Item 1A. Risk Factors
Any investment in our securities involves a high degree of risk. Before deciding whether to purchase any of our securities, investors should carefully consider the risks described below. Our business, financial condition, operating results and prospects are subject to the following material risks. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently foreseeable to us may also impair our business operations. If any of the following risks actually occur, our business, financial condition or operating results could be materially adversely affected. In such case, the trading price of our Class A Ordinary Common Stock or value of other securities could decline, and our stockholders may lose all or part of their investment in our securities. If any of these risks actually occur, our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flow could be adversely effected. This could cause the trading price our Class A Ordinary Common Stock or value of our other securities to decline, resulting in a loss of all or part of your investment. The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones facing us. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us, or that we currently see as immaterial, may also harm our business. Please also read carefully the section above entitled “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.” References to “we,” “us,” or “our” in this section refer to the Company.
Risks Related to Our Business in General
We have a limited operating history and have incurred operating losses since our inception and anticipate that the Company will continue to incur losses in the foreseeable future, which could adversely impact our operations, strategy and financial performance.
During the short time we have operated we have incurred net losses. We expect to continue to incur losses for the near future, and these losses may increase as we pursue our growth strategy. With the expansion of our two main businesses, our HPC/AI cloud platform and the development of data center assets, no certainty exists that we will become profitable and, even if we do achieve profitability, we may not be able to sustain or increase profitability on a quarterly or annual basis. The future expansion of our business likely requires substantial capital costs and expenses and there can be no assurance that subsequent operational objectives will be achieved. If we do not achieve our operational objectives, and if we do not generate cash flow and income, our financial performance and long-term viability may be materially and adversely affected. Our inability to achieve and then maintain profitability would negatively affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
We have an evolving business model and strategy.
We expect our business model and strategy to continue to evolve in the future. As artificial intelligence and high-performance computing become more widely available, and as the needs of data centers increase, we expect related services and products to evolve. In order to stay current with our industry, our business model will also need to evolve. Our ability to retain, increase, and engage our user base and to increase our revenue depends heavily on our ability to continue to evolve our existing services and to create successful new services, both independently and in conjunction with developers or other third parties. As a result, from time to time, we may modify aspects of our business model relating to our strategy. Our growth strategy includes exploring the expansion and diversification of our revenue sources into new markets. We cannot offer any assurance that these or any other modifications to our business model and strategy will be successful or will not result in harm to our business. Such modifications may increase the complexity of our business and place significant strain on our management, personnel, operations, systems, technical performance, financial resources and internal financial control and reporting functions. Moreover, we may not be able to manage growth effectively, which could damage our reputation, limit our growth and adversely affect our operating results. Further, we cannot provide any assurance that we will successfully identify all emerging trends and growth opportunities within our industry or other markets we seek to expand into, and we may lose out on such opportunities. These efforts, including the introduction of new services or changes to existing services, may also result in new or enhanced governmental or regulatory scrutiny, litigation, ethical concerns, or other complications that could adversely affect our business, reputation, or financial results. If our new or changed services fail to engage users or developers, or if our business plans are unsuccessful, we may fail to attract or retain users or to generate sufficient revenue, operating margin, or other value to justify our investments, and our business may be adversely affected.
Our results of operations may fluctuate significantly and may not fully reflect the underlying performance of our business.
Our results of operations, including the levels of our net revenues, expenses, net loss and other key metrics, may vary significantly in the future due to a variety of factors, some of which are outside of our control, and period-to-period comparisons of our operating results may not be meaningful, especially given our limited operating history.
The results for any one quarter are not necessarily an indication of future performance. Fluctuations in quarterly results may adversely affect the market price of the Company’s Class A Ordinary Common Stock. Factors that may cause fluctuations in our annual financial results include:
the amount and timing of operating expenses related to our new business operations and infrastructure; and
general economic, industry and market conditions.
We may be unable to raise additional capital needed to grow our business.
At least until our business strategy is implemented there may be a need to raise additional capital to expand our operations and pursue our growth strategies, including potential acquisitions of complementary businesses, and to respond to competitive pressures or unanticipated working capital requirements. We may not be able to obtain additional debt or equity financing on favorable terms, if at all, which could impair our growth and adversely affect our existing operations. If we raise additional funds through one or more equity financings, our stockholders may experience significant dilution of their ownership interests, and the per share value of the Company’s Class A Ordinary Common Stock could decline. Furthermore, if we engage in additional debt financing, the holders of debt likely would have priority over the holders of common stock on order of payment preference. We may be required to accept terms that restrict our ability to incur additional indebtedness or take other actions including terms that require us to maintain specified liquidity or other ratios that could otherwise not be in the interests of our stockholders.
The cost of obtaining new and replacement compute and storage servers and ancillary equipment, parts and other data center related equipment has historically been capital-intensive and is likely to continue being capital-intensive, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Our operations require significant capital investment to purchase and maintain the property and equipment required to provide our services. Our operations can only be profitable if the costs, inclusive of hardware and electricity costs, associated with high-performance computing and data center operations are lower than the reward or fee for service received. Our business, financial condition, and results of operations are dependent on our ability to operate with greater revenue than costs. As the cost of obtaining new equipment increases, the cost of operating also increases. This requires a corresponding increase in the price of services for us to maintain profitability. We experience ordinary wear and tear from operation and may also face more significant malfunctions caused by factors which may be beyond our control. Additionally, as technology evolves, we may acquire newer models of equipment to remain competitive in the market. Consequently, we will rely on capital markets, as sources of liquidity for capital requirements for growth. If we are unable to access capital at competitive rates, the ability to implement business plans, make capital expenditures or pursue acquisitions we would otherwise rely on for future growth may be adversely affected. Market disruptions may increase the cost of borrowing or adversely affect our ability to access one or more financial markets. Such market disruptions could include:
A significant economic downturn;
The financial distress of unrelated industry leaders in the same line of business;
Deterioration in capital market conditions;
Turmoil in the financial services industry;
Volatility in GPU prices;
Terrorist attacks;
Trade tariff or restrictions
War; and/or
Cyberattacks.
Our business has and is expected to continue to have significant customer concentration.
We generate a large portion of our revenue (around 82% in 2025) from a small number of customers (3 customers in 2025). There are inherent risks whenever a large percentage of total revenue is concentrated with a limited number of customers. If we were to lose one or more of our customers, our operating results could be materially adversely affected.
We expect that the limited number of customers will continue to account for a high percentage of our revenue for the foreseeable future. In addition, demand for our services generated by these customers may fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter. The concentration of our customer base increases risks related to the financial condition of our customers, and the deterioration in the financial condition of a single customer or the failure of a single customer to perform its obligations could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and cash flow. In the event that any of our customers experience a decline in their equipment usage for any reason, or decide to discontinue the use of our services, we may be compelled to lower our prices or risk losing a significant customer. Such developments could adversely affect our profit margins and financial position, leading to a negative impact on our revenue and operational results.
We are substantially dependent on NEXTDC as our primary data center provider, and any delay, disruption or failure by NEXTDC could materially impair our ability to deliver services and generate revenue.
We have secured up to 54MW of capacity through NEXTDC and rely on NEXTDC to host substantially all of our GPU infrastructure. If NEXTDC experiences construction delays, financial difficulties, power supply issues, or fails to deliver contracted capacity on schedule, we may be unable to deploy our GPU fleet, fulfill customer contracts, or generate anticipated revenue. Our revenue projections and growth strategy are materially dependent on NEXTDC delivering capacity on time and as contracted. Any failure or delay by NEXTDC could cause us to miss revenue guidance, breach customer agreements, and suffer reputational harm, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
We may fail to retain existing customers and attract new customers the results of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
The success of SharonAI’s business and implementation of its growth strategy relies on its ability to retain existing customers and attract new customers. There is no guarantee that we will be able to enter into contracts with new customers on similar terms to its existing customers (including as to initial contract term and renewal mechanisms) or at all. An inability to attract new customers may have a materially adverse impact on our financial performance and cash flows. Additionally, we cannot guarantee that any existing or future customers will not terminate their arrangements with us during or at the end of their initial contract term or any subsequent term. There is a risk that customers may reduce or cease usage of our offerings or that they may not increase their usage, which would result in a reduction (or limited growth) in the revenue.
The Company cannot predict how or to what extent the demand for its products in the digital infrastructure market will develop going forward. If the Company fails to obtain the necessary equipment or fail to effectively utilize this equipment, or if the digital infrastructure market does not develop as the Company currently anticipates based on the expected growth of HPC/AI, the Company’s revenues, growth prospects, and financial condition could be materially and adversely affected.
The Company’s future growth strategy may also include the acquisition of patented technologies or businesses with complementary capabilities. Such acquisitions involve numerous risks, including: the inability to enter into or complete acquisition agreements; difficulties integrating operations, technology and personnel; failure to achieve anticipated synergies or financial benefits; challenges in maintaining effective controls, procedures and policies during integration; diversion of management attention; and limitations in due diligence that may result in unidentified legal, financial, tax or intellectual property risks. If the Company is unable to effectively manage these risks, its business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.
The lack of back-to-back contractual provisions with key suppliers could cause operational issues which could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition and results of operations.
The Company’s customer and partner agreements do not consistently provide “back-to-back” protections aligned with its key supplier contracts, including arrangements with Lenovo and NEXTDC. Certain Lenovo Statements of Work permit Lenovo to terminate services if, in its sole opinion, a material adverse change occurs in the Company’s business, operations or financial condition. However, the Company’s customer agreements do not clearly provide corresponding termination or suspension rights in these circumstances.
As a result, the Company (or its subsidiaries as the contracting party under certain customer service agreements) may remain contractually liable to customers even if a key supplier terminates or suspends services. Any such circumstances could expose the Company to operational disruption, contractual liability or financial loss, which may have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our ability to meet customer demand for GPU compute services is dependent on the timely deployment of infrastructure, and we may be unable to fulfill customer commitments if deployment is delayed.
We have entered into, or are seeking to enter into, take-or-pay customer contracts that assume timely availability of GPU infrastructure. If hardware delivery is delayed, data center capacity is not available as scheduled, or technical commissioning takes longer than anticipated, we may be unable to meet our contractual obligations to customers. In such circumstances, we could face contractual liability, reputational damage, and loss of customers. Investors should not place undue reliance on our stated pipeline or contracted revenue as an indicator of near-term financial performance, as the conversion of pipeline to revenue is contingent on successful and timely infrastructure deployment.
Our public statements regarding our capacity to meet AI compute demand may not reflect the full extent of operational and infrastructure risks, which could expose us to securities litigation.
Companies in the AI infrastructure sector, including our competitors, have faced securities fraud class action lawsuits alleging that public statements overstated the ability to meet customer demand while concealing known infrastructure constraints. We make forward-looking statements regarding our capacity expansion, customer pipeline, and revenue potential. If actual results differ materially from these statements due to data center delays, hardware procurement issues, or customer contract failures, investors who purchased our securities in reliance on such statements may bring claims against us. Such litigation, even if ultimately unsuccessful, could be costly, divert management attention, and harm our reputation and stock price.
Revenue guidance and financial projections may be materially impacted by factors outside our control, including third-party data center construction timelines and GPU delivery schedules.
Our revenue projections assume that GPU hardware will be delivered, installed, and operational within anticipated timeframes, and that contracted data center capacity will be available as planned. These assumptions are subject to risks including supply chain disruptions, construction delays by third-party data center operators, and commissioning delays. As demonstrated by recent industry experience, even a single data center provider experiencing delays can cause a material reduction in revenue guidance. Our financial forecasts may prove inaccurate if any of these dependencies are not met on schedule, and any downward revision to guidance could cause a significant decline in the price of our securities.
Our concentration of data center infrastructure with a single primary provider creates significant operational and financial risk that may not be fully reflected in our current disclosures.
Unlike larger cloud infrastructure providers that operate across dozens of data center facilities, we currently operate substantially all of its GPU infrastructure within NEXTDC facilities. This concentration means that any adverse event affecting NEXTDC — including regulatory action, power supply constraints, natural disasters, or financial distress — could simultaneously affect all or substantially all of our operational capacity. Our insurance may not adequately cover losses arising from such events. Investors should be aware that this concentration risk is materially greater than that of more diversified infrastructure operators, and that our ability to generate revenue is therefore more sensitive to the performance of a single counterparty than may be apparent from a review of our business description alone.
The presence of a minority shareholder may increase administrative complexity and reduce structural flexibility in relation to DSS. Any such constraints could, in certain circumstances, affect the Company’s ability to implement corporate or operational initiatives involving DSS as efficiently as if DSS were wholly owned, which may have an adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition and results of operations.
Certain key supplier agreements and assets are held through DSS, a subsidiary of the Company that is not wholly owned. A minority shareholder holds approximately 0.5% of the issued capital of DSS.
As DSS is not wholly owned, the Company must manage certain matters relating to DSS in accordance with applicable corporate governance requirements and shareholder rights under law and DSS’s constituent documents. This may affect the manner and timing in which certain corporate actions, restructurings or transactions involving DSS are implemented.
The presence of a minority shareholder may increase administrative complexity and reduce structural flexibility in relation to DSS. Any such constraints could, in certain circumstances, affect the Company’s ability to implement corporate or operational initiatives involving DSS as efficiently as if DSS were wholly owned, which may have an adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition and results of operations.
We are highly dependent on our key personnel, and if we are not successful in attracting and retaining highly qualified personnel, we may not be able to successfully implement our business strategy.
Our ability to compete in the highly competitive digital infrastructure industry, including HPC/AI cloud services and data center development, depends upon our ability to attract and retain highly qualified personnel. The responsibility of the direction and operation of our business relies heavily on a small number of key people, including CEO James Manning. If any of our key employees or service providers cease their involvement in our business or, in the unfortunate situation one or more of them are seriously injured or dies, this loss would have a significant and likely adverse impact on us.
To induce valuable employees to remain at our company, in addition to salary and cash incentives, we have provided equity awards that vest over time. The value to employees of equity awards that vest over time may be significantly affected by movements in our stock price that are beyond our control and may at any time be insufficient to counteract more lucrative offers from other companies. Despite our efforts to retain valuable employees, members of our management team may terminate their employment with us on short notice. Although we have employment agreements with some of our key employees, these employment agreements provide for at-will employment, which means that any of our employees could leave our employment at any time, with or without notice. We do not maintain “key man” insurance policies on the lives of these individuals or the lives of any of our other employees.
We may not have, or be able to obtain or maintain, relevant business insurance.
Due to the industry in which we operate, we may not be able to obtain or maintain some types of insurance that operators of similar businesses would usually obtain, on commercially viable premiums, or at all. Currently, we do not have any business liability or disruption insurance to cover our operations, other than director’s and officer’s liability insurance. We have determined that the costs of insuring for these risks and the difficulties associated with acquiring such insurance on commercially reasonable terms make it impractical for us to have such insurance. Any uninsured business disruptions may result in our incurring substantial costs and the diversion of resources, which could have an adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.
