenditures over five years for research activities conducted in the United States and fifteen years for research activities conducted outside the United States. Although there have been legislative proposals to repeal or defer the capitalization requirement, there can be no assurance that such changes will be made. Future guidance from the Internal Revenue Service and other tax authorities with respect to any tax legislation may affect us, and certain aspects of such legislation could be repealed or modified in future legislation.
Due to the potential for changes in tax laws and regulations or changes in the interpretation thereof (including regulations and interpretations pertaining to recent tax reform in the United States), the ambiguity of tax laws and regulations, the subjectivity of factual interpretations, uncertainties regarding the geographic mix of earnings in any particular period and other factors, our estimates of our effective tax rate and our income tax assets and liabilities may
be incorrect and our financial statements could be adversely affected. The impact of these factors may be substantially different from period-to-period.
Risks Related to the Ownership of Our Common Stock
The price of our common stock is volatile and this volatility may negatively impact the market price of our common stock. Declines in the price of our common stock could subject us to litigation.
The trading price and volume of our common stock have fluctuated, including declines in the trading price since our IPO, and could fluctuate significantly in the future in response to numerous factors, many of which are beyond our control. Such declines and fluctuations could result in investors losing all or part of their investment because they may not be able to sell them at or above the prices paid for them. Factors that have affected and/or could in the future affect the trading price and volume of our common stock include:
variations in our operating results and other financial and operational metrics, including the key financial and operating metrics disclosed in this report, as well as how those results and metrics compare to analyst and investor expectations;
speculation in the market about our operating results;
the financial guidance we may provide to the public, any changes in guidance or our failure to meet guidance;
failure of securities analysts to initiate or maintain coverage of us, changes in financial estimates or ratings by any securities analysts who follow us, or our failure to meet these estimates or the expectations of investors;
results of operations that otherwise fail to meet the expectations of securities analysts and investors;
changes in earnings estimates or recommendations by securities analysts, or other changes in investor perceptions of the investment opportunity associated with our common stock relative to other investment alternatives;
events or factors resulting from geopolitical changes, global health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, war, incidents of terrorism or responses to these events;
announcements of software solutions or enhancements, strategic alliances or significant agreements or other developments by us or our competitors;
announcements by us or our competitors of mergers or acquisitions or rumors of such transactions involving us or our competitors;
changes in management, other key personnel or our board of directors;
disruptions in our operations due to security breaches or other issues;
the strength of the global economy or the economy in the jurisdictions in which we operate, and market conditions in our industry and those affecting our customers;
trading activity by our controlling stockholders, the Pesic Family, including upon the expiration of contractual lock-up agreements, and other market participants, in whom ownership of our common stock may be concentrated following the IPO;
the potential effects arising if U.S. or global inflationary and/or currency devaluation trends appear or increase;
market conditions in the semiconductor and photonics industries
the performance of the equity markets in general and in our industry;
the operating performance of other similar companies;
actual or anticipated developments in our business or our competitors businesses or the competitive landscape generally;
new laws or regulations or new interpretations of existing laws, or regulations applicable to our business;
changes in regulations, including import, export and economic sanctions, laws and regulations, that may expose us to liability and increase our costs;
litigation or other claims against us;
the number of shares of our common stock that are available for public trading; and
any other factors discussed in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.
Furthermore, the stock market in general has experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of particular companies. Broad market and industry factors may significantly affect the market price of our common stock, regardless of our actual operating performance. In addition, if the market for EDA, TCAD, SIP or other technology stocks or the stock market in general experiences a loss of investor confidence, the price of our common stock could decline for reasons unrelated to our business, results of operations or financial condition. The price of our common stock might also decline in reaction to events that affect
other companies, even if those events do not directly affect us. Some companies that have experienced volatility in the trading price of their stock have been the subject of securities class action litigation. If we are the subject of such litigation, it could result in substantial costs and could divert our managements attention and resources, which could adversely affect our business, financial position and results of operations.