Failure to effectively manage our growth could place strains on our managerial, operational, and financial resources and could adversely affect our business and operating results.
As our infrastructure operations grow, the administrative demands upon us will grow, and our success will depend upon our ability to meet those demands. We are organized as a holding company, with numerous subsidiaries. Both the parent company and each of our subsidiaries require certain financial, managerial, and other resources, which could create challenges to our ability to successfully manage our subsidiaries and operations and impact our ability to assure compliance with our policies, practices, and procedures. These demands include, but are not limited to, increased executive, accounting, management, legal services, staff support, and general office services. We may need to hire additional qualified personnel to meet these demands, the cost and quality of which is dependent in part upon market factors outside of our control. Further, we will need to effectively manage the training and growth of our staff to maintain an efficient and effective workforce, and our failure to do so could adversely affect our business and operating results.
We have potential risks in connection with growth and acquisitions.
Our future growth may depend in part on our ability to acquire patented technologies or potential target companies that have synergies with our business activities. Such acquisitions are subject to numerous risks, including, but not limited to the following:
our inability to enter into a definitive agreement with respect to any potential acquisition, or if we are able to enter into such agreement, our inability to consummate the potential acquisition;
difficulty integrating the operations, technology, and personnel of the acquired entity including achieving anticipated synergies;
our inability to achieve the anticipated financial and other benefits of the specific acquisition;
difficulty in maintaining controls, procedures, and policies during the transition and monetization process;
diversion of our management’s attention from other business concerns; and
failure of our due diligence process to identify significant issues, including issues with respect to patented technologies and other legal, tax, and financial contingencies.
If we are unable to manage these risks effectively as part of any acquisition, our business could be adversely affected.
We may acquire other businesses, form joint ventures or acquire other companies or businesses that could negatively affect our operating results, dilute our stockholders’ ownership, increase our debt or cause us to incur significant expense; notwithstanding the foregoing, our growth may depend on our success in uncovering and completing such transactions.
We cannot offer any assurance that acquisitions of businesses, assets, and/or entering into strategic alliances or joint ventures will be successful. We may not be able to find suitable partners or acquisition candidates and may not be able to complete such transactions on favorable terms, if at all. If we make any acquisitions, we may not be able to integrate these acquisitions successfully into our existing infrastructure. In addition, in the event we acquire any existing businesses we could assume unknown or contingent liabilities.
Any future acquisitions also could result in the issuance of shares, the incurrence of debt, contingent liabilities, or future write-offs of intangible assets or goodwill, any of which could have a negative impact on our cash flows, financial condition, and results of operations. Integration of an acquired company may also disrupt ongoing operations and require management resources that otherwise would be focused on developing and expanding our existing business. We may experience losses related to potential investments in other companies, which could harm our financial condition and results of operations. Further, we may not realize the anticipated benefits of any acquisition, strategic alliance, or joint venture if such investments do not materialize.
To finance any acquisitions or joint ventures, we may choose to issue common shares, preferred shares, or a combination of debt and equity as consideration, which could significantly dilute the ownership of our existing stockholders or provide rights to such preferred stockholders in priority over our common shareholders. Additional funds may not be available on terms that are favorable to us, or at all. If the price of our stock is low or volatile, we may not be able to acquire other companies or fund a joint venture project using shares as consideration.
We rely on certain strategic partnerships with NVIDIA, Cisco and Lenovo. If any of these strategic partnerships were terminated, not renewed, materially amended, or became less effective, the Company’s ability to generate customer referrals, access enterprise sales channels, or support large-scale deployments may be adversely affected which could have material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, operating results and growth prospects.
The Company’s customer acquisition strategy is materially supported by strategic partnerships, including arrangements with NVIDIA, Cisco and Lenovo. In particular, we benefit from referral activity through NVIDIA’s consumption desk, channel integration opportunities via Cisco’s enterprise sales team (including access to government and enterprise customers), and technical and sales collaboration with Lenovo.
If any of these partnership arrangements were terminated, not renewed, materially amended, or became less effective, the Company’s ability to generate customer referrals, access enterprise sales channels, or support large-scale deployments may be adversely affected. In particular, reduced referral flow from the Company’s referral partners could materially impact pipeline conversion, customer acquisition rates and revenue growth.
There is no assurance that these partnerships will continue on current terms, or at all. Changes in the commercial priorities, financial condition, competitive positioning or strategic direction of these partners, or a deterioration in the Company’s relationship with them, could result in reduced collaboration, fewer customer introductions or loss of strategic support. Any such outcome may have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, operating results and growth prospects.
Our future results will suffer if we do not effectively manage our expanded operations.
The size of our business is forecast to increase significantly beyond the size of our historical businesses on a stand-alone basis. Our future success depends, in part, upon our ability to manage this expanded business, which may pose substantial challenges for management, including challenges related to the management and monitoring of new operations and associated increased costs and complexity. There can be no assurance that we will be successful or that we will realize the expected operating efficiencies, cost savings, revenue enhancements, and other benefits anticipated from the growth.
Our industry has significant competition and technological change
The markets in which we operate are highly competitive, we expect that competition will continue to be intense due to rapid technological changes, frequent product introductions and improvements used by our competitors, or new competitors of our services that may provide. Our competition through these changes may offer better performance that may include additional features that render our products comparatively less competitive. We may also face aggressive pricing by competitors, especially during challenging economic times. In addition, our competitors may have significant marketing and sales resources which could increase the competitive environment in a declining market or during challenging economic times, leading to lower prices and margins. Some competitors may have greater access or rights to complementary technologies or supplies for improved equipment.
The market for high-performance computing and cloud services is driven in large part by demand for server clusters, specialized or high-performance applications, and hosted software solutions which require fast and efficient data processing and is characterized by rapid advances in technologies. It is difficult to predict the development of demand for high-performance computing and cloud services, the size and growth rate for this market, the entry of competitive products, or the success of any existing or future products that may compete with any high-performance computing and cloud services we may develop. There has been an increasing number of competitors providing high-performance computing and cloud services, which has resulted in increasing competition and pricing pressure that may cause us to reduce our pricing in order to remain competitive. Meanwhile, if there is a reduction in demand for any high-performance computing and cloud services, whether caused by a lack of customer acceptance, a slowdown in demand for computational power, an overabundance of unused computational power, advancements in technology, technological challenges, competing technologies, and solutions, decreases in corporate and customer spending, weakening economic conditions or otherwise, it could result in reduced customer orders, early order cancellations, the loss of customers, or decreased sales, any of which would adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.
The market for large-scale data center developments is driven by large enterprise customers. Access to sufficient and reliable power is a key factor for the success of such a development project. Developing data center projects is a complex process with many stakeholders and considerations, including permitting and fiber connectivity, and we are competing with more established competitors.
Our existing and potential competitors may have various competitive advantages over us, such as:
greater name recognition, longer operating histories, and larger market shares;
more established marketing, banking, and compliance relationships;
more efficient hardware;
greater data center capabilities (for example, through adoption of proprietary technology);
more developed sales and customer management capabilities;
more developed technical capabilities;
more timely introduction of new technologies;
preferred relationships with suppliers, including of compute servers and other equipment;
better access to more competitively priced power;
greater reliability in electricity supply, whether as a result of a greater number of backup sources of power or otherwise;
greater financial resources and access to capital to acquire new hardware, businesses, and capabilities to enable growth;
more reliable network connections as a result of the location of their data centers to key interconnect points and internet connections;
lower labor, compliance, risk mitigation, and research and development costs;
larger and more mature intellectual property portfolios;
greater number of applicable licenses or similar authorizations;
fewer regulatory restrictions, including with respect to energy supply;
established core business models outside of high-performance computing, allowing them to operate on lesser margins or at a loss;
operations in certain jurisdictions with lower compliance costs and greater flexibility to explore new product offerings; and
substantially greater financial, technical, and other resources.
If we are unable to compete successfully, or if competing successfully requires us to take costly actions in response to the actions of our competitors, our business, operating results, and financial condition could be adversely affected.
We may not adequately respond to price fluctuations and rapidly changing technology, which may negatively affect our business.
Competitive conditions within our industry require that we use sophisticated technology in the operation of our business. The digital infrastructure industry, including HPC/AI computing and the development of data center assets, is characterized by rapid technological changes, new product introductions, enhancements, and evolving industry standards. New technologies, techniques, or products could emerge that might offer better performance than the software and other technologies we currently utilize, and we may have to manage transitions to these new technologies to remain competitive. We may not be successful, generally or relative to our competitors, in timely implementing new technology into our systems, or doing so in a cost-effective manner. During the implementation of any such new technology into our operations, we may experience system interruptions and failures during such implementation. Furthermore, there can be no assurances that we will recognize, in a timely manner or at all, the benefits that we may expect as a result of implementing new technology into our operations. As a result, our business and operations may suffer, and there may be adverse effects on the value of the Company’s Class A Ordinary Common Stock.
We or our suppliers may not be able to procure or repair hardware that is required in our operations.
Geo-political events in recent times have caused multiple supply chain disruptions for companies globally. Our business relies on certain hardware such as the compute and storage and ancillary equipment, equipment related to data center and power infrastructure, and other digital infrastructure technologies. If we are unable to procure such equipment, or replacement parts (at commercial prices or at all), or they are delayed, our operations may be adversely affected which would likely have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. If the manufacturers of such hardware are unable to obtain materials or components themselves, they may experience manufacturing delays or have to cease manufacturing altogether. Supply chain disruptions may also occur from time to time due to a range of factors beyond our control, including, but not limited to, increased costs of labor, freight costs and raw material prices along with a shortage of qualified workers.
There are a small number of major suppliers of GPUs and the equipment we require globally, and manufacturing related to our business is concentrated in a limited number of countries. If we were unable to source compute, storage, and ancillary equipment from those suppliers (for example due to overwhelming global demand for servers with appropriate GPUs) at a commercial price, or at all, this would have a materially adverse impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Even if the suppliers have agreed to supply us with equipment, they may fail to supply the equipment due to their inability to manufacture a sufficient amount of the required equipment due to a shortage of components or resources such as semiconductors, a default, insolvency, a change in control, or change of laws (including export/import restrictions, quotas or tariffs).
The trade policies of the U.S., on one hand, and foreign countries on the other hand, are dynamic at the moment, and trade policies such as export/import restrictions, quotas, or tariffs, changing with either of these countries, or others, may reduce the ability of our suppliers to supply us with the equipment we need, or create a shortage or lack of components necessary for their manufacture.
Uncertainties due to evolving laws and regulations could also impede the ability of a foreign-based company, to obtain or maintain permits or licenses required to conduct business in various markets. Changes in any of these policies, laws and regulations, or the interpretations thereof, as they relate to the digital infrastructure hardware suppliers, could have a negative impact on our business.
Additionally, if our electricity suppliers are negatively affected by the international supply chain issues they may not be able to maintain or grow their facilities, and may breach their commitments to supply us or our colocation data center providers with the contracted power, or we may be unable to source extra power in the future to enable our growth. This would likely have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Such supply chain disruptions have the potential to cause material impacts to our operating performance and financial position if the delivery of equipment for our facilities is delayed.
We are substantially dependent on NVIDIA Corporation as a supplier of graphics processing units (“GPUs”), and any disruption in our ability to obtain NVIDIA GPUs could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Our artificial intelligence products and services rely extensively on high-performance GPUs to train, fine-tune, and deploy machine learning models. We currently source a significant portion — and in certain configurations, substantially all — of our GPU computing capacity from NVIDIA Corporation (“NVIDIA”), whose products, including the H100, H200, and related data center GPU architectures, are integral to our infrastructure and technology stack. This dependency exposes us to a number of significant risks, including the following:
Supply Constraints and Allocation Risk. NVIDIA GPUs, particularly those used in data center and AI workloads, have experienced and may continue to experience significant supply constraints due to high global demand from cloud service providers, hyperscalers, governments, and other AI companies competing for the same limited supply. NVIDIA allocates its GPU supply among customers based on a variety of factors, including purchase history, strategic relationships, and contract commitments, over which we may have limited or no control. There can be no assurance that we will be able to obtain GPUs in the quantities, timeframes, or at the prices necessary to execute our business strategy. Failure to secure adequate GPU supply could delay product development, limit our ability to scale our services, and cause us to lose customers or market share to better-capitalized competitors with preferential access to GPU supply.
Sole- or Limited-Source Supplier Risk. We do not have long-term supply agreements with NVIDIA that guarantee pricing, volume, or delivery schedules. To the extent NVIDIA reduces allocations to us, prioritizes other customers, discontinues products on which we rely, or materially modifies its product roadmap, we may be unable to obtain equivalent alternatives in a timely or cost-effective manner. While alternative GPU suppliers exist, including Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (“AMD”) and certain proprietary silicon providers, we may encounter significant technical, operational, and financial challenges in transitioning to alternative hardware, including costs associated with software re-engineering, system integration, and performance optimization.
Pricing and Cost Risk. NVIDIA has significant pricing power with respect to its data center GPU products, and prices for such products have increased substantially in recent periods. NVIDIA may further increase prices, impose unfavorable purchase terms, or require minimum purchase commitments that strain our liquidity and capital resources. Significant increases in GPU acquisition or leasing costs could adversely affect our gross margins and overall profitability, and we may not be able to pass such cost increases on to our customers.
Export Controls and Geopolitical Risk. NVIDIA’s ability to sell and deliver certain GPU products is subject to U.S. export control laws and regulations administered by the U.S. Department of Commerce, including the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”). The U.S. government has imposed, and may in the future impose additional, restrictions on the export of advanced semiconductor products, including NVIDIA GPUs, to certain countries and end users. Changes in U.S. export control policy, trade restrictions, or geopolitical conditions could limit NVIDIA’s ability to manufacture, distribute, or deliver its GPU products, which could in turn constrain our access to the hardware we require to operate our business.
Manufacturing and Supply Chain Concentration Risk. NVIDIA relies on a highly concentrated manufacturing supply chain, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (“TSMC”) as its primary chip fabrication partner, as well as a limited number of advanced packaging and assembly suppliers. This concentration creates risks related to geopolitical instability (particularly with respect to cross-strait relations between Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China), natural disasters, pandemics, labor disruptions, and other events beyond our or NVIDIA’s control that could interrupt GPU production and delivery worldwide.
Technological Dependency and Compatibility Risk. Our software architecture, model training pipelines, and inference infrastructure are optimized for NVIDIA’s CUDA parallel computing platform and associated software libraries. This deep technical dependency may make it difficult, time-consuming, and expensive to migrate our workloads to alternative hardware platforms, even if such alternatives become commercially available. Should NVIDIA alter its software ecosystem, licensing terms, or hardware interface standards, we may incur significant engineering costs and experience service disruptions.
Supply chain and logistics issues for us, our contractors or our suppliers may delay our expansion plans or increase the cost of constructing our infrastructure.
The equipment used in our operations is generally manufactured by third parties using a large amount of commodity inputs (for example, steel, copper, aluminum). Many manufacturing businesses globally are currently experiencing supply chain issues and increased costs with respect to such commodities and other materials and labor used in their production processes, which is due to a complex array of factors including increased demand which can occur from time to time. Procurement from suppliers which manufacture equipment outside of North America is also exposed to additional risks such as regulatory changes (for example, a tariff or ban on equipment imported or exported from certain jurisdictions) and global freight disruptions. Additionally, shortages in global semiconductor chip supply may impact procurement timelines for equipment. Such issues may cause delays in the delivery of, or increases in the cost of, the equipment used in our operations, which could materially impact our operating results and may delay our expansion plans.
In addition, public health crises, including an outbreak of an infectious disease (such as COVID-19), terrorist acts, and political or military conflict, such as the conflict in Ukraine, have increased the risks and costs of doing business abroad. Many of the manufacturers of our equipment are located outside of the jurisdictions in which we have facilities and sites, necessitating international shipping to enable us to incorporate the equipment into our facilities. Political and economic instability have caused many businesses to experience logistics issues in the past resulting in delayed deliveries of equipment, which could occur again in the future. Supply chain disruptions may also occur from time to time due to a range of factors beyond our control, including, but not limited to, climate change, seasonal and unseasonal weather events, shipping constraints (for example, blocked shipping canals or closure of shipyards), increased costs of labor, inflationary pressure, freight costs, industrial disputes, political or military blockades and raw material prices along with a shortage of qualified workers. Such supply chain disruptions can potentially cause material impacts to our operating performance and financial position if delivery of equipment for our facilities is delayed.
We rely on third-party providers for services essential to our business.
We rely on our relationships with third-party providers and other partners for certain essential financial and operational services, and a failure or disruption in these services could materially and adversely affect our ability to manage our business effectively. We rely on third-party providers and other partners for many essential financial and operational services to support our business, including, without limitation, encryption and authentication technology, infrastructure operations, certain database services, employee email, content delivery to customers, back-office support, credit card processing and other functions. Any failure by these vendors to do so, or any disruption in our ability receive these services, would materially and adversely affect our ability to manage our operations. In addition, although we have developed systems and processes that are designed to protect customer and user data and prevent data loss and other security breaches, including systems and processes designed to reduce the impact of a security breach at a third-party service provider, such measures cannot provide absolute security. Furthermore, if these services become unavailable or are no longer available to us on commercially reasonable terms due to circumstances beyond our control, such as an acquisition of our third-party provider, our expenses could increase, our ability to access certain data could be interrupted, and our processes for providing certain services to our customers could be impaired until equivalent services, if available, are identified, obtained and implemented, all of which could adversely affect our business.
Any long-term outage or limitation of the internet and network connections at our sites could materially impact our operations and financial performance.
A secure, reliable and fast internet connection is required for our customers to effectively interact with our compute and storage servers. Any extended downtime, bandwidth limitations or other constraints may reduce our ability to generate income, including reputational risk for our business. We may not have backup network connections at our operations, and any backup connections may not be sufficient to support all of our, or our customers, needs in an affected location for the duration of the outage, limitations or constraints to the primary network connection. The effects of any such events could have a material adverse effect on our operating results and financial condition.
Moreover, network outages or disruptions can lead to loss of connectivity to critical network services and applications necessary for our operations. This includes potential impacts on remote monitoring and management tools, which are essential for maintaining optimal performance and responding to issues in real-time. Any delay in identifying and resolving problems can lead to prolonged downtime and further financial losses.
Furthermore, the reliability of our network connections is crucial for maintaining the security of our operations. Interruptions or limitations in connectivity can expose us to increased risk of cyberattacks or unauthorized access, as certain security measures may be compromised during periods of reduced connectivity. In the event of a network outage or limitations in connectivity, our ability to maintain regular business operations could be severely impacted, potentially leading to decreased revenue, increased operational costs, and damage to our reputation. The reliability of our internet connections could also negatively affect our customers who rely on our high performance computing and cloud services and the reliability of such solutions, leading to potential loss of business and long-term financial repercussions. Moreover, network outages, or the perception that our cloud platform may be exposed to the risk of network outages where we have limited or no backup connections at all, could adversely impact our ability to compete in the market for high performance computing and cloud services.
Access to reliable electricity sources at reasonable prices, developed land and co-location arrangements are critical to our growth and profitability.
Data centers consume electricity primarily to power compute and storage servers and cooling equipment, therefore electricity costs are an important factor affecting our profitability and viability. If we are unable to source and enter into agreements for the supply and purchase of electricity, or if we are unable to continue to receive the electricity supplies we have already secured (for example we are unable to re-contract an expiring arrangement), this will reduce our capacity to conduct and grow the number of compute and storage servers we can operate, and therefore the amount of revenue we can generate.
Certain economic, environmental, and regulatory events or changes beyond our control, including acts of God such as natural disasters, climate change, wars, sabotage, epidemics, riots, loss or malfunctions of utilities, labor disputes, which may be transitory or chronic, could occur to restrict our access to electricity, or drive up the costs of electricity to a point that some or all of our planned, future or existing operations are uncommercial, which may lead to us being unable to grow our operations, or reducing, suspending or ceasing our data processing operations. The price of electricity available in the market more generally is dependent on numerous factors such as the types of generation, regulatory environment, electricity market structure, and supply/demand balances.
Our data centers development business requires land suitable to the construction of power generation, or close to reasonably priced electricity sources. If we are unable to acquire rights to use such land, or lose the rights to land we currently occupy, this would likely mean that we would lose access to the relevant supply of electricity. A lack of access to the electricity or ability to generate electricity would significantly impact the profitability and viability of this business.
Our co-located operations, including our AI/HPC cloud platform business, require sophisticated infrastructure, land and reasonably priced electricity. If we are unable to obtain additional contracts on acceptable terms or renew current agreements for these services on acceptable rates, this would significantly impact the profitability of our business.
We face risks related to system interruption and lack of redundancy.
We experience occasional system interruptions and delays that make our services unavailable or slow to respond and prevent us from efficiently accepting or fulfilling orders or providing services to customers and third parties, which may reduce our net sales and the attractiveness of our products and services. Steps we take to add software and hardware, upgrade our systems and network infrastructure, and improve the stability and efficiency of our systems may not be sufficient to avoid system interruptions or delays that could adversely affect our operating results.
Our computer and communications systems and operations in the past have been, or in the future could be, damaged or interrupted due to events such as natural or human-caused disasters (including public health crises) or extreme weather (including as a result of climate change), geopolitical events and security issues (including terrorist attacks and armed hostilities), computer viruses, physical or electronic break-ins, operational failures (including from energy shortages), and similar events or disruptions. Any of these events could cause system interruption, delays, and loss of critical data, and could prevent us from accepting and fulfilling customer orders and providing services, which could make our product and service offerings less attractive and subject us to liability. Our systems are not fully redundant and our disaster recovery planning may not be sufficient. In addition, our insurance may not provide sufficient coverage to compensate for related losses. Any of these events could damage our reputation and be expensive to remedy.
Any critical failure of key electrical or data center equipment may result in material impacts to our operations and financial performance.
Certain key pieces of electrical or data center equipment may represent single points of failure for some or all of the power capacity at our operating sites. Any failure or imminent risk of failure of such equipment may result in our inability to utilize some or all of our equipment in an affected location for the duration of time it takes to repair or remediate equipment, or procure and install replacement parts.
Due to the long-lead times required to acquire some of the equipment used in our operations, the failure of certain parts could result in lengthy outages at an affected location, and could materially impact our operations, financial results and financial condition.
Serial defects in our GPUs and other equipment may result in failure or underperformance relative to expectations and impact our operations and financial performance.
Our operations contain certain items of equipment that have a high concentration from one manufacturer (for example, our high performance computing hardware). Additionally, the equipment we rely on may experience defects in workmanship or performance on arrival or throughout its operational life. If such defects are widespread across equipment we use, we could suffer material outages or underperformance compared to expectations. Such circumstances could adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results and could result in a substantial decrease in our customers choosing to use another provider and may adversely impact the competitiveness of our services. Such circumstances could adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
A loss of confidence in our security system, or a breach of our security system, may adversely affect our business.
We will take measures to protect our self and our digital and physical assets from unauthorized access, damage or theft; however, it is possible that the security system may not prevent the improper access to, or damage or theft of our assets. A security breach could harm our reputation or result in the loss of some or all of our assets. A resulting perception that our measures do not adequately protect our assets could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Cyber-security threats pose a challenge to our business and a risk of reputational damage.
Any breach of our digital infrastructure, or potentially the digital infrastructure of trusted third parties, could result in damage to our reputation which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
The security system and operational infrastructure may be breached due to the actions of outside parties, error or malfeasance of an employee, or otherwise, and, as a result, an unauthorized party may obtain access to our private keys and/or data. Additionally, outside parties may attempt to fraudulently induce employees of ours to disclose sensitive information in order to gain access to our infrastructure. As the techniques used to obtain unauthorized access, disable or degrade service, or sabotage systems change frequently, or may be designed to remain dormant until a predetermined event and often are not recognized until launched against a target, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques or implement adequate preventative measures. If an actual or perceived breach of our security system occurs, the market perception of the effectiveness of our security system could be harmed, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. In the event of a security breach, we may also be forced to cease operations, or suffer a reduction in assets, the occurrence of each of which could adversely affect us.
Cyberattacks and security breaches of cloud services, or those impacting our third parties, could adversely impact our brand and reputation and our business, operating results, and financial condition.
Our cloud services involve the collection, storage, processing, and transmission of confidential information, employee, service provider, and other personal data. We have built our cloud services on the premise that we maintain a secure way to secure, store, and transact in cloud services. As a result, any actual or perceived security breach of us or our third-party partners may:
harm our reputation and brand;
result in our cloud services being unavailable and interrupt our operations;
result in improper disclosure of data and violations of applicable privacy and other laws;
result in significant regulatory scrutiny, investigations, fines, penalties, and other legal, regulatory, and financial exposure;
cause us to incur significant remediation costs;
divert the attention of management from the operation of our business; and
adversely affect our business and operating results.
Further, any actual or perceived breach or cybersecurity attack, whether or not we are directly impacted, could lead to a general loss of customer confidence in the digital infrastructure industry or in the use of technology used in our industry, which could negatively impact us, including the market perception of the effectiveness of our security measures and technology infrastructure.
An increasing number of organizations, including large merchants, businesses, technology companies, and financial institutions, as well as government institutions, have disclosed breaches of their information security systems, some of which have involved sophisticated and highly targeted attacks, including on their websites, mobile applications, and infrastructure.
Attacks upon systems across a variety of industries, including cloud services, are increasing in their frequency, persistence, and sophistication, and, in many cases, are being conducted by sophisticated, well-funded, and organized groups and individuals, including state actors. The techniques used to obtain unauthorized, improper, or illegal access to systems and information (including customers and partners’ personal data, AI algorithms, disable or degrade services, or sabotage systems) are constantly evolving, may be difficult to detect quickly, and often are not recognized or detected until after they have been launched against a target. These attacks may occur on our cloud services or those of our third-party service providers or partners. Certain types of cyberattacks could harm us even if our systems are left undisturbed. For example, attacks may be designed to deceive employees and service providers into releasing control of our systems to a hacker, while others may aim to introduce computer viruses or malware into our cloud services with a view to stealing confidential or proprietary data. Additionally, certain threats are designed to remain dormant or undetectable until launched against a target and we may not be able to implement adequate preventative measures.
Although we have developed systems and processes designed to protect the data we manage, prevent data loss and other security breaches, effectively respond to known and potential risks, and expect to continue to expend significant resources to bolster these protections, there can be no assurance that these security measures will provide absolute security or prevent breaches or attacks. We have experienced from time to time, and may experience in the future, breaches of our security measures due to human error, malfeasance, insider threats, system errors or vulnerabilities, or other irregularities. Unauthorized parties have attempted, and we expect that they will continue to attempt, to gain access to our systems and facilities, as well as those of our customers, partners, and third-party service providers, through various means, including hacking, social engineering, phishing, and attempting to fraudulently induce individuals (including employees, service providers, and our customers) into disclosing usernames, passwords, payment card information, or other sensitive information, which may, in turn, be used to access our cloud services. Threats can come from a variety of sources, including criminal hackers, hacktivists, state-sponsored intrusions, industrial espionage, and insiders. Certain threat actors may be supported by significant financial and technological resources, making them even more sophisticated and difficult to detect. As a result, our costs and the resources we devote to protecting against these advanced threats and their consequences may continue to increase over time.
There are a number of climate-related factors that may affect the operations and proposed activities of the Company, the occurrence of which could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition and operating results.
There are a number of climate-related factors that may affect the operations and proposed activities of the Company, including the emergence of new or expanded regulations associated with transitioning to a lower-carbon economy and market changes related to climate change mitigation.
As the Company develops data center assets, the Company may become subject to environmental laws and regulations affecting many aspects of the Company’s operations, including those affecting the development of data center assets. These laws and regulations can increase capital, operating and other costs; cause delays as a result of litigation and administrative proceedings; and create environmental compliance, remediation, containment, monitoring and reporting obligations for construction materials facilities. In addition, the Company operates in a variety of environments, and the potential physical effects of climate change on the Company’s operations, if any, are highly uncertain.
Extreme weather events may:
● cause damage to one or more of the Company’s co-location facilities and therefore reduce the Company’s ability to maximize the performance of the compute and storage servers;
● affect the delivery times of equipment ordered from the Company’s manufacturers and therefore impact the Company’s financial forecasts; and/or
● cause power disruptions or cuts to the Company’s facilities, reducing operating times and the performance of the compute and storage servers.
We may be subject to material litigation, investigations or enforcement actions by regulators and governmental authorities.
We may become subject to certain claims, legal proceedings (including individual and class actions) and government investigations or enforcement actions, including in the ordinary course of business. Agreements we enter sometimes include indemnification provisions which can subject us to costs and damages in the event of a claim against an indemnified third party. Regardless of the merit of particular claims, defending against litigation or responding to government investigations can be expensive, time-consuming, disruptive to operations and distracting to management. If we are unable to successfully defend against such claims then we may become liable to make substantial payments to satisfy judgments, fines or penalties, or alter, delay, limit or cease some or all its business practices. We also may suffer damage to our brand and reputation.
Global climate change and related environmental regulations may have an adverse effect on our business operations and financial position.
Changes in climate and its effect on the environment such as changes in rainfall, weather patterns, water supplies and shortages, sea level and changing temperatures could have an adverse effect on our operations and financial performance. We operate in a variety of environments, and the potential physical effects of climate change on our operations, if any, are highly uncertain.