We have experienced a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting in the past. If we experience material weaknesses in the future or otherwise fail to maintain an effective system of internal controls in the future, we may not be able to report our financial condition or results of operations accurately or on a timely basis, prevent fraud or file our periodic reports in a timely manner and may incur additional costs to remediate, all of which may adversely affect investor confidence in us and our reported financial information and, as a result, impact the value of our common stock.
As a public company, we are subject to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, or Section 404, which requires that we maintain effective internal control over financial reporting and disclosure controls and procedures. Section 404(a) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires that we include a management report on our internal controls, including an assessment of the effectiveness of our internal controls and financial reporting procedures, beginning with the annual report for our fiscal year ending December 31, 2025. We will also be required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, or Section 404(b), following the later of the date we are deemed to be an accelerated filer or a large accelerated filer, each as defined in the Exchange Act, or the date we are no longer an emerging growth company, as defined in the JOBS Act. See We are an emerging growth company and a smaller reporting company and any decision on our part to comply with certain reduced reporting and disclosure requirements applicable to emerging growth companies could make our common stock less attractive to investors. In order to comply with Section 404, we must perform system and process evaluations, document our controls and perform testing of our key controls over financial reporting to allow management to report on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. Our testing will need to include the disclosure of any material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting identified by our management or our independent registered public accounting firm. Our testing, or the subsequent testing by our independent public accounting firm, may reveal deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting that are deemed to be material weaknesses. A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. If we are not able to comply with the requirements of Section 404 in a timely manner, the market price of our stock would likely decline and we could be subject to lawsuits,
sanctions or investigations by regulatory authorities, which would require additional financial and management resources.
We have in the past identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting (ICFR). We may discover additional material weaknesses in our system of internal financial and accounting controls and procedures that could result in a material misstatement of our financial statements. Our ICFR will not prevent or detect all errors and all fraud. A control system, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the control systems objectives will be met. Because of the inherent limitations in all control systems, no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that misstatements due to error or fraud will not occur or that all control issues and instances of fraud will be detected.
Any failure to maintain internal control over financial reporting or to identify any material weaknesses could severely inhibit our ability to timely and accurately report our financial condition, results of operations or cash flow. If we are unable to conclude that our internal control over financial reporting is effective, or if our independent registered public accounting firm determines we have a material weakness or significant deficiency in our internal control over financial reporting, investors may lose confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports, the market price of our common stock could decline, and we could be subject to sanctions or investigations by Nasdaq, the SEC, or other regulatory authorities. Failure to implement or maintain other effective control systems required of public companies, could also adversely affect our future access to the capital markets.
If we are unable to conclude that our internal control over financial reporting is effective, or if our independent registered public accounting firm is unable to express an opinion as to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting, when required, investors may lose confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports, we may not be able to access to the capital markets, and our stock price may be materially adversely affected. Moreover, we could become subject to investigations by regulatory authorities, which could require additional financial and management resources and result in the imposition of fines or penalties.
We are subject to significant regulatory compliance and internal governance requirements, and the failure to comply with such regulatory and governance requirements could result in a loss of sales or the loss of investor confidence in our financial reports, which could have an adverse effect on our stock price.
We are subject to the rules and regulations of the SEC, including those that require us to report on our internal controls. Compliance with these requirements has and will cause us to incur additional expenses and cause management to divert time from our day-to-day operations. While we anticipate being able to fully comply with these internal control requirements, if we are not able to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley reporting or certification requirements relating to internal controls, we may be subject to investigations or sanctions by the SEC, Nasdaq or other regulatory authorities.
Our stock is listed on Nasdaq and we are subject to ongoing financial and corporate governance requirements of Nasdaq. While we anticipate being able to fully comply with applicable Nasdaq requirements, if we are not able to comply, our name may be published on Nasdaqs daily Non-Compliant Companies list until Nasdaq determines that we have regained compliance or we no longer trade on Nasdaq.
There is no guarantee that an active and liquid market for our common stock will be sustained and investors may not be able to sell their shares at or above the price at which they were bought, or at all.
Our common stock has been trading on a national securities exchange for less than 158 months. An active market in our common stock may not be sustainable or liquid enough for you to sell your shares, especially given the concentration of outstanding shares. If an active market for our common stock is not sustained, holders of our common stock may not be able to liquidate their investment or resell their shares at favorable prices, or at all. An inactive trading market may also impair our ability to raise capital by selling shares of our common stock and enter into strategic partnerships or acquire other complementary products, technologies or businesses by using shares of our common stock as consideration. Furthermore, there can be no guarantee that we will continue to satisfy the continued listing standards of Nasdaq. If we fail to satisfy the continued listing standards, we could be delisted, which would negatively impact the value and liquidity of your investment.
Future issuances of our common stock or sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market, or the perception that such sales could occur, could cause the price of our common stock to decline.
The market price of our common stock could decline as a result of substantial sales of our common stock, particularly sales by our directors, executive officers and significant stockholders, a large number of shares of our common stock becoming available for sale, or the perception in the market that such sales could occur. We may issue additional
common stock, preferred stock, convertible securities or other equity or equity linked securities in the future. We also expect to issue common stock to our employees, directors and other service providers pursuant to our equity incentive plans. Such issuances will be dilutive to investors and could cause the price of our common stock to decline. New investors in such issuances could also receive rights senior to those of holders of our common stock.
We sold 6.0 million shares of common stock in the IPO and issued 294,217 shares to Micron in connection with the mandatory conversion of the senior subordinated convertible promissory note (the Micron Note), all of which are freely transferable without restriction or additional registration under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act.
Substantially all of the remaining 23.34.2 million shares of our common stock, including all shares held by our executive officers, directors and the holders of substantially all of our equity securities, were subject to lock-up agreements with the underwriters of the IPO, which have since expired. We have registered all shares of common stock that we may issue under equity compensation plans and therefore, those shares can be freely sold in the public market upon issuance, subject to volume limitations applicable to affiliates. Because the restrictions on resale under the lock-up agreements have ended, the market price of our common stock could drop significantly if the holders of those shares sell them or are perceived by the market as intending to sell them.
Other than shares which are vested as of the end of the lock-up period, we do not anticipate satisfying the anticipated tax withholding and remittance obligations as a result of vesting of restricted stock units (RSUs) granted to our employees. In such case, applicable holders of RSUs will be able to sell shares underlying their RSUs into the open market to the extent needed to satisfy the anticipated tax withholding and remittance obligations, subject to the restrictions set forth in the lock-up agreements. The sales of shares underlying RSUs into the open market could cause the market price of our common stock to decline significantly. The markets expectation that such sales could occur (even if they do not) could also cause the market price of our common stock to decline significantly. Any of the aforementioned declines in our stock price could occur even if our business is otherwise doing well and, as a result, you may lose all or a part of your investment.
If securities analysts or industry analysts downgrade our common stock, publish negative research or reports, or fail to publish reports about our business, our stock price and trading volume could decline.
The market price and trading market for our common stock may be influenced by the research and reports that industry or securities analysts publish about us, our business and our market. As a newly public company, the analysts who publish information about our common stock have had relatively little experience with us, which could affect their ability to accurately forecast our results and could make it more likely that we fail to meet their estimates. If one or more of the analysts covering us adversely change their recommendation regarding our stock or change their recommendation about our competitors stock, our stock price could decline. If one or more analysts cease coverage of us or fail to regularly publish reports on us, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which in turn could cause our stock price or trading volume to decline or become volatile.
We have broad discretion in the use of the net proceeds to us from the IPO and may not apply the proceeds in ways that increase our market value or improve our operating results.