Extreme weather events may:
cause damage to one or more of our co-location facilities and therefore reduce our ability to maximize the performance of the compute and storage servers;
affect the delivery times of equipment ordered from our manufacturers and therefore impact our financial forecasts; and/or
cause power disruptions or cuts to our facilities, reducing operating times and the performance of the compute and storage servers.
Changes in tax law may negatively affect our business.
Changes to federal, state, local and foreign tax laws have the ability to benefit or adversely affect our earnings and our customer costs. Significant changes to corporate tax rates could result in the impairment of deferred tax assets that are established based on existing law at the time of deferral. A number of factors may increase our future effective income tax rate, including:
Governmental authorities increasing taxes or eliminating deductions;
The jurisdictions in which earnings are taxed;
The resolution of issues arising from tax audits with various tax authorities;
Changes in the valuation of our deferred tax assets and liabilities;
Adjustments to estimated taxes upon finalization of various tax returns;
Changes in available tax credits;
Changes in stock-based compensation;
Other changes in tax laws; and/or
The interpretation of tax laws and/or administrative practices.
Our operations could be negatively impacted by import tariffs and/or other government mandates.
We operate in or provide services to capital-intensive industries in which federal trade policies could significantly impact the availability and cost of materials. Imposed and proposed tariffs by the Trump administration could significantly increase the prices and delivery lead times on equipment that is critical to us and our customers. We face competition from source providers both in the U.S. and around the world. Prolonged lead times on the delivery of equipment and further tariff increases could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We maintain cash deposits in excess of federally insured limits. Adverse developments affecting financial institutions, including bank failures, could adversely affect our liquidity and financial performance.
We regularly maintain domestic cash deposits in Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“ FDIC ”) insured banks that exceed the FDIC insurance limits. Bank failures, events involving limited liquidity, defaults, non-performance, or other adverse developments that affect financial institutions, or concerns or rumors about such events, may lead to liquidity constraints. For example, on March 10, 2023, Silicon Valley Bank failed and was taken into receivership by the FDIC. The failure of a bank, or other adverse conditions in the financial or credit markets impacting financial institutions at which we maintain balances, could adversely impact our liquidity and financial performance. There can be no assurance that our deposits in excess of the FDIC or other comparable insurance limits will be backstopped by the U.S., or that any bank or financial institution with which we do business will be able to obtain needed liquidity from other banks, government institutions or by acquisition in the event of a failure or liquidity crisis.
Our cash balances are held at a number of financial institutions that expose us to their credit risk
We maintain our cash and cash equivalents at financial or other intermediary institutions. The combined account balances at each institution located in the United States typically exceed FDIC insurance coverage of $250,000 per depositor. The combined account balances at each institution located in Australia typically exceed the deposit guarantee schemes of the equivalent of 250,000AUD per depositor. As a result, there is a concentration of credit risk related to amounts on deposit in excess of the deposit insurance coverage amounts. At September 30, 2025, substantially all of our cash and cash equivalent balances held at financial institutions exceeded deposit insured limits. While we did not have any direct exposure to Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, or First Republic, which suffered severe liquidity losses during 2023, if other banks and financial institutions enter receivership or become insolvent in the future in response to financial conditions affecting the banking system and financial markets, our ability, and the ability of our customers, clients and vendors, to access existing cash, cash equivalents and investments, or to access existing or enter into new banking arrangements or facilities, may be threatened and could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition.
Our results of operations may suffer if we are not able to successfully manage our exposure to foreign exchange rate risks.
A substantial majority of our sales and cost of components are denominated in U.S. dollars. As our business grows, more of our sales and production costs may be denominated in other currencies. Where such sales or production costs are denominated in other currencies, they are converted to U.S. dollars for the purpose of calculating any sales or costs to us. Our sales may decrease as a result of any appreciation of the U.S. dollar against these other currencies.
Most of our current expenditures are incurred in U.S. dollars and many of our components come from countries that currently base their currency against the U.S. dollar. If the exchange rates change adversely or are allowed to increase, then additional U.S. dollars will be required to fund our purchases of these components.
Although we do not currently enter into currency option contracts or engage in other hedging activities, we may do so in the future. There is no assurance that we will undertake any such hedging activities or that, if we do so, they will be successful in reducing the risks associated with our exposure to foreign currency fluctuations.
Our international operations subjects us to international operational, financial, legal, political and public health risks which could harm our operating results.
A substantial part of our operations, including all of our colocation sites, are outside of the United States and many of our customers and suppliers have some or all of their operations in countries other than the United States. Risks associated with conducting business outside of the United States include:
compliance burdens and costs associated with a wide variety of foreign laws and regulations, particularly labor and environmental, that govern our operations in those countries;
legal uncertainties regarding foreign taxes, tariffs, border taxes, quotas, and export controls,
export licenses, import controls and other trade barriers;
economic instability and high levels of inflation in certain countries where our suppliers are located and
customers, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region, causing delays or reductions in orders for their products and therefore our sales;
political or public health instability, including global pandemics, in the countries in which our suppliers operate;
changes or volatility in currency exchange rates;
difficulties in collecting accounts receivable and longer accounts receivable payment cycles; and
Any of these factors could harm our own, our suppliers’ and our customers’ international operations and businesses and impair our and/or their ability to continue expanding into international markets.
Risks Related to our AI/HPC Cloud Platform Business
If we fail to succeed in the high performance computing and cloud services market, our revenues, growth prospects, and financial condition could be materially and adversely affected.
The future revenue growth of our digital infrastructure business, including HPC/AI cloud services, will depend largely on our ability to successfully expand our business to more customers who are requiring HPC/AI cloud services. We cannot predict how or to what extent the demand for our products in the digital infrastructure market will develop going forward. If we fail to obtain the necessary equipment or fail to effectively utilize this equipment, or if the digital infrastructure market does not develop as we currently anticipate based on the expected growth of HPC/AI, our revenues, growth prospects, and financial condition could be materially and adversely affected.
Our high performance computing and cloud services technology and infrastructure may not operate properly or as we expect them to, which could cause us to incur fines and monetary penalties, adversely affecting our business, results of operations, and financial condition.
The continuous development, maintenance, and operation of our high performance computing and cloud services technology and infrastructure is expensive and complex and may involve unforeseen difficulties, including material performance problems, undetected defects, or errors, particularly with new capabilities and system integrations. We may encounter technical obstacles, and it is possible that we may discover additional problems that prevent our technology and systems from operating properly. If our high performance computing and cloud services do not function reliably, we may incur fines and monetary penalties, as well as regulatory orders requiring remedial, injunctive, or other corrective actions.
Regulators may limit our ability to develop or implement our high performance computing and cloud services technology and infrastructure and/or may eliminate or restrict the confidentiality of our technology, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our future success depends on our ability to continue to develop and implement our high performance computing and cloud services technology and to maintain the confidentiality of this technology. Changes to existing regulations, their interpretation or implementation, or new regulations could impede our use of this technology or require that we disclose our technology to our competitors, which could impair our competitive position and result in a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and financial condition.
We use certain open source technology in our business. We may face claims from open source licensors claiming ownership of, or demanding the release of, the technology and any other intellectual property that we developed using or derived from such open-source technology.
We utilize a combination of open-source and licensed third-party technologies in the development and operation of our high performance computing and cloud services. While open-source technologies enable rapid development and cost efficiencies, they also pose potential risks, such as security vulnerabilities, lack of long-term support, and legal risks related to licensing terms. Similarly, reliance on licensed third-party technologies may expose us to risks associated with changes in licensing terms, costs, or discontinuation of the licensed products.
We will continue to use open-source technology in the future. There is a risk that open-source technology licenses could be construed in a manner that imposes unanticipated conditions or restrictions on our ability to offer our products. Open source licensors may also decide to change the conditions on which they make their open-source technology available for our use. Additionally, we may face claims from open-source licensors claiming ownership of, or demanding the public release or free license of, the technology and any other intellectual property that it developed using or derived from such open source technology. The terms of many open source licenses have not been interpreted by United States courts. There is a risk that these licenses could be construed in a way that could impose unanticipated conditions or restrictions on our ability to commercialize our services. These claims could result in litigation and could require that we make our technology freely available, purchase a costly license or cease offering the implicated products or services unless and until we can re-engineer them to avoid infringement. This re-engineering process could require significant technology and product development resources, and we may not be able to complete the process successfully. Failure to adequately manage these risks could result in operational disruptions, legal liabilities, and adverse impacts on our business, results of operations, and financial condition.
Impact of advancements in artificial intelligence on demand for AI and HPC data centers may reduce the need for HPC and AI-specific data center infrastructure, which could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and financial condition.
The AI industry is rapidly evolving, with continuous improvements in algorithms, software efficiencies, and hardware capabilities. Emerging AI technologies, such as demonstrated by DeepSeek, may allow for complex AI operations to be executed with significantly less computing power than is currently required. This reduction in computational intensity could decrease the demand for specialized compute and HPC data center services. If AI developers are able to achieve the same or better performance outcomes with more energy-efficient, cost-effective, or less resource-intensive technologies, they may adjust their need for large-scale, high capacity data center solutions. This shift could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and financial condition. We continuously monitor industry trends and invest in innovation to mitigate these risks. However, there is no assurance that we will be able to anticipate or respond effectively to such changes, which could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and financial condition.
AI technologies are constantly evolving, and any flaws in or misuse of AI, even if committed by other third parties, could have a negative impact on our business, reputation, brands, and the general acceptance of AI solutions by society.
AI technologies are still in a preliminary stage of development and are constantly evolving. As with many disruptive innovations, AI presents risks and challenges that could affect user perception and its adoption. Any flaws in or insufficiencies of AI, and any inappropriate or premature usage thereof, whether actual or perceived, and whether by us or by other third parties, may dissuade prospective customers from adopting AI solutions, and may impair the general acceptance of AI by broader society. Moreover, AI is covered extensively, and in many instances critically, by various news media across the world. There is no assurance that any of the products or services we may develop for use with AI will not be misused or applied in a way that is inconsistent with public expectations. Any misuse of our products or services, whether actual or perceived, and whether by us or by other third parties, could negatively impact our brands and reputation, and in turn our business, financial condition, and results of operation.
Our cloud services business is subject to complex and evolving U.S. and foreign laws and regulations regarding AI, machine learning, and automated decision making.
In recent years the use of machine learning, AI and automated decision making, has come under increased regulatory scrutiny, and governments and regulators in the United States, European Union, and other places have announced the need for greater regulation regarding the use of machine learning and AI generally. New laws, guidance, and decisions in this area may limit our high performance computing and cloud services business, or require us to make changes to our high performance computing and cloud services technology and infrastructure and our operations that may decrease our operational efficiency, result in an increase to operating costs and/or hinder our ability to improve our cloud services.
For example, certain global privacy laws regulate the use of automated decision making and may require that the existence of automated decision making be disclosed to the data subject with a meaningful explanation of the logic used in such decision making in certain circumstances, and that safeguards must be implemented to safeguard individual rights, including the right to obtain human intervention and to contest any decision. Other global privacy laws allow individuals the right to opt out of certain automated processing of personal data and create other requirements that impact automated decision-making. At the federal level, the President of the United States recently issued an Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence, which charges multiple agencies, including The National Institute of Standards and Technology, with producing guidelines in connection with the development and use of AI. In the European Union, there was political agreement on the EU AI Act, which establishes a comprehensive, risk-based governance framework for AI in the EU market. The EU AI Act entered in force on August 1, 2024, and the majority of the substantive requirements will apply two years later (beginning 2026). The EU AI Act will apply to companies that develop, use and/or provide AI in the European Union and includes requirements around transparency, conformity assessments and monitoring, risk assessments, human oversight, security, accuracy, general purpose AI and foundation models, and proposes fines for breach of up to 7% of worldwide annual turnover (revenue). Additionally, in September of 2022, the European Commission proposed two Directives seeking to establish a harmonized civil liability regime for AI in the European Union, in order to facilitate civil claims in respect of harm caused by AI and to include AI-enabled products within the scope of the European Union’s existing strict liability regime. Once fully applicable, the EU AI Act will have a material impact on the way AI is regulated in the European Union, and together with developing guidance and/or decisions in this area, may affect our use of AI and our ability to provide, improve, or commercialize our cloud services, and could require additional compliance measures and changes to our operations and processes.
Moreover, the intellectual property ownership and license rights, including copyright, surrounding AI technologies has not been fully addressed by courts or laws or regulations, and the use or adoption of AI technologies into our offerings may result in exposure to claims of copyright infringement or other intellectual property misappropriation. As the legal and regulatory framework for AI and automated decision making evolves, we may not always be able to anticipate how to respond to these laws or regulations, and compliance may adversely impact our operations and involve significant expenditure and resources. Any failure by us to comply may result in significant liability, potential increases in civil claims against us, negative publicity, an erosion of trust, and/or increased regulation and could materially adversely affect our business, results of operations, and financial condition.
Regulatory restrictions that target AI, including, but not limited to, export restrictions may have a material adverse impact on our intended operations.
The increasing focus on the strategic importance of AI technologies has already resulted in regulatory restrictions that target products and services capable of enabling or facilitating AI, and may in the future result in additional restrictions impacting some or all of our service offerings. Such restrictions could include additional unilateral or multilateral export controls on certain products or technology, including, but not limited to, cloud service technologies. As geopolitical tensions have increased, semiconductors associated with AI, including GPUs and associated products, are increasingly the focus of export control restrictions proposed by stakeholders in the U.S. and its allies, and it is likely that additional unilateral or multilateral controls will be adopted. Such controls may be very broad in scope and application, prohibit us from exporting our services to any or all customers in one or more markets or could impose other conditions that limit our ability to serve demand abroad and could negatively and materially impact our business, revenue, and financial results. Export controls targeting GPUs and semiconductors associated with AI, which are increasingly likely, would restrict our ability to export our technology, services even though competitors may not be subject to similar restrictions, creating a competitive disadvantage for us and negatively impacting our business and financial results. Increasing use of economic sanctions may also impact demand for our services, negatively impacting our business and financial results. Additional unilateral or multilateral controls are also likely to include deemed export control limitations that negatively impact the ability of our research and development teams to execute our roadmap or other objectives in a timely manner. Additional export restrictions may not only impact our ability to serve overseas markets, but also provoke responses from foreign governments, including China, that negatively impact our ability to provide our services to customers in all markets worldwide, which could also substantially reduce our revenue.
Management of the requirements of the supply chain is complicated and time consuming. Our results and competitive position may be harmed if we are restricted in offering our services, if customers purchase services from competitors, if customers develop their own cloud services, if we are unable to provide contractual warranty or other extended service obligations.
Issues in the development and use of AI may result in reputational or competitive harm or liability.