Our management has considerable discretion in the application of the net proceeds from the IPO. The net proceeds we received may be used for corporate purposes that do not increase the value of our business, which could cause our stock price to decline. The failure by our management to apply the net proceeds from the IPO effectively could impair our growth prospects and result in financial losses that could harm our business and cause the price of our common stock to decline. We used a portion of the proceeds of the IPO to repay in full (i) the 2022 Credit Line payable to Ms. Ngai-Pesic and (ii) the loan facility with East West Bank. We have placed unused net proceeds in investments that may not produce income or that lose value. Additionally, we have broad discretion in the use of the net proceeds from the IPO when determining whether to satisfy the anticipated tax withholding and remittance obligations related to vesting of RSUs granted to our employees on their behalf after settling the awards or whether to elect to allow RSU holders to sell into the open market shares underlying RSUs to the extent needed to satisfy tax obligations associated with these vested RSUs.
We do not intend to pay dividends on our common stock, so any returns on your investment will be limited to changes in the value of our common stock.
We currently anticipate that we will retain future earnings for the development, operation and expansion of our business and do not anticipate declaring or paying any dividends for the foreseeable future. Any future determination to pay dividends will be at the discretion of our board of directors and subject to, among other things, our compliance with applicable law, and depending on, among other things, our business prospects, financial condition, results of operations, cash requirements and availability, debt repayment obligations, capital expenditure needs, the terms of
any preferred equity securities we may issue in the future, covenants in the agreements governing any future indebtedness, other contractual restrictions and industry trends and any other factors or considerations our board of directors may regard as relevant. Any return to stockholders will therefore be limited to the increase, if any, in our stock price, which may never occur.
Our amended and restated charter and bylaws designate the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware as the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by our stockholders, and provide that federal district courts will be the sole and exclusive forum for Securities Act claims, which could limit our stockholders ability to obtain what they believe to be a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers or other employees.
Our charter and bylaws provide that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, to the fullest extent permitted by law, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware (or, if that court lacks subject matter jurisdiction, another federal or state court situated in the State of Delaware) shall be the sole and exclusive forum for (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf, (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any of our directors, officers or other employees to us or our stockholders, (iii) any action asserting a claim arising pursuant to any provision of the Delaware General Corporation Law, or the DGCL, our certificate of incorporation, or our bylaws, or any issue, in one or more series, of all or any of the remaining shares of preferred stock, and, in the resolution or resolutions providing for such issue; (iv) any action to interpret, apply, enforce, or determine the validity of our certificate of incorporation or our bylaws; or (v) any action asserting a claim against us governed by the internal affairs doctrine. If any such action is filed in a court other than a court located within the State of Delaware, or a Foreign Action, in the name of any stockholder, that stockholder shall be deemed to have consented to: (x) the personal jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located within the State of Delaware in connection with any action brought in any such court to enforce our choice of forum, or an Enforcement Action, and (y) having service of process made upon such stockholder in any such Enforcement Action by service upon such stockholders counsel in the Foreign Action as agent for such stockholder, in each case, to the fullest extent permitted by law. Our charter and bylaws further provide that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the federal district courts are the sole and exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising
under the Securities Act. The choice of forum provisions does not apply to suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction.
These provisions do not apply to suits brought to enforce a duty or liability created by the Exchange Act. Furthermore, Section 22 of the Securities Act creates concurrent jurisdiction for federal and state courts over all such Securities Act actions. Accordingly, both state and federal courts have jurisdiction to entertain such claims. To prevent having to litigate claims in multiple jurisdictions and the threat of inconsistent or contrary rulings by different courts, among other considerations, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will further provide that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the federal district courts of the United States shall, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be the sole and exclusive forum for the resolutions of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act, including all causes of action asserted against any defendant named in such complaint.