We continue to incorporate AI into our cloud services and infrastructure, and we are also providing computing power for our customers to use in solutions that they build. We are providing supporting/computing power to clients, including our strategic partners who develop AI systems. We expect this integration of AI into our offerings and our business in general to grow. AI presents risks and challenges that could affect its adoption, and therefore our business. AI algorithms or training methodologies may be flawed. Datasets may be overbroad, insufficient, or contain biased information. Content generated by AI systems may be offensive, illegal, or otherwise harmful. Ineffective or inadequate AI development or deployment practices by others could result in incidents that impair the acceptance of AI solutions or cause harm to individuals, customers, or society, or result in our services not working as intended. Human review of certain outputs may be required. As a result of these and other challenges associated with innovative technologies, our implementation of cloud services could subject us to competitive harm, regulatory action, legal liability, including under new proposed legislation regulating AI in jurisdictions, new applications of existing data protection, privacy, intellectual property, and other laws, and brand or reputational harm. Some AI scenarios present ethical issues or may have broad impacts on society. If we provide supporting/cloud services that have unintended consequences, unintended usage or customization by our customers and partners, or are controversial because of their impact on human rights, privacy, employment, or other social, economic, or political issues, we may experience brand or reputational harm, adversely affecting our business and consolidated financial statements.
Risks Related to our Development of Data Center Assets
We are at an early stage of development of our business, currently have limited sources of revenue, and may not become profitable in the future.
We are subject to the risks and uncertainties of a new business and have not generated any revenues from this business segment to date.
As we grow and develop as a business, we will attempt to reduce the impact of variability on our revenue and colocation costs by entering into long-term contracts at each site. Given that we have only a limited history of developing data center assets, the long-term profitability of these contracts cannot be presently determined. If we are unable to successfully implement our development plan or to increase our generation of revenue, we will not remain profitable in the future.
We intend to continue scaling our company to increase our customer base and implement initiatives, including new business lines and global expansion. These efforts may prove more expensive than we currently anticipate and may not result in increased revenue or profitability in the short term or at all. We will also incur increased compliance costs associated with growth, expanding our customer base, and being a public company. Our efforts to grow our business may be costlier than we expect, or the revenue growth rate may be slower than we expect. There can be no assurance that we will operate profitably in the future.
We may be unable to access sufficient additional capital needed to grow our business.
We expect to need to raise substantial additional capital to expand our data center operations, pursue our growth strategies and to respond to competitive pressures or unanticipated working capital requirements. However, market conditions may limit our ability to raise funds in a timely manner, in sufficient quantities, or on terms acceptable to us, if at all, which could impair our growth and adversely affect our existing operations. If we raise additional equity financing, our shareholders may experience significant dilution of their ownership interests, and the per share value of our ordinary shares could decline. Furthermore, if we engage in debt financing, the holders of debt would have priority over the holders of our ordinary shares on order of payment preference. We may be required to accept terms that restrict our ability to incur additional indebtedness, pay dividends to our shareholders, or take other actions. We may also be required to maintain specified liquidity or other ratios that could otherwise not be in the interests of our stockholders. If we are unable to raise the additional capital needed to execute our future strategic growth initiatives, we may be less competitive in our industry and the results of these provisions could make investing in the Company’s Class A Ordinary Common Stock less attractive to investors and could limit our ability to obtain adequate financing on a timely basis or on acceptable terms in the future, which could have significant harmful effects on our financial condition and business and could include substantial limitations on our ability to continue to conduct operations.
We are subject to a highly evolving regulatory landscape and any adverse changes to or our failure to comply with any laws or regulations could adversely affect our business, prospects or operations.
Our customers’ businesses are subject to extensive laws, rules, regulations, policies and legal and regulatory guidance, including those governing securities, commodities, exchange and transfer, data governance, data protection, cybersecurity and tax. Many of these legal and regulatory regimes were adopted prior to the advent of the Internet, mobile technologies, AI and related technologies, cloud services and data center operations. As a result, they do not contemplate or address unique issues associated with AI, are subject to significant uncertainty, and vary widely across the U.S. and Australia. These legal and regulatory regimes, including the laws, rules and regulations thereunder, evolve frequently and may be modified, interpreted and applied in an inconsistent manner from one jurisdiction to another, and may conflict with one another.
Moreover, the complexity and evolving nature of our business and the significant uncertainty surrounding the regulation of AI, requires us to exercise our judgment as to whether certain laws, rules and regulations apply to us or our customers, and it is possible that governmental bodies and regulators may disagree with our or our customers’ conclusions. To the extent we or our customers have not complied with such laws, rules and regulations, we could be subject to significant fines and other regulatory consequences, which could adversely affect our business, prospects or financial condition.
Ongoing and future regulatory actions could effectively prevent our customers’ and our ongoing or planned co-hosting operations, limiting or preventing future revenue generation by us or rendering our operations obsolete. Such actions could severely impact our ability to continue to operate and our ability to continue as a going concern or to pursue our strategy at all, which would have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects or financial condition.
Our business depends upon the demand for data centers.
We intend to be in the business of owning, acquiring, developing and operating assets used in data centers. A reduction in the demand for data center assets, power or connectivity would have a greater adverse effect on our business and financial condition than if our assets were devoted to a less specialized use. Our substantial development activities make us particularly susceptible to general economic slowdowns, as well as adverse developments in the data center, Internet, AI and data communications and broader technology industries. It is not possible for us to predict the future level of demand for our services that will be generated by these customers or the future demand for the products and services of these customers. Any such slowdown or adverse development could lead to reduced corporate IT spending or reduced demand for data center assets. Changes in industry practice or in technology could reduce demand for the physical data center assets we provide. In addition, our customers may choose to develop new data centers or expand their own existing data centers or consolidate into data centers that we do not own or operate, which could reduce demand for our newly developed data centers or result in the loss of one or more key customers. If any of our potential key customers were to do so, it could result in a loss of business to us or put pressure on our pricing. Mergers or consolidations of technology companies could reduce further the number of our potential customers and make us more dependent on a more limited number of potential customers. If our customers merge with or are acquired by other entities that are not our customers, they may discontinue or reduce the use of our data centers in the future. Our financial condition, results of operations, cash flow, cash available for distribution and ability to satisfy our debt service obligations could be materially adversely affected as a result of any or all of these factors.
Our business is expected to have significant customer concentration.
We expect to generate a large portion of our revenue from a small number of customers. There are inherent risks whenever a large percentage of total revenue is concentrated with a limited number of customers. If we were to lose one or more of our potential customers, our operating results could be materially adversely affected.
We expect that the limited number of our potential customers will account for a high percentage of our revenue for the foreseeable future. In addition, demand for our services generated by these customers may fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter. The expected concentration of our customer base could increase risks related to the financial condition of our customers, and the deterioration in financial condition of a single customer or the failure of a single customer to perform its obligations could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and cash flow. In the event that any of our potential customers experience a decline in their equipment usage for any reason, or decide to discontinue the use of our facilities, we may be compelled to lower our prices or risk losing a significant customer. Such developments could adversely affect our profit margins and financial position, leading to a negative impact on our revenue and operational results.
Failure to attract, grow and retain a diverse and balanced customer base, could adversely affect our business and operating results.
Our ability to attract, grow and retain a diverse and balanced customer base, consisting of enterprises, cloud service providers, network service providers, and digital economy customers, may affect our ability to grow our business. Our ability to attract customers to our data centers will depend on a variety of factors, including our product offerings, the presence of carriers, the overall mix of customers, the presence of key customers attracting business through ecosystems, the data center’s operating reliability and security and our ability to effectively market our product offerings. Our inability to develop, provide or effectively execute any of these factors may adversely affect the development, growth and retention of a diverse and balanced customer base and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our new services and changes to existing services could fail to attract or retain users or generate revenue and profits, or otherwise adversely affect our business.
Our ability to retain, increase, and engage our customer base and to increase our revenue depends heavily on our ability to continue to evolve our existing services and to create successful new services, both independently and in conjunction with developers or other third parties. We may introduce significant changes to our existing services or acquire or introduce new and unproven services, including using technologies with which we have little or no prior development or operating experience. These efforts, including the introduction of new services or changes to existing services, may result in new or enhanced governmental or regulatory scrutiny, litigation, ethical concerns, or other complications that could adversely affect our business, reputation, or financial results. If our new services fail to engage users or developers, or if our business plans are unsuccessful, we may fail to attract or retain users or to generate sufficient revenue, operating margin, or other value to justify our investments, and our business may be adversely affected.
We intend to depend upon third-party suppliers for power, and we are vulnerable to service failures and price increases by such suppliers and to volatility in the supply and price of power in the open market.
We intend to rely on third parties to provide power to our data centers, and we cannot ensure that these third parties will deliver such power in adequate quantities or on a consistent basis. We may also be reliant on third parties to deliver additional power capacity to support the growth of our business. If the amount of power available to us is inadequate to support customer requirements, we may be unable to satisfy our obligations to our customers or grow our business. In addition, our data centers may be susceptible to power shortages and planned or unplanned power outages caused by these shortages. Power outages may last beyond our backup and alternative power arrangements, which would harm our customers and our business. Any loss of services or equipment damage could adversely affect both our ability to generate revenues and our operating results, harm our reputation and potentially lead to customer disputes or litigation.
In addition, we may be subject to risks and unanticipated costs associated with obtaining power from various utility companies. Utilities that serve our data centers may be dependent on, and sensitive to price increases for, a particular type of fuel, including hydroelectric. In addition, the total cost of delivered electricity could increase as a result of: regulations intended to regulate carbon emissions and other pollutants, ratepayer surcharges related to recovering the cost of extreme weather events and natural disasters, geopolitical conflicts, military conflicts, grid modernization charges, as well as other charges borne by ratepayers. Increases in the cost of power at any of our data centers could put those locations at a competitive disadvantage relative to data centers that are supplied power at a lower price.
We will depend on third parties to provide network connectivity to the customers in our data centers and any delays or disruptions in connectivity may materially adversely affect our operating results and cash flow.
We are not a telecommunications carrier. We believe that the availability of carrier capacity will directly affect our ability to achieve our projected results. Any carrier may elect not to offer its services within our data centers. Any carrier that has decided to provide network connectivity to our data centers may not continue to do so for any period of time. Further, some carriers are experiencing business difficulties or have announced consolidations. As a result, some carriers may be forced to downsize or terminate connectivity within our data centers, which could have an adverse effect on the business of our customers and, in turn, our own operating results.
Our data centers may require construction and operation of a sophisticated redundant fiber network. The construction required to connect multiple carrier facilities to data centers is complex and involves factors outside of our control, including regulatory requirements and the availability of construction resources. We intend to obtain the right to use network resources owned by other companies, in order to attract telecommunications carriers and customers to our portfolio. If the establishment of highly diverse network connectivity to our data centers does not occur, is materially delayed or is discontinued, or is subject to failure, our operating results and cash flow may be materially adversely affected. Additionally, any hardware or fiber failures on this network may result in significant loss of connectivity to our data centers. This could negatively affect our ability to attract new customers or retain existing customers, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Any delays or unexpected costs in the development of any new properties acquired for development may delay and harm our growth prospects, future operating results and financial condition.
We intend to build out additional data centers in the future based on signed letters of intent at significant cost. Our successful development of this and future projects is subject to many risks, including those associated with:
delays in construction, or changes to the plans or specifications;
budget overruns, increased prices for raw materials or building supplies, or lack of availability and/or increased costs for specialized data center components, including long lead time items such as generators;
construction site accidents and other casualties;
financing availability, including our ability to obtain construction financing and permanent financing, or increases in interest rates or credit spreads;
labor availability, costs, disputes and work stoppages with contractors, subcontractors or others that are constructing the project;
failure of contractors to perform on a timely basis or at all, or other misconduct on the part of contractors
access to sufficient power and related costs of providing such power to our customers;
environmental issues;
supply chain constraints;
fire, flooding, earthquakes and other natural disasters;
pandemics;
geological, construction, excavation and equipment problems; and
delays or denials of entitlements or permits, including zoning and related permits, or other delays resulting from requirements of public agencies and utility companies.
In addition, development activities, regardless of whether they are ultimately successful, also typically require a substantial portion of our management’s time and attention. This may distract our management from focusing on other operational activities of our business. If we are unable to complete development projects successfully and on a timely basis, our business may be adversely affected.
If we incorrectly estimate our hosting capacity requirements and related capital expenditures, our results of operations could be adversely affected.
We will be continuously evaluating our capacity requirements in order to effectively manage our capital expenditures and operating results. However, we may be unable to accurately project our future capacity needs or sufficiently allocate resources to address such needs. If we underestimate these requirements, we may not be able to provide sufficient service to existing customers or may be required to limit new customer acquisition, both of which may materially and adversely impair our results of operations.
Certain natural disasters or other external events, including climate change or mechanical failures, could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows, and prospects.
We may also experience disruptions due to mechanical failure, human error, physical or electronic security breaches, war, terrorism, fire, earthquake, pandemics, hurricane, flood and other natural disasters, sabotage and vandalism. Our systems may be susceptible to damage, interference, or interruption from modifications or upgrades, power loss, telecommunications failures, computer viruses, ransomware attacks, computer denial of service attacks, phishing schemes, or other attempts to harm or access our systems. Such disruptions could materially and adversely affect our business and our financial condition, operating results, cash flows, and prospects.
In addition, there continues to be a lack of consistent climate legislation, which creates economic and regulatory uncertainty for our business. With the energy demand of our business, we may become a target for future environmental and energy regulation. New legislation and increased regulation regarding climate change could impose significant costs on us and our suppliers, including costs related to increased energy requirements, capital equipment, environmental monitoring and reporting, and other costs to comply with such regulations. Further, any future climate change regulations could also negatively impact our ability to compete with companies situated in areas not subject to such limitations.
Given the political significance and uncertainty around the impact of climate change and how it should be addressed, and energy disclosure and use regulations, we cannot predict how legislation and regulation will affect our financial condition and results of operations in the future in the U.S. and Australia. Further, even without such regulation, increased awareness and any adverse publicity in the global marketplace about potential impacts on climate change or energy use by us or other companies in our industry could harm our reputation. Any of the foregoing could result in a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition.
Should we have additional space available for lease at any one of our data centers, our ability to lease this space to existing or new customers could be constrained by our ability to provide sufficient electrical power.
As our future customers increase their power footprint in our data centers over time, the corresponding reduction in available power could limit our ability to increase occupancy rates or network density within our existing or future data centers. Furthermore, our aggregate maximum contractual obligation to provide power and cooling to our customers may exceed the physical capacity at such data centers if customers were to quickly increase their demand for power and cooling. Should his occur and we are not able to increase the available power and/or cooling or move the customer to another location within our data centers with sufficient power and cooling to meet such demand, we could lose the customer as well as be exposed to liability under our customer agreements. In addition, our power and cooling systems will be difficult and expensive to upgrade. Accordingly, we may not be able to efficiently upgrade or change these systems to meet new demands without incurring significant costs that we may not be able to pass on to our customers. Any such material loss of customers, liability or additional costs could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Increased scrutiny and changing expectations from stakeholders with respect to our environmental, social, and governance (“ ESG ”) practices and the impacts of climate change may result in additional costs or risks.
Companies across many industries are facing increasing scrutiny related to their ESG practices. Investor advocacy groups, certain institutional investors, investment funds and other influential investors are also increasingly focused on ESG practices and in recent years have placed increasing importance on the non-financial impacts of their investments. Furthermore, increased public awareness and concern regarding environmental risks, including global climate change, has resulted and may continue to result in increased public scrutiny of our business and our industry, and our management team may divert significant time and energy away from our operations and towards responding to such scrutiny and reassuring our employees.
We intend to embrace the sustainability of our data centers and will look to have our data centers running on carbon-free renewable energy wherever possible. The SEC has proposed rule changes that would require companies to include certain climate-related disclosures such as climate-related risks that are reasonably likely to have a material impact on business, results of operations, or financial conditions. Should such proposed rules be adopted, increased public scrutiny of our business may affect our operations, competitive position, and financial condition.
In addition, the physical risks of climate change may impact the availability and cost of materials and natural resources, sources and supply of energy, could increase our insurance and other operating costs, including, potentially, to repair damage incurred as a result of extreme weather events or to renovate or retrofit facilities to better withstand extreme weather events. If environmental laws or regulations or industry standards in the U.S. or Australia are either changed or adopted and impose significant operational restrictions and compliance requirements on our operations, or if our operations are disrupted due to the physical impacts of climate change, our business, capital expenditures, results of operations, financial condition and competitive position could be negatively impacted.
Cancellation or withdrawal of required operating and other permits and license.
We must obtain various permits, approvals and/or licenses in order to construct and operate our planned data center facilities. If such permits, approvals and/or licenses are not granted, or if they are lost, suspended, terminated or revoked, it may result in delays in construction of our facilities, require us to halt all or part of our operations, or cause us to be exposed to financial or other penalties at the affected locations. Such circumstances could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.
Our operations are subject to environmental laws and regulations that may increase costs of operations, impact or limit business plans, or expose us to environmental liabilities.
As we develop data center assets, we may become subject to environmental laws and regulations affecting many aspects of our operations, including those affecting the development of data center assets. These laws and regulations can increase capital, operating and other costs; cause delays as a result of litigation and administrative proceedings; and create environmental compliance, remediation, containment, monitoring and reporting obligations for construction materials facilities. Environmental laws and regulations can also require us to install pollution control equipment at facilities we may someday operate, and correct environmental hazards, including payment of all or part of the cost to remediate sites where activities of other parties, caused environmental contamination. These laws and regulations generally require us to obtain and comply with a variety of environmental licenses, permits, inspections and other approvals. Although we intend to strive to comply with all applicable environmental laws and regulations, public and private entities and private individuals may interpret our legal or regulatory requirements differently and seek injunctive relief or other remedies against us. We cannot predict the outcome, financial or operational, of any such litigation or administrative proceedings.
Existing environmental laws and regulations may be revised and new laws and regulations seeking to protect the environment may be adopted or become applicable to us. These laws and regulations could require us to limit the use or output of certain facilities; prohibit or restrict new or existing services; retire and replace certain facilities; install pollution controls; remediate environmental impacts; remove or reduce environmental hazards; or forego or limit the development of resources and certain facilities where it operates. Revised or new laws and regulations that increase compliance and disclosure costs and/or restrict operations could adversely affect our results of operations, financial conditions and cash flows.
Risks Relating to Laws, Regulatory Frameworks, and Legal Action affecting SharonAI
Our business and financial condition may be materially adversely affected by changes to and/or increased regulation of energy sources.
Governmental authorities have and may continue to pursue and implement legislation and regulation that seeks to limit the amount of carbon dioxide produced from electricity generation, which, in the event any of our services are powered by non-renewable energy sources, would affect our ability to source electricity from fossil fuel-fired electric generation in a potentially material adverse manner. Potential increases in costs arising from compliance and environmental monitoring may adversely affect our operations and financial performance.
HPC/AI and data center activities are energy-intensive, which may restrict the geographic locations of our activities to locations with renewable sources of power. Government regulators may potentially restrict the ability of electricity suppliers to provide electricity to HPC and data center operators, including us.
HPC/AI cloud services and data centers require significant amounts of electrical power, and electricity costs are expected to continue to account for a material portion of our operating costs. There has been a substantial increase in the demand for and cost of electricity for computing purposes, and this has had varying levels of impact on local electricity supply. The availability and cost of electricity will impact the geographic locations in which we choose to locate our compute and storage servers and our data center development projects, and the availability and cost of electricity in the geographic locations in which our equipment facilities are located will impact our business, cash flows, results of operations and financial condition.
Should our operations require more electricity than can be supplied or generated in the areas where our compute and storage servers and our data center development project are located or should the electrical transmission grid and distribution or generation systems be unable to provide the regular supply of electricity required, we may have to limit or suspend activities or reduce the speed of our proposed expansion, either voluntarily or as a result of either quotas or restrictions imposed by energy companies or governments, or increased prices for certain users (such as us). If we are unable to procure or generate electricity at a suitable price, as applicable, we may have to shut down our operations in that particular jurisdiction either temporarily or permanently. Additionally, our HPC/AI cloud services equipment and systems and our data center development projects would be materially adversely affected by power outages including outages affecting power generation at our data center development sites, as applicable. Given the power requirement, it may not be feasible to run HPC/AI cloud services on back-up power generators in the event of a government restriction on electricity or a power outage, which may be caused by climate change, weather, acts of God, wild fires, pandemics, falling trees, falling distribution poles and transmission towers, transmission and distribution cable cuts, failure of power generation at our planned data center development site, including failures in fuel supply, other natural and man-made disasters, other force majeure events in the electricity market and/or the negligence or malfeasance of others. If we are unable to receive adequate power supply and we are forced to reduce our operations due to the lack of availability or cost of electrical power, our business could experience materially adverse impacts.
We are subject to governmental regulation and other legal obligations related to data privacy, data protection and information security. If we are unable to comply with these, we may be subject to governmental enforcement actions, litigation, fines and penalties or adverse publicity.
We collect and process data, including personal, financial and confidential information about individuals, including our employees and business partners; however, not of any customers or other third parties. The collection, use and processing of such data about individuals are governed by data privacy laws and regulations enacted in the U.S. (federal and state), and other jurisdictions around the world. These data privacy laws and regulations are complex, continue to evolve, and on occasion may be inconsistent between jurisdictions leading to uncertainty in interpreting such laws and it is possible that these laws, regulations and requirements may be interpreted and applied in a manner that is inconsistent with our existing information processing practices, and many of these laws are significantly litigated and/or subject to regulatory enforcement. The implication of this includes that various federal, state and foreign legislative or regulatory bodies may enact or adopt new or additional laws and regulations concerning data privacy, data retention, data transfer, and data protection. Such laws may continue to restrict or dictate how we collect, maintain, combine and disseminate information and could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects.
In the United States, there are numerous federal and state laws and regulations that could apply to our operations or the operations of our partners, including data breach notification laws, financial information and other data privacy laws, and consumer protection laws and regulations (e.g., Section 5 of the FTC Act), that govern the collection, use, disclosure, and protection of personal information.
Failure to comply with anti-corruption and anti-money laundering laws, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (the “ FCPA ”) and similar laws associated with our activities outside of the United States, could subject us to penalties and other adverse consequences.
We operate an international business and may have direct or indirect interactions with officials and employees of government agencies or state-owned or affiliated entities. We are subject to the FCPA, and other applicable anti-corruption and anti-money laundering laws in certain countries in which we conduct activities. The FCPA prohibits providing, offering, promising, or authorizing, directly or indirectly, anything of value to government officials, political parties, or political candidates for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business or securing any improper business advantage.
In many foreign countries, including countries in which we may conduct business, it may be a local custom that businesses engage in practices that are prohibited by the FCPA, or other applicable laws and regulations. We face significant risks if we or any of our directors, officers, employees, contractors, agents or other partners or representatives fail to comply with these laws and governmental authorities in the United States and elsewhere could seek to impose substantial civil and/or criminal fines and penalties which could have a material adverse effect on our business, reputation, operating results, prospects and financial condition. Furthermore, a company may be found liable for violations by not only its employees, but also by its contractors and third-party agents. The Company mandates compliance with anti-corruption laws under its Bribery, Corruption and Fraud Policy, as well as its Code of Ethics and Business Conduct. However, there can be no assurance that the Company’s internal control policies and procedures will always protect the Company from recklessness, fraudulent behavior, dishonesty or other inappropriate acts by its employees, contractors or third-party agents.
Any violation of applicable anti-corruption laws, anti-money laundering laws or the FCPA could result in whistleblower complaints, adverse media coverage, investigations, loss of export privileges, severe criminal or civil sanctions and, in the case of the FCPA, suspension or debarment from U.S. government contracts, any of which could have a materially adverse effect on our reputation, business, operating results, prospects and financial condition. In addition, responding to any enforcement action or internal investigation related to alleged misconduct may result in a significant diversion of management’s attention and resources and significant defense costs and other professional fees.
Agreements with Foreign Counterparties and Foreign Governing Laws.
Certain contracts entered into by the Company’s subsidiaries are with foreign counterparties and/or are governed by foreign laws. In some instances, agreements may be silent as to governing law or jurisdiction, which may create uncertainty as to the applicable legal framework and increase the risk of jurisdictional or forum disputes. Where agreements are governed by foreign laws, any disputes arising under those contracts would be determined in accordance with the laws of the relevant foreign jurisdiction. This may result in uncertainty as to how contractual terms will be interpreted and enforced, and may expose the Company to unfamiliar legal standards, procedural requirements and remedies. Resolving disputes in foreign jurisdictions may also be costly, time-consuming and complex, and may divert management attention and resources. Any adverse outcome in respect of such disputes, or the costs associated with enforcing or defending contractual rights in foreign jurisdictions, could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition and results of operations.
Regulatory restrictions that target AI, including, but not limited to, export restrictions may have a material adverse impact on our intended operations.
The increasing focus on the strategic importance of AI technologies has already resulted in regulatory restrictions that target products and services capable of enabling or facilitating AI, and may in the future result in additional restrictions impacting some or all of our service offerings. Such restrictions could include additional unilateral or multilateral export controls on certain products or technology, including, but not limited to, AI technologies. As geopolitical tensions have increased, semiconductors associated with AI, including GPUs and associated products, are increasingly the focus of export control restrictions proposed by stakeholders in the U.S. and its allies, and it is likely that additional unilateral or multilateral controls will be adopted. Such controls may be very broad in scope and application, prohibit us from exporting our services to any or all customers in one or more markets or could impose other conditions that limit our ability to serve demand abroad and could negatively and materially impact our business, revenue, and financial results. Export controls targeting GPUs and semiconductors associated with AI, which are increasingly likely, would restrict our ability to export our technology, services even though competitors may not be subject to similar restrictions, creating a competitive disadvantage for us and negatively impacting our business and financial results. Increasing use of economic sanctions may also impact demand for our services, negatively impacting our business and financial results. Additional unilateral or multilateral controls are also likely to include deemed export control limitations that negatively impact the ability of our research and development teams to execute our roadmap or other objectives in a timely manner. Additional export restrictions may not only impact our ability to serve overseas markets, but also provoke responses from foreign governments, including China, that negatively impact our ability to provide our services to customers in all markets worldwide, which could also substantially reduce our revenue.
During the third quarter of fiscal year 2023, the U.S. government announced new export restrictions and export licensing requirements targeting China’s semiconductor and supercomputing industries. These restrictions impact exports of certain chips, as well as software, hardware, equipment, and technology used to develop, produce, and manufacture certain chips, to China (including Hong Kong and Macau) and Russia. The new license requirements also apply to any future NVIDIA integrated circuit achieving certain peak performance and chip-to-chip I/O performance thresholds, as well as any system or board that includes those circuits. There are also now licensing requirements to export a wide array of products, including networking products, destined for certain end users and for certain end uses in China.
Management of these new license and other requirements is complicated and time consuming. Our results and competitive position may be harmed if we are restricted in offering our services, if customers purchase services from competitors, if customers develop their own internal solution, if we are unable to provide contractual warranty or other extended service obligations, if the U.S. government does not grant licenses in a timely manner or denies licenses to significant customers, or if we incur significant transition costs. Even if the U.S. government grants any requested licenses, the licenses may be temporary or impose burdensome conditions that we cannot or choose not to fulfill. The new requirements may benefit certain of our competitors, as the licensing process will make our pre-sale and post-sale technical support efforts more cumbersome and less certain, and encourage customers to pursue alternatives to our services.
Issues in the development and use of AI may result in reputational or competitive harm or liability .
We are beginning to build AI into our infrastructure services, and we are also providing computing power for AI available for our customers to use in solutions that they build. We are providing supporting/computing power to clients, including our strategic partners who develop AI systems. We expect this integration of AI into our offerings and our business in general to grow. AI presents risks and challenges that could affect its adoption, and therefore our business. AI algorithms or training methodologies may be flawed. Datasets may be overbroad, insufficient, or contain biased information. Content generated by AI systems may be offensive, illegal, or otherwise harmful. Ineffective or inadequate AI development or deployment practices by us or others could result in incidents that impair the acceptance of AI solutions or cause harm to individuals, customers, or society, or result in our products and services not working as intended. Human review of certain outputs may be required. As a result of these and other challenges associated with innovative technologies, our implementation of AI systems could subject us to competitive harm, regulatory action, legal liability, including under new proposed legislation regulating AI in jurisdictions, new applications of existing data protection, privacy, intellectual property, and other laws, and brand or reputational harm. Some AI scenarios present ethical issues or may have broad impacts on society. If we provide supporting/computing AI services that have unintended consequences, unintended usage or customization by our customers and partners, or are controversial because of their impact on human rights, privacy, employment, or other social, economic, or political issues, we may experience brand or reputational harm, adversely affecting our business and consolidated financial statements.
Risks Related to Ownership of the Company’s Securities
The price of the Company’s Class A Ordinary Common Stock may be volatile.
If a public trading market does develop for the Company’s Class A Ordinary Common Stock, its market price is likely to be highly volatile and could fluctuate widely in price in response to various factors, many of which are beyond our control, including the following:
the concentration of the ownership of our shares by a limited number of affiliated stockholders may limit interest in our securities;
limited “public float” with a small number of persons whose sales or lack of sales could result in positive or negative pricing pressure on the market price for the Company’s Class A Ordinary Common Stock;
additions or departures of key personnel;
loss of a strategic relationship;
variations in operating results from the expectations of securities analysts or investors;
announcements of new products or services by us or our competitors;
reductions in the market share of our products;
announcements by us or our competitors of significant acquisitions, strategic partnerships, joint ventures or capital commitments;
investor perception of our industry or prospects;
insider selling or buying;
investors entering into short sale contracts;
regulatory developments affecting our industry;
changes in our industry;
competitive pricing pressures;
our ability to obtain working capital financing;
sales of the Company’s Class A Ordinary Common Stock;
our ability to execute our business plan;
operating results that fall below expectations;
revisions in securities analysts’ estimates or reductions in security analysts’ coverage;
and economic and other external factors.
Many of these factors are beyond our control and may decrease the market price of the Company’s Class A Ordinary Common Stock, regardless of our operating performance. We cannot make any predictions or projections as to what the prevailing market price for the Company’s Class A Ordinary Common Stock will be at any time, including as to whether the Company’s Class A Ordinary Common Stock will sustain current market prices, or as to what effect that the sale of shares or the availability of the Company’s Class A Ordinary Common Stock for sale at any time will have on the prevailing market price.
In addition, the securities markets have from time-to-time experienced significant price and volume fluctuations that are unrelated to the operating performance of particular companies. These market fluctuations may also materially and adversely affect the market price of the Company’s Class A Ordinary Common Stock.
There is currently a limited U.S. public market for our Class A Ordinary Common Stock, the stock price of our Class A Ordinary Common Stock may be volatile or may decline regardless of our operating performance and you may not be able to resell your Class A Ordinary Common Stock at or above the price you acquired such Class A Ordinary Common Stock.
Since there is a limited U.S. public market for our Class A Ordinary Common Stock, the stock price of our Class A Ordinary Common Stock may be volatile or may decline regardless of our operating performance. Due to the limited U.S. public market for our Class A Ordinary Common Stock you may not be able to resell your Class A Ordinary Common Stock at or above the price you acquired such Class A Ordinary Common Stock.
Further, having a limited trading market in the United States may also impair our ability to raise capital by selling our Class A Ordinary Common Stock and may impair our ability to enter into strategic collaborations or acquire companies or products by using our Class A Ordinary Common Stock as consideration.
The Company’s Class A Ordinary Common Stock s thinly traded, and investors may be unable to sell some or all of their shares at the price they would like, or at all, and sales of large blocks of shares may depress the price of the Company’s Class A Ordinary Common Stock.
The Company’s Class A Ordinary Common Stock has historically been sporadically or “thinly-traded,” meaning that the number of persons interested in purchasing shares of the Company’s Class A Ordinary Common Stock at prevailing prices at any given time may be relatively small or nonexistent. As a consequence, there may be periods of several days or more when trading activity in shares of the Company’s Class A Ordinary Common Stock is minimal or non-existent, as compared to a seasoned issuer that has a large and steady volume of trading activity that will generally support continuous sales without an adverse effect on share price. This could lead to wide fluctuations in our share price. Investors may be unable to sell their common stock at or above their purchase price, which may result in substantial losses. Also, as a consequence of this lack of liquidity, the trading of relatively small quantities of shares by our stockholders may disproportionately influence the price of shares of the Company’s Class A Ordinary Common Stock in either direction. The price of shares of the Company’s Class A Ordinary Common Stock could, for example, decline precipitously in the event a large number of share of our common shares are sold on the market without commensurate demand, as compared to a seasoned issuer that could better absorb those sales without adverse impact on its share price.
There is no assurance that an investment in our securities will earn any positive return.
There is no assurance that an investment in our securities will earn any positive return. An investment in our securities involves a high degree of risk and should be undertaken only by investors whose financial resources are sufficient to enable them to assume such risks and who have no need for immediate liquidity in their investment. An investment in our securities is appropriate only for investors who have the capacity to absorb a loss of some or all of their investment.
Our Stock could be delisted from Nasdaq should we fail to maintain compliance with the listing standards of Nasdaq
Even though our Class A Ordinary Common Stock is listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market, there can be no assurance that we will be able to comply with the Nasdaq continued listing standards, a failure of which could result in a de-listing of our securities.
In order to maintain our listing on the Nasdaq Capital Market, Nasdaq requires that we satisfy minimum financial and other continued listing requirements and standards, including those regarding director independence and independent committee requirements, minimum stockholders’ equity, and certain corporate governance requirements. If we are unable to satisfy these requirements or standards, we could be subject to delisting, which would have a negative effect on the price of our Class A Ordinary Common Stock and would impair your ability to sell or purchase our Class A Ordinary Common Stock when you wish to do so. In the event of a delisting, we would expect to take actions to restore our compliance with the listing requirements, but we can provide no assurance that any such action taken by us would allow our Class A Ordinary Common Stock to become listed again, stabilize the market price or improve the liquidity of our Class A Ordinary Common Stock, or prevent future non-compliance with the listing requirements. If, for any reason, we should fail to maintain compliance with these listing standards and Nasdaq should delist our securities from trading on its exchange and we are unable to obtain listing on another national securities exchange, a reduction in some or all of the following may occur, each of which could have a material adverse effect on our stockholders: the liquidity of our Class A Ordinary Common Stock; the market price of our Class A Ordinary Common Stock; our ability to obtain financing for the continuation of our operations; the number of investors that will consider investing in our Class A Ordinary Common Stock; the number of market makers in our Class A Ordinary Common Stock; the availability of information concerning the trading prices and volume of our Class A Ordinary Common Stock; and the number of broker-dealers willing to execute trades in shares of our Class A Ordinary Common Stock.
Sales of a substantial number of our Class A Ordinary Common Stock, including up to an additional 8,500,000 shares that may be issued in future potential offerings and commercial transactions or upon conversion of convertible instruments, may adversely affect the market price of our Class A Ordinary Common Stock and the issuance of additional shares will dilute all other stockholders.
Sales of a substantial number of shares of our Class A Ordinary Common Stock in the public market or otherwise, or the perception that such sales could occur, could adversely affect the market price of our Class A Ordinary Common Stock. $103 million of convertible notes issued in December 2025 (the “December 2025 Convertible Notes”) can convert into up to 8,251,027 shares of our Class A Ordinary Common Stock, and we may issue up to an additional 8,500,000 shares of Class A Ordinary Common Stock in the future pursuant to potential offerings and commercial transactions, which could further increase the number of outstanding shares. In addition, our Certificate of Incorporation permits the issuance of 100,000,000 shares of Class A Ordinary Common Stock. Thus, we could issue substantial amounts of Class A Ordinary Common Stock in the future, which would dilute the percentage ownership of our stockholders.
If the December 2025 Convertible Notes are not converted and required to be repaid on full on the maturity date, it could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s financial position and results of operations.
In December 2025, the Company issued $103 million of convertible promissory notes with a December 2027 maturity date. The notes are automatically convertible upon the occurrence of certain events as described in the notes. Failure of these events to occur prior to the maturity date would require the Company to repay these notes in full with all accrued interest which could have aa material adverse effect on the Company’s financial position and results of operations.
The holders of shares of Class B Super Common Stock will own a significant voting percentage of our stock and will be able to exert significant control over matters subject to stockholder approval.
All 136,341 shares of our Class B Super Common Stock are held by three stockholders. Each share of Class B Super Common Stock has one hundred and sixty (160) votes on any matter brought before the stockholders for a vote, which means that the three stockholders who own all of the Class B Super Common Stock will have, collectively, 21,814,560 votes on any matter subject to stockholder approval. There are currently 15,998,830 shares of Class A Ordinary Common Stock outstanding, and each such share only has one (1) vote on any matter brought before the stockholders for a vote. Thus, the three holders of shares of Class B Super Common Stock may together be able to determine all matters requiring stockholder approval. For example, these three stockholders may be able to control elections of directors, amendments of our organizational documents, or approval of any merger, sale of assets, or other major corporate transaction. This may prevent or discourage unsolicited acquisition proposals or offers for the Company’s stock that you may feel are in your best interest as one of our stockholders. The Company’s Certificate of Incorporation only authorizes 100,000,000 shares of Class A Ordinary Common Stock, which means that even if every authorized share of authorized Class A Ordinary Common Stock was issued and outstanding, the three holders of shares of Class B Super Common Stock would have significant voting capacity. Further information is available in the Security ownership of certain beneficial owners and management section on page 134.
Our dual-class capital structure, including the disproportionate voting power conferred by the Class B Super Common Stock, may deter institutional investors from purchasing or holding our Class A Ordinary Common Stock, which could adversely affect the liquidity and market price of our Class A Ordinary Common Stock.
Our capital structure includes Class B Super Common Stock, each share of which carries one hundred and sixty (160) votes per share compared to one (1) vote per share for our Class A Ordinary Common Stock. As a result, the holders of our Class B Super Common Stock collectively exercise voting control over the Company disproportionate to their economic interest. Many institutional investors, including certain index funds, mutual funds, pension funds, and other large asset managers, have adopted policies that restrict or prohibit investment in companies with dual-class or multi-class share structures that provide disproportionate voting rights to certain stockholders. In addition, certain proxy advisory firms and governance organizations have adopted policies that recommend voting against or withholding support from directors of companies with such structures. As a result of these policies and practices, our dual-class capital structure may cause institutional investors to decline to purchase, or to sell, shares of our Class A Ordinary Common Stock, which could reduce demand for our Class A Ordinary Common Stock, impair the development of an active and liquid trading market for our Class A Ordinary Common Stock, and result in a lower market price for our Class A Ordinary Common Stock than might otherwise prevail. Furthermore, reduced institutional ownership may limit our ability to raise capital through future equity offerings on favorable terms, if at all, and may reduce analyst coverage of our Class A Ordinary Common Stock. There can be no assurance that the trading market for our Class A Ordinary Common Stock will be sufficiently liquid to allow stockholders to sell their shares at the time and price they desire.
The requirements of being a public company may strain our resources and distract management and we will incur substantial costs as a result of being a public company.
We are subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). These rules, regulations and requirements are extensive. Our securities may be subject to additional regulatory scrutiny because we became public through a merger with a shell company. We will incur significant costs associated with our public company corporate governance and reporting requirements. The Exchange Act requires, among other things, that we file annual, quarterly and current reports with respect to our business and operating results. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires, among other things, that we maintain effective disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting. In order to maintain and, if required, improve our disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting to meet this standard, significant resources and management oversight may be required. As a result, management’s attention may be diverted from other business concerns, which could adversely affect our business and operating results. We may need to hire more corporate employees to comply with these requirements or engage outside consultants, which would increase our costs and expenses. This may divert management’s attention from other business concerns, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. These applicable rules and regulations may make it more difficult and more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance and it may be required to accept reduced policy limits and coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain the same or similar coverage. As a result, it may be more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified individuals to serve on our Board or as executive officers.
In addition, changing laws, regulations and standards relating to corporate governance and public disclosure are creating uncertainty for public companies, increasing legal and financial compliance costs and making some activities more time-consuming. These laws, regulations and standards are subject to varying interpretations, in many cases due to their lack of specificity, and, as a result, their application in practice may evolve over time as new guidance is provided by regulatory and governing bodies. This could result in continuing uncertainty regarding compliance matters and higher costs necessitated by ongoing revisions to disclosure and governance practices. We intend to invest resources to comply with evolving laws, regulations and standards, and this investment may result in increased general and administrative expenses and a diversion of management’s time and attention from revenue-generating activities to compliance activities. If our efforts to comply with new laws, regulations and standards differ from the activities intended by regulatory or governing bodies due to ambiguities related to their application and practice, regulatory authorities may initiate legal proceedings against us and our business may be adversely affected.
As a result of disclosure of information in this report and in the filings that we are required to make as a public company, our business, operating results and financial condition have become more visible, which may result in threatened or actual litigation, including by competitors and other third parties. If any such claims are successful, our business, operating results and financial condition could be adversely affected, and even if the claims do not result in litigation or are resolved in our favor, these claims, and the time and resources necessary to resolve them, could divert the resources of our management and adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition.
Failure to maintain effective internal control over our financial reporting in accordance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act could cause our financial reports to be inaccurate.
We are required pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, or Section 404, to maintain internal control over financial reporting and to assess and report on the effectiveness of those controls. This assessment includes disclosure of any material weaknesses identified by our management in our internal control over financial reporting. Although we prepare our financial statements in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States, our internal accounting controls may not meet all standards applicable to companies with publicly traded securities. If we fail to implement any required improvements to our disclosure controls and procedures, we may be obligated to report control deficiencies and our independent registered public accounting firm may not be able to certify the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting. In either case, we could become subject to regulatory sanction or investigation. Further, these outcomes could damage investor confidence in the accuracy and reliability of our financial statements.
Our management has concluded that our internal controls over financial reporting were not effective, as December 31, 2025 as a result of management’s identification of a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting related to the accounting for complex financial instruments. While management believes that it has remediated the material weakness, there is no assurance that such changes, when economically feasible and sustainable, will remediate the identified material weaknesses or that the controls will prevent or detect future material weaknesses. If we are not able to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting, our financial statements, including related disclosures, may be inaccurate, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.
A decline in the price of the Company’s Class A Ordinary Common Stock could affect the Company’s ability to raise working capital and adversely impact the Company’s ability to continue operations.
A prolonged decline in the price of the Company’s Class A Ordinary Common Stock could result in a reduction in the liquidity of the common stock and a reduction in our ability to raise capital. A decline in the price of the Company’s Class A Ordinary Common Stock could be especially detrimental to our liquidity, operations and strategic plans. Such reductions may force us to reallocate funds from other planned uses and may have a significant negative effect on our business plan and operations, including our ability to develop new products and services and continue current operations. If the Company’s Class A Ordinary Common Stock’s price declines, we can offer no assurance that we will be able to raise additional capital or generate funds from operations sufficient to meet our obligations. If we are unable to raise sufficient capital in the future, we may not be able to have the resources to continue our normal operations.
We do not intend to pay any cash dividends in the foreseeable future and, therefore, any return on your investment in the Company’s capital stock must come from increases in the fair market value and trading price of the capital stock.
We have not paid any cash dividends on the Company’s Class A Ordinary Common Stock and do not intend to pay cash dividends on the Company’s Class A Ordinary Common Stock in the foreseeable future. We intend to retain future earnings, if any, for reinvestment in the development and expansion of our business. Any credit agreements, which we may enter into with institutional lenders, may restrict our ability to pay dividends. Whether we pay cash dividends in the future will be at the discretion of our Board and will be dependent upon our financial condition, results of operations, capital requirements and any other factors that our Board decides is relevant. Therefore, any return on your investment in our capital stock must come from increases in the fair market value and trading price of the capital stock.
Future sales and issuances of our securities could result in additional dilution of the percentage ownership of our stockholders and could cause our share price to fall.
We expect that significant additional capital will be needed in the future to continue our planned operations, including research and development, increased marketing, hiring new personnel, commercializing our products, and continuing activities as an operating public company. To the extent we raise additional capital by issuing equity securities, our stockholders may experience substantial dilution. We may sell Class A Ordinary Common Stock, convertible securities or other equity securities in one or more transactions at prices and in a manner we determine from time to time. If we sell Class A Ordinary Common Stock, convertible securities or other equity securities in more than one transaction, investors may be materially diluted by subsequent sales. Such sales may also result in material dilution to our existing stockholders, and new investors could gain rights superior to our existing stockholders.
Changes in international trade policies, tariffs and treaties affecting imports and exports may have a material adverse effect on our business.
There have recently been significant changes to international trade policies and tariffs affecting imports and exports. Any significant increases in tariffs on goods or materials or other changes in trade policy could negatively affect our business operations. Recently, the U.S. has implemented a range of new tariffs and increases to existing tariffs. In response to the tariffs announced by the U.S., other countries have imposed, are considering imposing, and may in the future impose new or increased tariffs on certain exports from the United States. There is currently significant uncertainty about the future relationship between the United States and other countries with respect to trade policies, taxes, government regulations and tariffs. and we cannot predict whether, and to what extent, current tariffs will continue or trade policies will change in the future. Tariffs, or the threat of tariffs or increased tariffs, could have a significant negative impact on our businesses (either due to our reliance on imported goods or dependence on access to foreign markets).
Among other things, historical financial performance of companies affected by trade policies and/or tariffs may not provide useful guidance as to the future performance of such companies, because future financial performance of those companies may be materially affected by new U.S. tariffs or foreign retaliatory tariffs, or other changes to trade policies. We may not be able to adequately address the risks presented by these tariffs or other potential trade policy changes. As a result, our business may be negatively impacted.
Inflationary pressures and persistently high prices and uncertain availability of inputs used by us and our suppliers, or instability in logistics and related costs, could negatively impact our profitability. Pending tariffs proposed by the Trump Administration, may also negatively impact the cost structure of our supply chain, and the Company may not be able to pass these price increases on to its customers.
Increases in prices, including because of inflation and rising interest rates, for inputs that we and our suppliers use in manufacturing products, systems, components and parts, or increases in logistics and related costs, have led in the past and may lead in the future to higher production costs for parts, components and vehicles. Geopolitical risks, fluctuations in supply and demand, fluctuations in interest rates, any weakening of the U.S. dollar in comparison with other currencies, and other economic and political factors have created and may continue to create pricing pressure for our inputs. These inflationary pressures could, in turn, negatively impact our profitability because we may not be able to pass all of those costs on to our customers or require our suppliers to absorb such costs.
Changes to United States tariff and import/export regulations may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
The United States has recently enacted and proposed to enact significant new tariffs. Additionally, President Trump has directed various federal agencies to further evaluate key aspects of U.S. trade policy and there has been ongoing discussion and commentary regarding potential significant changes to U.S. trade policies, treaties and tariffs. There continues to exist significant uncertainty about the future relationship between the U.S. and other countries with respect to such trade policies, treaties and tariffs. These developments, or the perception that any of them could occur, may have a material adverse effect on global economic conditions and the stability of global financial markets, and may significantly reduce global trade and, in particular, trade between the impacted nations and the U.S. Any of these factors could depress economic activity and restrict our access to suppliers or customers and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
The Warrants are exercisable for the Company’s Class A Ordinary Common Stock, which would increase the number of shares eligible for future resale in the public market and result in dilution to our shareholders.
As of February 6, 2026, we had outstanding warrants to purchase an aggregate of up to 444,982 shares of the Company’s Class A Ordinary Common Stock, including Public Warrants to purchase up to 230,000 shares of Class A Ordinary Common Stock and Private Warrants to purchase up to 214,982 shares of Class A Ordinary Common Stock are exercisable in accordance with the terms of the Warrant Agreement governing those securities. These warrants became exercisable on December 16, 2025. The exercise price of these warrants is $575.00 per share. However, there is no guarantee that our warrants will ever be “in the money” prior to their expiration, and, as such, our Warrants may expire worthless. See “- The Warrants may never be in the money, and they may expire worthless and the terms of the warrants may be amended in a manner adverse to a holder if holders of at least 50% of the then outstanding Private Warrants and Public Warrants, respectively, approve of such amendment for their respective warrants .”
To the extent our warrants are exercised, additional shares of the Company’s Class A Ordinary Common Stock will be issued, which will result in dilution to the holders of the Company’s Class A Ordinary Common Stock and increase the number of shares eligible for resale in the public market. Sales of substantial numbers of shares issued upon the exercise of our warrants in the public market or the potential that such warrants may be exercised could also adversely affect the market price of the Company’s Class A Ordinary Common Stock.
The warrants may never be in the money, and they may expire worthless and the terms of the warrants may be amended in a manner adverse to a holder if holders of at least 50% of the then outstanding Private Warrants and Public Warrants, respectively approve of such amendment to their respective warrants.
The exercise price for the outstanding warrants is $575.00 per share of Class A Ordinary Common Stock. There can be no assurance that the warrants will be in the money following the time they become exercisable and prior to their expiration and as such, the warrants may expire worthless.
The Public Warrants were issued in registered form under a Warrant Agreement between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as warrant agent, and the Company’s predecessor. The Warrant Agreement provides that the terms of the warrants may be amended without the consent of any holder to cure any ambiguity or correct any defective provision, but requires the approval by the holders of at least 50% of the then outstanding Public Warrants to make any change that increases the exercise price or shortens the exercise period of the Public Warrants.
Accordingly, we may amend the terms of the Public Warrants in a manner adverse to a holder if holders of at least 50% of the then outstanding Public Warrants approve of such amendment. Although our ability to amend the terms of the Public Warrants with the consent of at least 50% of the then outstanding Public Warrants is unlimited, examples of such amendments could be amendments to, among other things, increase the exercise price of the warrants, shorten the exercise period or decrease the number of shares of the Company’s Class A Ordinary Common Stock purchasable upon exercise of a warrant.
We may redeem your Public Warrants prior to their exercise which may result in warrant holders receiving little or no value for their warrants thereby making your Public Warrants worthless.
We have the ability to redeem outstanding Public Warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.01 per warrant, provided that the closing price of the shares of the Company’s Class A Ordinary Common Stock equals or exceeds $900.00 per share (as adjusted for share sub-divisions, share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any twenty (20) trading days within a thirty (30) trading-day period ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which we give proper notice of such redemption to the warrants holders and provided certain other conditions are met. We will not redeem the Public Warrants unless an effective registration statement under the Securities Act covering the shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants is effective and a current report relating to those shares is available throughout the thirty (30)-day redemption period, except if we elect to require the warrants to be exercised on a cashless basis and such cashless exercise is exempt from registration under the Securities Act. If and when the Public Warrants become redeemable by us, we may exercise our redemption right even if we are unable to register or qualify the underlying securities for sale under all applicable state securities laws. If we elect to redeem the outstanding Public Warrants, holders would be forced to either exercise their warrants and pay the exercise price at a time when it may be disadvantageous to do so, sell the warrants at the then-current market price, or accept the nominal redemptional price. Any such redemption could occur at a time when the warrants are worthless. None of the Private Placement Warrants will be redeemable by us so long as they are held by the Sponsor or any of its permitted transferees. As of the date of this report, the Company’s Class A Common Stock has never traded above $95.00 per share, therefore neither current nor recent share prices meet or exceed the threshold that would allow us to redeem Public Warrants.
In addition, we have the ability to redeem the outstanding Public Warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.10 per warrant upon a minimum of 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption if the closing price of the Company’s Class A Ordinary Common Stock equals or exceeds $500.00 per share (as adjusted for share sub-divisions, share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any twenty (20) trading days within a thirty (30) day trading-day period ending on the third day prior to proper notice of such redemption provided that if the closing price of the Class A Ordinary Common Stock is less than $900 per share (subject to adjustment in compliance with Section 4 hereof), the Private Placement Warrants are also concurrently called for redemption on the same terms as the outstanding Public Warrants and provided that certain other conditions are met. The value received upon exercise of the warrants may be less than the value the holders would have received if they had been able to exercise their warrants at a later time at which the underlying share price is higher and (2) may not compensate the holders for the value of the warrants, including because the number of ordinary shares received is capped at 0.00722 shares per warrant (subject to adjustment) irrespective of the remaining life of the warrants. In addition, such redemptions may occur at a time when our Warrants are “out-of-the-money,” in which case holders thereof would lose any potential embedded value from a subsequent increase in the value of the Company’s Class A Ordinary Common Stock had such Public Warrants remained outstanding. If the price of the Company’s Class A Ordinary Common Stock is less than $900.00 and we seek redemption of the Public Warrants, we must call the Private Placement Warrants for redemption on the same terms.
In the event that we determine to redeem the Public Warrants when the closing price of the shares of the Company’s Class A Ordinary Common Stock equals or exceeds $900.00 per share, pursuant to Section 6.2 of the Warrant Agreement, respectively, we will fix a date for the redemption. Notice of redemption will be mailed by first class mail, postage prepaid, by us not less than thirty (30) days prior to the redemption date to the registered holders of the Public Warrants to be redeemed at their last addresses as they appear on the registration books. Any notice mailed in the manner herein provided will be conclusively presumed to have been duly given whether or not the registered holder received such notice.
Public Warrant holders will only be able to exercise their Public Warrants on a “cashless basis” under certain circumstances, and if they do so, they will receive fewer shares of the Company’s Class A Ordinary Common Stock from such exercise than if such warrants were exercised for cash.
The Public Warrants generally may not be exercised on a “cashless basis”, except as described below. In contrast, the Private Placement Warrants, for so long as they are held by the Sponsor and certain permitted transferees, may be exercised on a “cashless basis”. The reason that Roth CH agreed that the Private Placement Warrants will be exercisable on a cashless basis so long as they are held by the Sponsor or its permitted transferees is because it was not known at the time of Roth CH’s IPO whether the Sponsor would be affiliated with us following a business combination. If the Sponsor remains affiliated with us, its ability to sell our securities in the open market will be significantly limited. We expect to have policies in place that prohibit insiders from selling securities except during specific periods of time. Even during such periods of time when insiders will be permitted to sell our securities, an insider cannot trade in our securities if he or she is in possession of material non-public information. Accordingly, unlike Public Shareholders who could exercise their Public Warrants and sell the shares received upon such exercise freely in the open market in order to recoup the cost of such exercise, the Insiders could be significantly restricted from selling such securities.
The Warrant Agreement provides that in the following circumstances holders of Public Warrants who seek to exercise their Public Warrants will not be permitted to do for cash and will, instead, be required to do so on a cashless basis in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act: (i) if the Company’s Class A Ordinary Common Stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants are not registered under the Securities Act in accordance with the terms of the warrant agreement; (ii) if we have so elected and the Company’s Class A Ordinary Common Stock are at the time of any exercise of a warrant not listed on a national securities exchange such that they satisfy the definition of “covered securities” under Section 18(b)(1) of the Securities Act; and (iii) if we have so elected and we call the Public Warrants for redemption. If you exercise your Public Warrants on a cashless basis, you would pay the warrant exercise price by surrendering the warrants for that number of shares of the Company’s Class A Ordinary Common Stock equal to the quotient obtained by dividing (x) the product of the number of shares of the Company’s Class A Ordinary Common Stock underlying the Public Warrants, multiplied by the excess of the “fair market value” of the shares of the Company’s Class A Ordinary Common Stock (as defined in the next sentence) over the exercise price of the warrants by (y) the fair market value. The “fair market value” is the average reported closing price of the shares of the Company’s Class A Ordinary Common Stock for the ten (10) trading days ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which the notice of exercise is received by the warrant agent or on which the notice of redemption is sent to the holders of warrants, as applicable. As a result, a holder of Public Warrants would receive fewer shares of the Company’s Class A Ordinary Common Stock from such exercise than if such warrants were exercised for cash.
The Warrant Agreement will designate the courts of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York as the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by holders of the warrants, which could limit the ability of warrant holders to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes.
The Warrant Agreement provides that, subject to applicable law, (i) any action, proceeding or claim against us arising out of or relating in any way to the warrant agreement, including under the Securities Act, will be brought and enforced in the courts of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, and (ii) that we irrevocably submit to such jurisdiction, which jurisdiction shall be the exclusive forum for any such action, proceeding or claim. We will waive any objection to such exclusive jurisdiction and that such courts represent an inconvenient forum.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, these provisions of the Warrant Agreement will not apply to suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal district courts of the United States of America are the sole and exclusive forum. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in any of our warrants shall be deemed to have notice of and to have consented to the forum provisions in our warrant agreement. If any action, the subject matter of which is within the scope the forum provisions of the Warrant Agreement, is filed in a court other than a court of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (a “foreign action”) in the name of any holder of our warrants, such holder shall be deemed to have consented to: (x) the personal jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in the State of New York in connection with any action brought in any such court to enforce the forum provisions (an “enforcement action”), and (y) having service of process made upon such warrant holder in any such enforcement action by service upon such warrant holder’s counsel in the foreign action as agent for such warrant holder.
This choice-of-forum provision may limit a warrant holder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes, which may discourage such lawsuits and result in increased costs to warrant holders to bring a lawsuit. Alternatively, if a court were to find this provision of our Warrant Agreement inapplicable or unenforceable with respect to one or more of the specified types of actions or proceedings, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such matters in other jurisdictions, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and result in a diversion of the time and resources of our management and board.
We are a “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” under the U.S. federal securities laws, and the reduced reporting requirements applicable to smaller reporting companies and emerging growth companies could make the Company’s Class A Ordinary Common Stock less attractive to investors.
We are a “smaller reporting company” and an “emerging growth company” under U.S. federal securities laws. For as long as we continue to be a smaller reporting company, we may take advantage of exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not smaller reporting companies, including reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements. Furthermore, as an emerging growth company, we intend to take advantage of exemptions from certain reporting requirements including not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and exemptions from the requirements of holding a non- binding advisory vote on executive compensation. Investors may not find the Company’s Class A Ordinary Common Stock attractive because we may rely on these exemptions and reduced disclosures. If some investors find the Company’s Class A Ordinary Common Stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for the Company’s Class A Ordinary Common Stock and our stock price may be more volatile.
We will remain a smaller reporting company until the last day of the fiscal year in which (1) the market value of the Company’s Class A Ordinary Common Stock held by non-affiliates exceeds $250 million as of the prior June 30, or (2) our annual revenues exceeded $100 million during such completed fiscal year and the market value of the Company’s Class A Ordinary Common Stock held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the last business day of the most recently completed second fiscal quarter.
We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of: (1) the last day of the fiscal year (a) following the fifth anniversary of the closing of Roth CH’s IPO, (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.23 billion, or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our common equity that is held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the end of the prior fiscal year’s second fiscal quarter; and (2) the date on which we have issued more than $1.00 billion in non-convertible debt securities during the prior three-year period.