We believe these provisions may benefit us by providing increased consistency in the application of Delaware law and federal securities laws by chancellors and judges, as applicable, particularly experienced in resolving corporate disputes, efficient administration of cases on a more expedited schedule relative to other forums, and protection against the burdens of multi-forum litigation. These choice of forum provisions may limit a stockholders ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or any of our directors, officers, other employees or stockholders, which may discourage lawsuits with respect to such claims or make such lawsuits more costly for stockholders, although our stockholders will not be deemed to have waived our compliance with federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. Furthermore, the enforceability of similar choice of forum provisions in other companies certificates of incorporation has been challenged in legal proceedings, and it is possible that a court could find these types of provisions to be inapplicable or unenforceable. While the Delaware courts have determined that such choice of forum provisions are facially valid, a stockholder may nevertheless seek to bring a claim in a venue other than those designated in the exclusive forum provisions, and there can be no assurance that such provisions will be enforced by a court in those other jurisdictions. If a court were to find one or more of the choice of forum provisions that will be contained in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could seriously harm our business.
General Risk Factors and Risks Related to Being a Public Company
The requirements of being a public company may strain our resources and distract our management.
Until the IPO, we never operated as a public company and will incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company. We also have incurred and expect to incur stock-based compensation expense, which we did not incur in any material amount as a private company. Our management team and other personnel will need to devote a substantial amount of time to, and we may not effectively or efficiently manage, our status as a public company. For example, we are subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act, the applicable requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the rules and regulations of the SEC and the rules and regulations of Nasdaq. To comply with the various requirements applicable to public companies, we have had to establish and maintain effective disclosure and financial controls and make changes to our corporate governance practices. If, notwithstanding our efforts to comply with these laws, regulations and standards, we fail to comply, regulatory authorities may initiate legal or administrative proceedings against us and our business may be harmed. Further, failure to comply with these rules might make it more difficult for us to obtain some types of insurance, including director and officer liability insurance, and we might be forced to accept reduced policy limits and coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain the same or similar coverage. The impact of these events could also make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified persons to serve on our board of directors, on committees of our board of directors or as members of senior management. As such, we have, and intend to continue to, invest resources to comply with evolving laws, regulations and standards. These investments have, and are likely to continue to, result in increased general and administrative expenses and a diversion of managements time and attention from revenue-generating activities.
Our management and other personnel are also required to divert attention from other business matters to devote substantial time to the reporting and other requirements applicable to a public company. We may be unable to locate and hire qualified professionals with requisite technical and public company experience when and as needed. In addition, new employees will require time and training to learn our business and operating processes and procedures. If we are unable to recruit and retain additional finance personnel or if our finance and accounting team is unable for any reason to respond adequately to the increased demands that will result from being a public company, the quality and timeliness of our financial reporting may suffer, which could result in late filings or the identification of material weaknesses in our internal controls. Any consequences resulting from inaccuracies or delays in our public reporting could cause our stock price to decline, result in litigation and could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Additionally, as a public company, we may, from time to time, be subject to proposals and other requests from stockholders urging us to take certain corporate actions, including proposals seeking to influence our corporate policies or effect a change in our management. In the event of such stockholder proposals, particularly with respect to matters which our management and board of directors, in exercising their fiduciary duties, disagree with or have determined not to pursue, our business could be harmed because responding to actions and requests of stockholders can be costly and time-consuming, disrupting our operations and diverting the attention of management and our employees. Additionally, perceived uncertainties as to our future direction may result in the loss of potential business opportunities and may make it more difficult to attract and retain qualified personnel, business partners and customers.
Downturns or volatility in general economic conditions could harm our business.
Our revenue, gross margin, and ability to achieve and maintain profitability depend significantly on general economic conditions and the demand for software solutions in the markets in which our customers compete. Weaknesses in the global economy and financial markets and any adverse changes in general domestic and global economic conditions that may occur in the future, including any recession, economic slowdown or disruption of credit markets, may lead to, lower demand for products that incorporate our solutions.
As we have grown, we have become increasingly subject to the risks arising from adverse changes in domestic and global economic conditions. As a result of the recent economic slowdown and current economic uncertainty, many companies are delaying or reducing technology purchases, which has had, and is expected to continue to have, an impact on our visibility into the closing of new business, as opposed to our recurring business. This slowdown and uncertainty has also contributed to, and may continue to contribute to, reductions in sales, longer sales cycles, and increased price pressures, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Additionally, countries in certain international regions in which we operate have continued to experience weaknesses in their currency, banking, and equity markets. These weaknesses could adversely affect customer demand for our software solutions and could have an adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flow.
Adverse developments affecting the financial services industry could adversely affect our liquidity, financial condition and results of operations, either directly or through adverse impacts on certain of our vendors and customers.
Actual events involving limited liquidity, defaults, non-performance or other adverse developments that affect financial institutions, transactional counterparties or other companies in the financial services industry or the financial services industry generally, or concerns or rumors about any events of these kinds or other similar risks, have in the past and may in the future lead to market-wide liquidity problems. For example, on March 10, 2023, Silicon Valley Bank, or SVB, was closed by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, as receiver. Similarly, on March 12, 2023, Signature Bank and Silvergate Capital Corp. were each swept into receivership. Although we are not a borrower or party to any financial instruments with SVB, Signature Bank or any other financial institution currently in receivership, if any of the banks which hold our cash deposits were to be placed into receivership, we may be unable to access such funds. As of JuneSeptember 30, 2025, $19.36.8 million, or 651%, of our cash and cash equivalents and, restricted cash and marketable securities were maintained with one financial institution, where our current deposits are in excess of federally insured limits. In addition, if any of our customers, suppliers or other parties with whom we conduct business are unable to access funds pursuant to such instruments or lending arrangements with such a financial institution, such parties ability to pay their obligations to us or to enter into new commercial arrangements requiring additional payments to us could be adversely affected.
We are an emerging growth company and a smaller reporting company and any decision on our part to comply with certain reduced reporting and disclosure requirements applicable to emerging growth companies could make our common stock less attractive to investors.
We are an emerging growth company as defined in the JOBS Act. We intend to take advantage of certain exemptions under the JOBS Act from various public company reporting requirements, including not being required to have our internal control over financial reporting audited by our independent registered public accounting firm pursuant to Section 404(b), reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and any golden parachute payments not previously approved. We may take advantage of these exemptions for up to five years or until we are no longer an emerging growth company, whichever is earlier.
In addition, Section 107 of the JOBS Act provides that an emerging growth company can take advantage of an extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards. This provision allows an emerging growth company to delay the adoption of some accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to
private companies. We have elected to use the extended transition period under the JOBS Act. Accordingly, our consolidated financial statements may not be comparable to the financial statements of public companies that comply with such new or revised accounting standards.
We cannot predict if investors will find our common stock less attractive if we choose to rely on any of the exemptions afforded to emerging growth companies. If some investors find our common stock less attractive because we rely on any of these exemptions, there may be a less active trading market for our common stock and the market price of our common stock may be more volatile.
We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of (ii) the last day of the fiscal year (a) in which the fifth anniversary of the completion of the IPO, (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.235 billion or (c) in which we become a large accelerated filer, which means that we have been public for at least 12 months, have filed at least one annual report and the market value of our common stock that is held by non-affiliates exceeds $700.0 million as of the last day of our then-most recently completed second fiscal quarter, and (ii) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt during the prior three-year period.
We are also a smaller reporting company. We may continue to be a smaller reporting company if either (i) the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates is less than $250.0 million or (ii) our annual revenue is less than $100.0 million during the most recently completed fiscal year and the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates is less than $700.0 million. If we are a smaller reporting company at the time we cease to be an emerging growth company, we may continue to rely on exemptions from certain disclosure requirements that are available to smaller reporting companies. Specifically, as a smaller reporting company we may choose to present only the two most recent fiscal years of audited financial statements in our Annual Report on Form 10-K, we are not required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 and, similar to emerging growth companies, smaller reporting companies have reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation.