Item 1A. Risk Factors
Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. Before making your decision to invest in shares of our common stock, you should carefully consider and read carefully all of the risks described below, together with the other information contained in this report, including our financial statements and the related notes and the section titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in this report. We cannot assure you that any of the events discussed below will not occur. These events could have a material and adverse impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Unless otherwise indicated, references to our business being harmed in these risk factors will include harm to our business, reputation, financial condition, results of operations, revenue and future prospects. In such an event, the trading price of our common stock could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or not believed by us to be material may also negatively impact us.
Risks Related to Our Business and Industry
We face significant competition from larger companies and third-party providers that may deploy their resources so they can develop their IP solutions internally.
We are engaged in a competitive segment of the global semiconductor industry. Our competitive landscape is characterized by competition from companies that have greater resources than us. A variety of factors could adversely impact our ability to compete, including rapid technological change in product design and manufacturing, customers that make purchase decisions based on a mix of factors of varying importance and continuous declines in average selling prices (ASPs). We compete principally on the basis of technology, product quality and features, license, royalty and usage terms, post-contract customer support, interoperability among products, and price and payment terms.
We operate in industries characterized by rapidly changing technologies as well as rapid innovation and technological obsolescence. The appearance of new competitors, including start-up enterprises, introduction of new products by our competitors or our failure to timely develop new or enhanced products or technologies in response to changing market demand, whether due to technological shifts or otherwise, could result in the loss of customers and decreased revenue and have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Often, we compete against larger companies that possess substantial financial, technical, research and development and engineering resources that can be deployed so they can develop their IP solutions internally. In addition, we compete against other third-party providers of IP integration solutions, such as Arm and Cadence that similarly possess substantial financial, technical, research and development and engineering resources. In certain cases, competitive companies may be supported by local or international government funding and similar resources. Varying combinations of these resources provide advantages to these competitors that enable them to influence industry trends and the pace at which they adapt to these trends. A strong competitive response from one or more of our competitors to our marketplace efforts, or a shift in customer preferences to competitors’ products, could result in increased pressure to lower our prices more rapidly than anticipated, increased sales and marketing expense, and/or market share loss. The consolidation of our competitors or collaboration among our competitors to deliver more comprehensive offerings than they could individually, may also impact our ability to compete effectively. To the extent our revenue is impacted by competitive pressures and reduced pricing, our business could be .
Our ability to compete in our market is subject to a variety of factors, many of which are beyond our control. The occurrence of any of the below could adversely affect our ability to compete and harm our business:
■ Our ability to anticipate and lead critical product development cycles and technological shifts as driven by our target markets, to innovate rapidly and efficiently and to improve our existing solutions.
■ Whether any competitor substantially increases its engineering and marketing resources to compete with us in the semiconductor IP interconnect and SoC Integration Automation software technology arena.
■ Whether a new entrant with substantially greater resources and/or supported by governmental resources decides to enter the markets in which we compete.
■ Whether any existing or new competitor bundles its technologies into one package at a discounted price that would make it uneconomical for our customers to license our products separately.
■ The challenges of developing, or acquiring externally developed, technology solutions that are adequate and competitive in meeting the rapidly evolving requirements of next-generation design challenges.
■ Our ability to compete on the basis of payment, pricing, features and/or terms.
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■ Decisions by semiconductor companies, fabless chip design or system companies, device or other end product producers, and/or OEMs to develop IP development internally, rather than license IP from outside vendors due to budget constraints or excess engineering capacity.
■ Actions by regulators or governmental entities to impose license requirements, limit product availability, limit trade and exportability of our products, the features or contractual terms that either we or our customers can apply to product and service offerings, or to affect monetary policy or to impose tariffs.
■ Actions by regulators or governmental entities to modify or augment tax treatment of our product and service offerings.
■ The impact of global and regional inflation on ours and our customers’ profitability and expansion plans due to among other effects of inflation, increases in wages, availability of capital, salaries, operating expenses, and costs of insurance, benefits and medical coverage.
■ The potential effects of geopolitical conflicts, such as the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the conflict in Iran and Israel, including retaliatory, military and regulatory actions, or other actions that escalate tensions, including with respect to the conflict in Israel, actions involving Iran and other groups in the Middle East, on our customers’ engineering resources, design schedules, purchasing, development, sales and innovation responses and trends in response to such conflicts. Specifically, the conflict in Israel and Gaza continues to result in an uncertain business and investment environment in the region. Many companies in the affected regions, particularly small to medium enterprises, are experiencing extended challenges raising money leading to cutbacks and project delays.
■ Competition, embargoes, sanctions, boycotts and/or social unrest.
■ Local or international economic headwind trends that may lead to recessions, economic slowdowns or sudden changes in the economic needs of regions and consumers.
■ Silicon chip supply chain and shipment volume restrictions on our customers and their end customers that will impact the amount of royalties payable to us.
We may be unable to reduce the cost of our products sufficiently to compete effectively against our competitors. Our cost reduction efforts may not allow us to keep pace with competitive pricing pressures and/or other economic factors including inflation, impact from and response to U.S. trade policy, and customer and end market supply chain constraints which could adversely affect our gross margins and ability to meet customer demand. To the extent we are unable to reduce the prices of our products and remain competitive, our revenue will likely decline, resulting in further pressure on our gross margins, which could harm our business. Many other companies in the IP interconnect space have not been able to continue as a going concern due to intense competition and low margins. See “Business—Competition”.
We have a history of net losses, and we may not achieve or maintain profitability in the future.
We have incurred net losses in certain periods historically. We incurred a net loss of $34.7 million and $33.6 million for the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively. As of December 31, 2025, we had an accumulated deficit of $171.6 million. We have spent significant funds on organizational and start-up activities, to recruit engineers and other employees and to support our re search and development. The net losses we incur may fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter and may increase as a result of geopolitical and market fluctuations, inflation, economic slowdown and/or recessionary pressures and other global economic factors.
Our long-term success is dependent upon our ability to successfully market our interconnect IP and SoC Integration Automation software solutions, develop new interconnect IP and SoC Integration Automation software solutions, earn revenue, obtain additional capital when needed and, ultimately, to maintain profitable operations. We will need to generate significant additional revenue to achieve profitability. It is possible that we will not achieve profitability or that, even if we do achieve profitability, we may not maintain or increase profitability in the future. Our failure to achieve or maintain profitability could negatively impact the value of our common stock.
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Because our IP solutions are components of end products, if semiconductor, system producers and/or end product producer companies in the aerospace and defense market , automotive market, communications market, consumer electronics market, enterprise computing market, and industrial market do not incorporate our solutions into their end products or if the end products of our customers do not achieve market acceptance, we may not be able to generate adequate license sales and royalty income from our products.
Our IP solutions include technology that manages on-chip communications in SoC semiconductor devices. We do not license our IP solutions and deployment tools directly to end-users; we license our technology primarily to companies in the aerospace and defense market, automotive market, communications market, consumer electronics market, enterprise computing market, and industrial market who then incorporate our technology into the products they sell. As a result, we rely on our customers to incorporate our technology into their end products at the design stage. Once a company incorporates a competitor’s technology or develops the technology internally and incorporates it into its end product, it becomes significantly more difficult for us to sell our technology to that company because changing suppliers involves significant cost, time, effort and risk for the Company. As a result, we may not achieve targeted customer acceptance despite incurring significant expenditures to develop new technology.
Moreover, even after customers agree to incorporate our technology into their end products, the design cycle is long and may be delayed due to factors beyond our control, which may result in our customers’ product not reaching the market until long after our initial design win, which we define as winning the competitive bid selection process. From initial product design-in to volume production, many factors could impact the timing and/or amount of sales realized from the design-in. These factors include, but are not limited to, changes in the competitive position of our customers’ product, our customers’ financial stability, and our customers’ ability to ship products under our customers’ original schedule. Moreover, several external factors affect our customers’ ability and willingness to start their own new product designs and to manufacture and ship their products, including target product market conditions, our customers’ financial stability, our customers’ competitive positioning and external economic conditions (such as, but not, limited to inflation, recessions, customer and end market supply chain constraints, geopolitical conflict, sanctions, and competition) that may prolong the customers’ decision-making process and design cycle.
Further, we do not control the business practices of our customers, and we do not influence the degree to which they promote, market or set their product pricing. We therefore cannot assure you that our customers will devote satisfactory efforts to promote their end products, which incorporate our IP technology and deployment solutions.
We depend on growth and economic stability in the end markets that use our products. Any slowdown in the growth and economic stability of these end markets could harm our business.
Our continued success will depend in large part on general economic growth and stability, and growth and stability within our target markets in the aerospace and defense market, automotive market, communications market, consumer electronics market, enterprise computing market, and industrial market. Factors affecting these markets could seriously harm our customers and/or end customers and, as a result, harm us, examples of which include:
■ Reduced sales of our customers’ and/or end customers’ products.
■ The effects of catastrophic and other disruptive events at our customers’ and/or end customers’ offices or facilities including, but not limited to, natural disasters, telecommunications failures, cyber-attacks, terrorist attacks, regional wars or conflicts, pandemics, epidemics or other outbreaks of infectious disease, breaches of security or loss of critical data.
■ Increased costs associated with potential disruptions to our customers’ and/or end markets’ supply chain and other manufacturing and production operations.
■ The deterioration of our customers’ and/or end customers’ financial condition.
■ Delays and project cancellations as a result of design flaws in the products developed by our customers and/or end customers.
■ The inability of our customers and/or end customers to expand or dedicate the resources necessary to promote and commercialize their products.
■ The inability of our customers and/or end customers to adapt to changing technological demands resulting in their products becoming obsolete.
■ The failure of our customers’ and/or end customers’ products to achieve market success and gain broad market acceptance.
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■ Disruption and uncertainty caused by new developments in U.S. trade and tariff policy, reciprocal tariffs imposed by other countries, export, foreign direct investment, and related regulations.
■ Regional and global effects of inflation or other adverse economic conditions, such as rising interest rates, recessions or economic slowdowns, resulting in delays or cancellations of new product design starts.
■ Adverse impact of multiple interest rate increases implemented and forecasted by the U.S. Federal Reserve.
Any slowdown in the growth of these end markets, or the emergence of economic instability in these end markets, could harm our business. For example, a significant element of our growth strategy depends on the increasing adoption of vehicles with more sophisticated automated driving, which will likely require more complex SoCs. If anticipated demand in the end market for these vehicles does not materialize, whether due to consumer demand not materializing, regulatory interventions or changes to incentives, delays in the deployment of electronic vehicles and automated driving, or the emergence of economic instability in end markets arising from factors such as inflationary trends, interest rate fluctuations and general economic uncertainty, deteriorating purchasing power, trade or supply chain disruptions and regional and/or worldwide chip shortages or excess supply, demand fluctuations, unemployment spikes, labor shortages or end market reactions to regional or global geopolitical uncertainties, wars or , or other factors beyond our control, it would affect demand for our products from customers and royalty revenue and impact our ability to execute our growth strategy.
We depend on market acceptance of third-party semiconductor IP.
The semiconductor IP industry is a relatively small and emerging industry. Our future growth will depend on the level of market acceptance of our third-party licensable IP model, the variety of IP offerings available on the market and the shift in customer preference away from in-house development of semiconductor IP technologies and SoC Integration Automation software . Furthermore, the third-party licensable IP model is highly dependent on the market adoption of new services and products, including in the aerospace and defense market, automotive market, communications market, consumer electronics market, enterprise computing market, and industrial market. Such market adoption is important because the increased cost associated with ownership and maintenance of the more complex architectures in SoCs needed for the advanced services and products and time to market pressures on our customers may motivate companies to license third-party IP rather than design them in-house.
The trends that would enable our growth are largely beyond our control. Semiconductor customers also may choose to adopt a multi-chip, off-the-shelf chip solution versus licensing or using highly integrated chipsets that embed our technologies or use our deployment software. If these market shifts do not materialize or third-party semiconductor IP does not achieve market acceptance, our business could be harmed.
The success of our business depends on sustaining or growing our licensing revenue, and the failure to achieve such revenue would lead to a material decline in our results of operations.
Our revenue consists largely of technology license fees and other fees and royalties paid for access to our patented technologies, existing technology and other development and support services we provide to our customers. Our ability to secure and renew the licenses from which our revenue is derived depends on our customers adopting our technology and using it in the products they sell. Once secured, royalty revenue may be negatively affected by factors within and outside our control, including reductions in our customers’ sales prices, sales volumes, our failure to timely complete engineering deliverables and the customers’ negotiated contract terms.
In addition, our customer acquisition cycle for new licenses and license renewals for existing licensees can be lengthy, typically between six to nine months, and can also be costly and unpredictable. Given the length of the sales cycle, we may incur costs in any particular financial period before any associated revenue stream begins, if at all. We cannot provide any assurance that we will be successful in signing new license agreements or renewing existing license agreements on equal or favorable terms or at all. If we do not achieve our revenue goals, our results of operations could decline.
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The nature of the design win process requires us to incur significant expenses without any guarantee that research and development and sales efforts will generate revenue, which could adversely affect our financial results.
We focus on winning competitive bid selection processes, called “design wins,” to incorporate our IP interconnect and other solutions in our customers’ products. These lengthy technical and commercial selection processes may require us to incur significant expenditures and dedicate valued engineering resources to the development or enhancement of our IP interconnect and other solutions without any assurance that our bids will be selected as the design wins. If we incur such expenditures and fail to be selected in the bid selection process, our operating and financial results may be adversely affected. Further, because of the significant costs associated with qualifying new suppliers, customers are likely to use the same or an enhanced version of semiconductor IP from existing suppliers across a number of similar and successor products for a lengthy period of time. As a result, if we fail to secure an initial design win for any of IP interconnect and other solutions to any particular customer, we may lose the opportunity to make future sales of those solutions to that customer for a significant period of time, or at all, and we may experience an associated in revenue relating to those products. Because we expect the ASPs of our products may over time, we consider design wins to be to our future and anticipate that for our newer products, we are and will remain highly dependent on revenue from newer design wins. to initial design wins may also our position in future competitive selection processes because we may not be perceived as an industry leader.
Further, a significant portion of our revenue in any period may depend on a single product design win with a large customer. As a result, the loss of any key design win or any significant delay in the ramp of volume production of the customer’s products into which our product is designed could harm our business. We may not be able to maintain sales to our key customers or continue to secure key design wins for a variety of reasons, and our customers can stop incorporating our products into their product offerings with limited notice to us and suffer little or no penalty.
The loss of a key customer or design win, a reduction in sales to any key customer, a significant delay or negative development in our customers’ product development plans, or our inability to attract new significant customers or secure new key design wins could harm our business.
Even if we succeed in securing design wins for our IP interconnect and other solutions and our SoC Integration Automation software solutions, we may not generate timely or sufficient margins or margins from those wins and our financial results could suffer.
After incurring significant design and development expenditures and dedicating engineering resources to achieve a single initial design win for an IP interconnect or other solution, a substantial period of time generally elapses before we generate meaningful revenue from royalties relating to such solution, if at all. The reasons for this delay include, among other things, the following:
■ Changing customer requirements, resulting in an extended development cycle for the product.
■ Delay in the ramp-up of volume production of the customers’ products into which our solutions are designed.
■ Delay or cancellation of the customers’ product development plans.
■ Market or competitive pressures to reduce the selling price of the customers’ end-products.
■ The discovery of design flaws, defects, errors or bugs in the products, whether or not those defects, errors or bugs are related to our IP interconnect and other solutions that delay the customer from finishing the product in which our IP solution is incorporated.
■ Lower than expected acceptance of the customers’ end-products.
Moreover, as noted above, even if a customer selects our IP interconnect and other solutions, we cannot guarantee that this will result in any royalty or future licensing revenue, as the customer may ultimately change or cancel its product plans, or the customer’s efforts to market and sell its product may not be successful.
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We continually pursue new IP interconnect, SoC integration automation, and other technology initiatives, and if we fail to successfully carry out these initiatives, our business could be harmed.
As part of the evolution of our business, we have made substantial investments to develop IP interconnect, SoC integration automation solutions, other technology initiatives, such as chip level hardware security solutions in connection with the Cycuity acquisition, and enhancements to existing technologies we license through our acquisitions and research and development efforts. Continuing to meet the requirements of smaller die size, lower power consumption, a higher frequency of operation and management of critical net latency in a timely and cost-effective manner for chips used in the aerospace and defense market, automotive market, communications market, consumer electronics market, enterprise computing market, and industrial market have resulted in increased SoC design complexity for chips used in these markets. If we are unable to meet these demands for increased SoC design complexity, if we are unable to anticipate technological changes in our industry by introducing new or enhanced IP interconnect and other solutions and/or SoC Integration Automation software solutions in a timely and cost-effective manner, or if we fail to introduce new technologies that meet market demand, we may our competitive position, our products may become , and our business could be .
Moreover, new technologies and products may not be profitable, and even if they are profitable, operating margins for new products and businesses may not be as high as the margins we have experienced historically or originally anticipated.
Additionally, from time to time, we invest in expansion into adjacent markets, including the acquisitions of Magillem, Semifore and Cycuity, and our growth into the IP interconnect and SoC Integration Automation software solutions market. Although we believe these solutions are complementary to our IP interconnect solutions, we have a more limited operating history in offering software that, among other things, manages register configurations of IP blocks, assembles multiple IP blocks into SoC platforms and links design parameters and metadata to documentation, and our ongoing efforts in this area may not be successful. Our success in these product areas depends on a variety of factors, including the following:
■ Our ability to continue to attract new customers in industries in which we have less experience.
■ Our successful development of sales and marketing strategies that meet customer requirements.
■ Our ability to accurately predict, prepare for, and promptly respond to technological developments in existing and new fields.
■ Our ability to compete with new and existing competitors, many of which may have more financial resources, industry experience, brand recognition, relevant intellectual property rights, and/or more established customer relationships than we currently do, and they could include free and open-source solutions that provide similar SoC Integration Automation software solutions.
■ Our ability to continually balance our investment in adjacent markets with investment in our existing products and services.
■ Our ability to attract and retain employees with expertise in new or emerging fields affecting our business.
Difficulties in any of our new product development efforts or our efforts to enter adjacent markets, including delays or disruptions due to factors outside of our control such as any adverse impact resulting from changing macroeconomic and geopolitical environments, market and inflationary pressures, export and trade controls, and pandemics, could harm our business.
A fundamental shift in technologies, regulatory, trade or demand patterns and preferences in our existing product markets or the product markets of our customers or end-users could make our current products obsolete, prevent or delay the introduction of new products or enhancements to our existing products or render our products irrelevant to our customers’ needs. If our new product development efforts fail to align with the needs of our customers, including due to circumstances outside of our control like a fundamental shift in the product markets of our customers and end users or regulatory changes, our business could be harmed.
Further, we design our IP interconnect solutions to function optimally with various industry-standard core IP transaction protocols including AMBA, ACE, CHI and AXI. Should developers limit access to their IP protocol information or cease cooperation with us for any reason, our ability to support certain processors and IP protocols would be delayed, which could harm our business.
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We may have to invest more resources in research and development than anticipated, which could increase our operating expenses and negatively affect our operating results.
We currently devote substantial resources to the research and development of new and enhanced interconnect IP and SoC Integration Automation software solutions. However, we may be required to devote more resources than anticipated to address design requirements for specific target markets, new competitors, technological advances in the semiconductor industry or by competitors, our acquisitions, our entry into new markets, or other competitive factors. If we are required to invest significantly greater resources than anticipated without a corresponding increase in revenue, our operating results could decline. Additionally, our periodic research and development expenses may be independent of our level of revenue, which could negatively impact our financial results. We expect these expenses to be significant and increase in the foreseeable future as our technology development efforts continue, and there can be no guarantee that our research and development investments will result in products that create additional revenue.
We may also decide to increase our research and development investment to seize customer or market opportunities, which could negatively impact our financial results.
We expect that we will continue to experience hiring challenges, including for engineering resources.
Product errors or defects could expose us to liability and harm our reputation, and we could lose market share.
Software products frequently contain errors or defects, especially when first introduced, when new versions are released, or when integrated with technologies developed by acquired companies. Product errors, including those resulting from third-party suppliers, could negatively affect the performance or interoperability of our IP interconnect and SoC Integration Automation software solutions, could delay the development or release of new solutions or new versions and could adversely affect market acceptance or perception of our technology. In addition, any allegations of quality issues resulting from use of our IP interconnect and other solutions or semiconductor design efficiency issues resulting from our solutions could, even if untrue, adversely affect our reputation and our customers’ willingness to license our technology. Any such errors or delays in releasing new products or new versions of products or allegations of performance could cause us to customers, increase our service costs, subject us to liability for and our resources from other tasks, any one of which could our business and operating results.
If we fail to offer high-quality products and support, our reputation could suffer.
Interconnect IP and SoC Integration Automation software technology is complex and rapidly changing, and the quality of the products and our ability to provide timely and effective support is critical for the successful deployment of our IP in our customers’ designs. We maintain a team of corporate and field application engineers in our global support organization and continue to pursue initiatives to enhance our customer support. High-quality, well-trained support is important for customer retention. The importance of our support function has increased as we expand our business in chiplets and multi-die applications to meet the needs of the market and appeal to new customers. If we do not or cannot help our customers quickly resolve issues and provide effective ongoing support, our ability to maintain and expand our offerings to existing and new customers could suffer, and our reputation with existing or potential customers could suffer.
Our dependence on international customers and operations also subjects us to a range of other additional regulatory, trade policy, operational, financial, and political risks that could adversely affect our financial results.
We derived 60.3% and 62.3% of our revenue for the years ended December 31, 2025, and 2024, from sales to customers outside of the United States. In particular, we derived 24.5% and 29.2% of our revenue for the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024 from customers located in China. We expect our revenue from China to decrease due to the applicable U .S. government trade restrictions. As a result, the economic, political, legal and social conditions in China could harm our business. In addition, we have offices globally with our sales and research and development being conducted in offices located in the San Francisco Bay Area, Texas, France, Poland, China, South Korea, and Japan. Moreover, conducting business outside the United States subjects us to a number of additional risks and challenges, including:
■ Changes in a specific country’s or region’s political, regulatory or economic conditions.
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■ Imposition of or changes to export control regulations, tariff policy and other barriers, restrictions and regional stability measures, such as the tariffs announced in 2025 by the United States, in particular with respect to China but also announced tariffs such as the tariffs on countries in the European Union, and any retaliatory tariffs or measures, including countermeasures by China, countries in the European Union, or other countries, that could negatively impact trade between, or increase the cost of operating in, or increase the cost of or negatively impact the demand for our products or our customers' products in, the countries in which we do business.
■ A pandemic, epidemic or other outbreak of an infectious disease, which may cause us or our distributors, vendors and/or customers to temporarily suspend our or their respective operations in the affected city or country or completely.
■ Compliance with a wide variety of domestic and foreign laws and regulations (including those of municipalities or provinces where we have operations) and unexpected changes in those laws, export and trade controls, and regulatory requirements, including uncertainties regarding taxes, social insurance contributions and other payroll taxes and fees to governmental entities, tariffs, quotas, export controls, export licenses and other trade barriers.
■ Unanticipated restrictions on our ability to sell to foreign customers where sales of products and the provision of services may require export licenses or are prohibited by government action, unfavorable foreign exchange controls and currency exchange rates.
■ Potential for substantial penalties and litigation related to violations of a wide variety of laws, treaties and regulations, including labor regulations, export control and anti-corruption regulations (including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the U.K. Bribery Act).
■ Difficulties and costs of staffing and managing international operations across different geographic areas, time zones and cultures.
■ Changes in diplomatic and trade relationships and uncertainties around the current U.S. administration’s policies, including tariffs and reciprocal tariffs, create a highly unpredictable and volatile business environment, a potential increased likelihood of recession, potential slowdown in capital markets, and potential impacts to the valuation of the U.S. dollar and other currencies.
■ Potential political, legal and economic instability, armed conflict, and civil unrest in the countries in which we and our customers are located.
■ Difficulty and costs of maintaining effective data security particularly as state-sponsored threats and cyber espionage incidents increase.
■ Inadequate protection of our intellectual property.
■ Nationalization and the uncertain impact on the perception or reputation of our products or services in foreign markets.
■ Restrictions on the transfer of funds to and from foreign countries, including withholding taxes and other potentially negative tax consequences.
■ Unfavorable and/or changing foreign tax treaties and policies.
■ Increased exposure to general market and economic conditions inside and outside of the United States.
■ Currency exchange rate fluctuations and the resulting effect on our revenue and expenses, and the cost and risk of entering into hedging transactions if we choose to do so in the future.
■ Increased regulatory uncertainties with respect to our wholly foreign-owned enterprise operating in China and any joint ventures we may form or contribute IP or other resources to in the future.
■ Trends such as global and regional inflation, supply shortages and supply chain disruptions, geopolitical tensions, wars or conflicts and retaliatory actions and regulations affecting or relating to regions such as but not limited to Ukraine, Russia, Eastern Europe, Israel and Iran and the Middle East, or in the Greater China region, may lead to the deterioration of our immediate customers’ and/or end market customers’ ability and/or willingness to purchase, use, develop, market or sell products or solutions that incorporate or are made while using our products.
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These factors, individually or in combination, could impair our ability to effectively operate one or more of our foreign facilities or deliver our semiconductor IP or SoC Integration Automation software solutions, result in unexpected and material expenses, or cause an unexpected decline in the demand for our products in certain countries or regions. Our failure to manage the risks and challenges associated with our international business and operations could harm our business.
Downturns or volatility in general economic conditions, including because of geopolitical and macroeconomic conditions in the countries in which we conduct business, could harm our business.
Our revenue, gross margin, and ability to achieve and maintain profitability depend significantly on general economic conditions and the demand for products in the markets in which our customers compete. Weaknesses in the global economy and financial markets and any adverse changes in general domestic and global economic conditions that may occur in the future, including any recession, economic slowdown or disruption of credit markets, may lead to, lower demand for products that incorporate our solutions, including in the aerospace and defense market, automotive market, communications market, consumer electronics market, enterprise computing market, and industrial market. A decline in end-user demand can affect our customers’ demand for our products, the ability of our customers to obtain credit and otherwise meet their payment obligations and the likelihood of customers canceling or deferring existing orders. Our business could be harmed by such actions.
Because we conduct business, have offices in and derive revenue from customers in China, our business performance may be affected by increased political tensions and changes in China’s political, social and economic environment. For example, political instability resulting from changes in the relationship between the United States and China could negatively impact our business. Any significant armed conflict related to this matter is expected to materially and adversely damage our business. Moreover, the role of the Chinese government in the Chinese economy is significant. Chinese policies toward economic liberalization, and laws and policies affecting technology companies, foreign investment, currency exchange rates, taxes and other matters could change, resulting in greater restrictions on our ability and our suppliers’ ability to do business and operate facilities in China. If any of these changes were to occur, our business could be harmed, and our stock price could decline.
Any disruption in the credit markets could also impede our access to capital. If we have limited access to additional financing sources, we may be required to defer capital expenditure or seek other sources of liquidity, which may not be available to us on acceptable terms or at all. All of these factors related to global economic conditions, which are beyond our control, could harm our business.
We maintain the majority of our cash and cash equivalents in accounts with major U.S. and multi-national financial institutions, and our deposits at certain of these institutions exceed insured limits. Market conditions can impact the viability of these institutions. In the event of failure of any of the financial institutions where we maintain our cash and cash equivalents, there can be no assurance that we would be able to access uninsured funds in a timely manner or at all. Any inability to access or delay in accessing these funds could adversely affect our business and financial position.
Changes in legislation and regulation in the United States and other countries, including new and revised trade policies and the imposition of tariffs, may adversely impact our business and our customers’ businesses, and may impact our results of operations and financial condition.
We operate in a highly regulated industry and our business is dependent on a number of external factors, including U.S. and global financial economic conditions, inflation, changes in the U.S. political landscape, each of which have and could significantly impact our business. The U.S. government administration has made, and continues to make, substantial modifications to laws and regulations, including, but not limited to, those related to trade policies, imposition of tariffs, export controls and technology transfers as well as certain rules and regulations related to diversity, equity and inclusion practices. Executive orders and legislative actions have and could continue to alter the business environment in which we operate and result in adverse impacts to our business, results of operations and financial condition.
For example, U.S. and Chinese governments may continue to enact changes in government trade policies, including the imposition of additional tariffs on countries where we do significant business that have and could adversely impact our ability to sell products globally, particularly in China. We cannot predict what actions may ultimately be taken with respect to tariffs or trade relations between the United States and U.S. trading partners including China and the European Union, or what actions may be taken by the trading partners in response. It is difficult to anticipate the timing or duration and macro-economic impacts of such tariffs, export restrictions, or other regulatory actions. These government trade policies are likely to materially adversely affect our customers and our business, impeding our ability to develop relationships with new customers in trade partner countries including with China and countries in the European Union.
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In addition, changing regulatory policies, in particular in the United States, can affect regulatory and compliance costs and future revenues, all of which could materially and adversely affect our business operations and financial results. Changes in federal policy by the executive branch and regulatory agencies and personnel may occur over time, which could lead to changes in the level of oversight and focus on our industry including new laws, regulations and policies. At this time, it is unclear what laws, regulations and policies may change and whether future changes or uncertainty surrounding future changes will adversely affect our operating environment and therefore our business operations and financial results. Changes in federal and state laws and regulations, as well as the interpretation and implementation of any laws, executive orders, and regulations, could affect us in substantial and unpredictable ways.
Further, changes in legislation and regulation have and could continue to create a highly unpredictable and volatile business environment, which could result in a recession, potential slowdown in capital markets, and potential impacts to the valuation of the U.S. dollar and other currencies.
The cyclical nature of the semiconductor industry, including significant supply chain disruption, may limit our ability to maintain or improve our revenue.
The semiconductor industry is highly cyclical and is prone to significant downturns from time to time. Cyclical downturns can result from a variety of market forces including constant and rapid technological change, rapid product obsolescence, price erosion, evolving standards, short product life cycles, geopolitical tensions and wide fluctuations in product supply and demand, all of which can result in significant declines in semiconductor demand. We have experienced downturns in the past and may experience such downturns in the future, including the potential likelihood of a recession. For example, the industry experienced a significant downturn in connection with the global recession in 2008, and further downturns in 2020 and 2022, which were prolonged as a result of the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. These have been characterized by product demand, production , high inventory levels and accelerated of average selling prices. In the past several years, in the semiconductor industry have been attributed to a variety of factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic, ongoing trade among the United States and other countries including China, resulting in in demand and pricing for semiconductors across applications and excess inventory.
Economic downturns have directly impacted our business, as has been the case with many other companies, suppliers, distributors and customers in the semiconductor industry and other industries around the world, and any prolonged or significant future or continuing downturns in the semiconductor industry could harm our business. Conversely, significant upturns may suppress customer shipments of royalty-bearing products incorporating our IP solutions due to our customers having limited access to third-party foundry and assembly capacity. In the event of such an upturn, we may not be able to expand our workforce and operations in a sufficiently timely manner, procure adequate resources, or locate suitable third-party suppliers or other third-party subcontractors to respond effectively to changes in demand for our existing products or to the demand for new products requested by our customers, and our business could be harmed.
The semiconductor industry has also faced significant global supply chain issues as a result of the impact both on demand for devices as well as the increasing demand for semiconductors in consumer devices, automobiles and artificial intelligence, which together have resulted in the inability of fabrication plants to produce sufficient quantities of chips to meet demand, supply chain shortages and other disruptions. Numerous factors, including any further trade tensions and escalating countermeasures between the United States and China, as well as any revisions to U.S. regulations governing the export of certain semiconductor related hardware and software to China and any geopolitical changes in China-Taiwan relations may prolong or deepen these challenges faced by the industry.
Our revenue has been concentrated among a small number of licensees and customers, and if we lose any of these customers and fail to replace them, our revenue may decrease substantially.
A significant amount of our revenue is derived from a limited number of customers. We expect that a relatively small number of customers will continue to account for a substantial portion of our revenue for the foreseeable future.
As a result of this revenue concentration, our results of operations could be adversely affected by the decision of a single key licensee or customer to cease using our technology or products or by a decline in the number of products that incorporate our technology that are sold by a single licensee or customer or by a small group of licensees or customers. We must continue to obtain new significant licensees and to increase our revenue and grow our business.
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Failure to effectively expand our sales and marketing capabilities could harm our ability to increase our customer base and achieve broader market acceptance of our products.
Our ability to increase our customer base and achieve broader market acceptance of our products and platform capabilities will depend to a significant extent on our ability to expand our global sales and application engineering organization. We plan to continue expanding our sales force, both domestically and internationally. We also plan to dedicate significant resources to sales and marketing programs. All of these efforts will require us to invest significant financial and other resources. Our business will be harmed if our sales and marketing efforts do not generate significant increases in revenue or increases in revenue are smaller than anticipated. We may not achieve anticipated revenue growth from expanding our sales force if we are unable to hire, develop, integrate and retain talented and effective sales personnel, if our new and existing sales personnel, on the whole, are unable to achieve desired productivity levels in a reasonable period of time, or if our sales and marketing programs are not .
The development and use of artificial intelligence, and the failure to adopt and manage the use of artificial intelligence, present risks and challenges that may negatively impact our business.
We are engaged in a competitive segment of the global semiconductor industry, and our success may require the adoption of new and emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI). Failure to adapt to a rapidly-changing technological environment could result in negative impacts to our business. While these technologies present significant benefits, there can be no assurance that the use or implementation of these AI technologies will enhance our products or services; they may accelerate or exacerbate potential risks to us. These risks include the possibility of malfunctioning, producing biased or inaccurate results, ethical concerns, privacy violations, or failing to meet performance expectations. The development of AI technologies is complex, and there are technical challenges associated with achieving the desired level of accuracy, , and reliability. Furthermore, there is a risk of system , , or that could compromise the , security, or privacy of data inputs or the generated content. These or could result in reputational , legal liabilities, or of consumer, customer, employee or business partner confidence.
We typically experience a strong seasonality in sales in the fourth calendar quarter of the year. As a result, our results of operations are subject to substantial quarterly fluctuations, which may seriously harm our business.
We have experienced, and expect to continue to experience, seasonal fluctuations in sales due to the spending patterns of semiconductor customers who license our products. Historically, the number of total new license agreements we enter into has generally been lower in the first and second calendar quarters.
Substantial portions of our sales are made, and we anticipate will be made, to aerospace and defense, automotive, communications, consumer electronics, enterprise computing, and industrial suppliers. Any downturn in any of these markets could significantly harm our business.
Each of these sectors is subject to specific market risks. The consumer sector, for example, is subject to changes in end consumer spending patterns, technology developments and general economic conditions.
We are also exposed to the risks associated with the automotive market. For example, our anticipated future growth is highly dependent on the adoption of autonomous driving technologies, which are expected to have increased sensor and power product content. The reported downturn in the automotive market could delay automakers’ plans to introduce new vehicles with these features, which would negatively impact the demand for our products and our ability to grow our business.
Several industries in which companies incorporate our technology, including the automotive industry and others, may undergo consolidation and reorganization and, in some cases, their suppliers may or have entered bankruptcy. Although we have not experienced any lost business or material bad debt write-offs as a result of such consolidation, such trends could harm our business.
Moreover, the automotive industry is affected by general economic, trade policy, and geopolitical conditions and associated responses by governments of various countries, the automotive industry, including manufacturers, dealers, distributors, and third-party suppliers may be adversely impacted. In addition, government-imposed restrictions on businesses, operations and travel and the related economic uncertainty have impacted demand in many global markets. While demand in the automotive industry is dependent on a number of factors, any adverse effects on the automotive industry could harm our business, as well as our ability to execute our growth strategy.
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A significant portion of our revenue comes from licensing fees, which may vary from period to period.
License agreements for our interconnect IP are generally treated as ratable revenue, with revenue being recognized evenly over the license term. In recent periods we have made and will continue to make certain changes to SoC Integration Automation software agreements that result in ratable recognition of the related license revenue over the contract term. Still, significant portions of our anticipated future revenue depend upon our success in attracting new customers, or continuing or expanding our relationships with existing customers, and revenue recognized from licensing arrangements varies from period to period, depending on the number and size of deals closed during a quarter, and is difficult to predict. In addition, as we expand our business into new markets, our licensing deals may be smaller in volume but greater in value in volume, which may further fluctuate our licensing revenue quarter to quarter. Our failure to obtain future licensing customers would impede our future revenue growth and could materially harm our business.
As a result of these and other factors, you should not rely on the results of any prior quarterly or annual periods, or any historical trends reflected in such results, as indications of our future revenue or operating performance. Fluctuations in our revenue and operating results could cause our stock price to decline and, as a result, you may lose some or all of your investment.
Royalty rates could decrease for existing and future license agreements, which could materially adversely affect our operating results.
Royalty payments under existing and future license agreements could be lower than currently anticipated. Average selling prices for semiconductor products generally decrease over time during the lifespan of a product. Our gross margins and financial results will suffer if we are unable to offset reductions in our average selling prices by reducing our costs, developing new or enhanced products or solutions on a timely basis with higher selling prices or gross margins, or increasing our sales volumes. In addition, there is significant pressure to maintain low royalty rates in certain markets where the end product may have a low average sales price, such as many consumer electronics products. In addition, there is increasing downward pricing pressures in the semiconductor industry on end products incorporating our technology, especially end products for consumer electronics markets. As a result, notwithstanding the existence of a license agreement, our customers may demand that royalty rates for our products on future or renewal agreements be lower than our historic royalty rates. Furthermore, our competitors may lower the royalty rates for their comparable products to win market share which may force us to lower our royalty rates on future or renewal agreements as well. As a consequence of the above referenced factors, as well as factors in the future, the royalty rates we receive for the use of our technology could decrease with new or renewed customers, thereby decreasing future anticipated revenue and cash fl ow. Variable royalty revenue was 9% of our revenue for year ended December 31, 2025. Therefore, a significant decrease in our royalty revenue could materially affect our operating results.
Moreover, royalty rates may be negatively affected by macroeconomic and geopolitical trends, including global semiconductor supply chain issues (such as shortages in the availability of the supply of chips in several semiconductor sectors and applications), and its world effects and changes in products mix. Furthermore, consolidation among our customers may increase the leverage of our existing customers to extract concessions from us in royalty rates.
Changing currency exchange rates could harm our business.
We have operations and assets in the United States as well as foreign jurisdictions, and we prepare our consolidated financial statements in U.S. dollars, but a portion of our earnings and expenditures are denominated in other currencies. We therefore must translate our foreign assets, liabilities, revenue and expenses into U.S. dollars at applicable exchange rates. Consequently, fluctuations in the value of foreign currencies relative to the U.S. dollar may negatively affect the value of these items in our financial statements.
In addition, since many of our sales in foreign jurisdictions are denominated in U.S. dollars, fluctuations in the value of foreign currencies relative to the U.S. dollar may effectively increase the price of our products in the currency of the jurisdiction in which the sale took place and may result in our products becoming too expensive for non-U.S. customers who do not conduct their business in U.S. dollars. Furthermore, currency exchange rates have been especially volatile in the recent past, and these currency fluctuations may make it difficult for us to predict our results of operations. If the volume of our international operations increases and foreign currency exchange rates changes, the impact to our consolidated statements of operations could be significant and may affect the comparability of operating results. The impact from foreign currency exchange for the year ended December 31, 2025 was immaterial. We do not believe a 10% increase or decrease in foreign exchange rates would have resulted in a material impact to our operating results. To the extent we fail to manage our foreign currency exposure adequately, we may suffer losses in the value of our net foreign currency investment, and our business may be .
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In particular, in light of the ongoing changes in government trade policies, including the imposition of additional tariffs, military conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the conflict in Israel and Iran, and the tensions between the United States, the European Union, other European countries, with Russia, any resulting material change to the valuation of the U.S. dollar, the Euro or other currency relative to the U.S. dollar could adversely impact our operating results.
We have made acquisitions and, in the future, expect to pursue acquisitions of and investments in new businesses, products or technologies, joint ventures and other strategic transactions that involve numerous risks and could disrupt and harm our business.
As part of our business strategy, we make acquisitions of and investments in new businesses, such as our acquisitions of Magillem, Semifore and Cycuity, products and technologies and enter into joint ventures and other strategic relationships in the ordinary course. Our ability to grow our revenue, earnings and cash flow at or above our historic rates depends in part upon our ability to identify and successfully acquire and integrate businesses at acceptable prices, realize anticipated synergies and make appropriate investments that support our long-term strategy. We may not be able to consummate acquisitions at rates similar to in the past, which could adversely impact our growth rate and the trading price of our common stock. Promising acquisitions and investments are difficult to identify and complete for a number of reasons, including high valuations, competition among prospective buyers, the availability of affordable funding in the capital markets and the need to satisfy applicable closing conditions and obtain applicable antitrust and other regulatory approvals on a timely basis and on acceptable terms. In addition, competition for acquisitions and investment may result in higher purchase prices. In addition, we may face additional risks as a result of or to obtain government, regulatory approvals and consents, or face additional legal proceedings initiated as a result of an acquisition or due to potential of our due diligence processes to identify significant issues with the assets of the acquired company. Regulators could also impose conditions that reduce the ultimate value of our acquisition or investment. Changes in accounting or regulatory requirements or in the credit markets could also impact our ability to consummate acquisitions and investments on acceptable terms or at all.
In addition, even if we are able to consummate acquisitions and enter into joint ventures and other strategic relationships, these transactions and relationships present a number of potential risks and challenges that could, if not met, disrupt our business operations, increase our operating costs, negatively affect our growth rate and the trading price of our common stock, and may harm our business. In addition, our Magillem, Semifore and Cycuity acquisitions along with our Transchip investment as well as any acquisition, investment, joint venture or other strategic transaction that we may enter into in the future, involve a number of additional financial, accounting, managerial, operational, legal, regulatory and other risks, which may include, among others:
■ Any business, technology, service or product that we acquire or invest in could under-perform relative to our expectations and the price that we paid or not perform in accordance with our anticipated timetable, or we could fail to operate any such business profitably.
■ We may incur or assume significant debt in connection with our acquisitions, joint ventures and other strategic relationships, which could also cause a deterioration of our credit ratings, result in increased borrowing costs and interest expense and diminish our future access to the capital markets. Alternatively, we may issue additional equity securities, which could dilute your ownership and voting power.
■ We expect to incur integration and startup costs.
■ Acquisitions, joint ventures and other strategic relationships could cause our financial results to differ from our own or the investment community’s expectations in any given period, or over the long-term challenges associated with integrating employees from the acquired company into our organization.
■ Pre-closing and post-closing earnings charges could adversely impact operating results in any given period, and the impact may be substantially different from period to period.
■ Acquisitions, joint ventures and other strategic relationships could create demands on our management, operational resources and financial and internal control systems that we are unable to effectively address.
■ We could experience difficulty in integrating personnel, operations and financial and other controls and systems and retaining key employees and customers.
■ We may be unable to achieve cost savings or other synergies anticipated in connection with an acquisition, joint venture or other strategic relationship.
■ We may assume unknown liabilities, known contingent liabilities that become realized, known liabilities that prove greater than anticipated, internal control deficiencies or exposure to regulatory sanctions resulting
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from the acquired company’s or investee’s activities and the realization of any of these liabilities or deficiencies may increase our expenses, adversely affect our financial position and/or cause us to fail to meet our public financial reporting obligations.
■ In connection with acquisitions and joint ventures, we often enter into post-closing financial arrangements such as purchase price adjustments, earn-out obligations and indemnification obligations, which may have unpredictable financial results.
■ As a result of our acquisitions, we have recorded significant goodwill and other assets on our consolidated balance sheet and if we are not able to realize the value of these assets, or if the fair value of our investments declines, we may be required to incur impairment charges.
■ We may have interests that diverge from or are adverse to those of our joint venture partners or other strategic partners, expose our IP and intellectual property rights to misappropriation or other licensing risks, and we may not be able to direct the management and operations of the joint venture or other strategic relationship in the manner we believe is most appropriate, exposing us to additional legal, financial, or technical risk.
■ Investing in or making loans to early-stage companies often entails a high degree of risk, and we may not achieve the strategic, technological, financial or commercial benefits we anticipate; we may lose our investment, or fail to recoup our loan; or our investment may be illiquid for a greater-than-expected period of time.
Furthermore, potential acquisitions, investments, divestitures, joint ventures, expansions or divestitures, and other strategic transactions, whether or not consummated, may divert our management’s attention and require considerable cash outlays at the expense of our existing operations. This, and any of the risks set forth above, could harm our business.
Our ability to raise capital in the future may be limited and could prevent us from executing our growth strategy.
Our ability to operate and expand our business depends on the availability of adequate capital, which in turn depends on the cash flow generated by our business and equity or other applicable financing arrangements. We believe that our existing cash and cash equivalents, short-term investments and cash provided by sales of our products will satisfy our anticipated cash requirements for at least the next 12 months. However, we have based this estimate on our current operating plans and expectations, which are subject to change, and cannot assure you that that our existing resources will be sufficient to meet our future liquidity needs. We may require additional capital to respond to business opportunities, challenges, acquisitions or other strategic transactions and/or unforeseen circumstances. The timing and amount of our working capital and capital expenditure requirements may vary significantly depending on numerous factors, including:
■ market acceptance of our semiconductor IP and other solutions, and our SoC Integration Automation software solutions;
■ the need to adapt to changing technologies and technical requirements;
■ the existence of opportunities for expansion; and
■ access to and availability of sufficient management, technical, marketing and financial personnel.
If our capital resources are insufficient to satisfy our liquidity requirements, we may seek to sell additional equity securities or debt securities or obtain additional debt financing. The sale of additional equity securities or convertible debt securities would result in additional dilution to our stockholders. Additional debt would result in increased expenses and could result in covenants that would restrict our operations and our ability to incur additional debt or engage in other capital-raising activities. We have not made arrangements to obtain additional financing and there is no assurance that financing, if required, will be available in amounts or on terms acceptable to us, if at all. If we are unable to obtain adequate financing or financing on terms satisfactory to us, when we require it, our ability to continue to grow and support our business and respond to business opportunities and challenges could be significantly limited.
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We may not be able to effectively manage our growth, and we may need to incur significant expenditures to address the additional operational and control requirements of our growth, either of which could harm our business and operating results.
In order to succeed in executing our business plan, we will need to manage our growth effectively as we make significant investments in research and development and sales and marketing to expand our operations and infrastructure both domestically and internationally. In addition, in connection with operating as a public company, we will incur additional significant legal, accounting and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company. If our revenue does not increase to offset these increases in our expenses, we may not achieve or maintain profitability in future periods.
To continue to grow and to meet our ongoing obligations as a public company, we must continue to expand our operational, engineering, accounting and financial systems, procedures, controls and other internal management systems. This may require substantial managerial and financial resources, and our efforts in this regard may not be successful. Our current systems, procedures and controls may not be adequate to support our future operations, and we may be unable to meet reporting obligation deadlines under the Exchange Act. Unless our growth results in an increase in our revenue that is proportionate to the increase in our costs associated with this growth, our operating margins will be adversely affected. If we fail to adequately manage our growth, improve our operational, financial and management information systems, or effectively motivate and manage our new and future employees, it could harm our business.
We depend on key and highly skilled personnel to operate our business, and if we are unable to retain our current personnel and hire additional personnel, our ability to develop and market our products could be harmed, which in turn could adversely affect our financial results.
Our success depends to a large extent upon the continued services of our executive officers, managers and skilled personnel, including our development engineers. In particular, we are highly dependent on the services of K. Charles Janac, our President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, who has been critical in the development and growth of our business and strategic direction, and we do not have key person insurance. From time to time, there may be changes in our executive management team or other key personnel, which could disrupt our business. Generally, our employees are not bound by obligations that require them to continue to work for us for any specified period and, therefore, they could terminate their employment with us at any time. Moreover, our employees are generally not subject to non-competition agreements. Given these limitations, we may not be able to continue to attract, retain and motivate qualified personnel necessary for our business.
In addition, we recruit from a limited pool of engineers with expertise in SoC design and the competition for such personnel can be intense. The loss of one or more of our executive officers or other key personnel, the loss of access to certain jurisdictions in the event of geopolitical conflict or changes in regulatory frameworks, or our inability to locate suitable or qualified replacements could be significantly detrimental to our product development efforts and could harm our business. We may experience disruptions in our research and development efforts resulting from the inability to hire qualified engineers globally including from the Middle East due to the Israel conflict and escalating conflicts and tensions in the Middle East, particularly with Iran. In addition, we must attract and retain highly qualified personnel, including certain foreign nationals who are not U.S. citizens or permanent residents, many of whom are highly skilled and constitute an important part of our U.S. workforce, particularly in the areas of engineering and product development. Our ability to hire and retain these employees and their ability to remain and work in the United States are impacted by laws and regulations, as well as by procedures and enforcement practices of various government agencies. Changes in immigration laws, executive orders and regulations or procedures may affect our ability to hire or retain such workers, increase our operating expenses and impact our ability to deliver our products and services, any of which would our business.
Volatility in, or lack of performance of, our stock price may also affect our ability to attract and retain key personnel. Employees may be more likely to terminate their employment with us if the shares they own or the shares underlying their vested options or restricted stock units have significantly depreciated or otherwise expressed volatility in value relative to the original purchase prices of the shares or the exercise prices of the options, or, conversely, if the exercise prices of the options that they hold are significantly above the trading price of our common stock. If we are unable to retain our employees, our business could be harmed.
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Our management team has limited experience managing a public company.
Many members of our management team have limited experience managing a publicly traded company, interacting with public company investors and complying with the increasingly complex laws pertaining to public companies. Our management team may not successfully or efficiently manage us as a public company subject to significant regulatory oversight and reporting obligations under the federal securities laws and the continuous scrutiny of securities analysts and investors. These new obligations and constituents require significant attention from our senior management and could divert their attention away from the day-to-day management of our business, which could harm our business.
Catastrophic events may disrupt our business.
Our corporate headquarters are located in an area that is an active earthquake zone. In the event of a major earthquake, hurricane or other forms of catastrophic event such as fire, power loss, telecommunications failure, cyber-attack, war, terrorist attack or disease outbreak, we may be unable to continue our operations and may endure system interruptions, reputational harm, delays in our product development, breaches of data security, or loss of critical data, any of which could have an adverse effect on our future results of operations.
If our counterparties are unable to fulfill their financial and other obligations to us, our business and results of operations may be affected adversely.
Any downturn in economic conditions, geopolitical events or other business factors could threaten the financial health of our counterparties, including companies with which we have entered into licensing agreements, and their ability to fulfill their financial and other obligations to us. Such financial pressures on our counterparties may eventually lead to bankruptcy proceedings or other attempts to avoid financial obligations that are due to us. Because bankruptcy courts have the power to modify or cancel contracts of the petitioner which remain subject to future performance and alter or discharge payment obligations related to pre-petition debts, we may receive less than all of the payments that we would otherwise be entitled to receive from any such counterparty as a result of bankruptcy proceedings.
Risks Related to Intellectual Property, Information Technology and Data Security and Privacy
If we are unable to protect our proprietary technology and inventions through patents and other intellectual property rights, our ability to compete successfully and our financial results could be adversely impacted.
We seek to protect our proprietary technology and innovations, particularly those relating to the design of our products, through patents, trade secrets and other intellectual property rights. As of December 31, 2025, we had 261 total allowed or issued patents, pending patent applications and non-expired provisional patent applications worldwide. Of these 115 allowed or issued patents, 88 are U.S. allowed or issued patents, 10 are China issued patents, six are South Korea issued patents, four are U.K. issued patents, four are Europe issued patents, and three are Japan issued patents. The 115 allowed or issued patents generally expire between July 2035 and June 2043. As of December 31, 2025, we had 146 pending non-provisional and provisional patent application filings, 62 in the United States, 28 in Europe, 24 in China, 13 in South Korea, 13 in Japan and six in the World Intellectual Property Organization. Maintenance of patent portfolios, particularly outside of the United States, is expensive, and the process of seeking patent protection is lengthy and costly. While we intend to maintain our current portfolio of patents and to continue to prosecute our currently pending patent applications and file future patent applications when appropriate, the value of these actions may not exceed their expense. Existing patents and those that may be issued from any pending or future applications may be subject to challenges, or , and the rights granted under our patents may not provide us with meaningful protection or any commercial . In addition, the protection afforded under the patent laws of one country may not be the same as that in other countries. This means, for example, that our right to commercialize a product in those countries where we have patent rights for that product can vary on a country-by-country basis. We also may not have the same scope of patent protection in every country where we do business.
Additionally, it is difficult and costly to monitor the use of our intellectual property. For example, w e continue to invest in methods, tools and infrastructure for infusing AI capabilities into our operations and into our offerings. While these technologies present significant benefits, use of AI tools could expose us to risks of unauthorized use and wide dissemination of our intellectual property by unknown or unauthorized recipients.
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If we are unable to protect our proprietary technology and inventions through trade secrets, our competitive position and financial results could be adversely affected.
As noted above, we seek to protect our proprietary technology and innovations, particularly those relating to our products, as patents, trade secrets and other forms of intellectual property. Additionally, while software and other forms of our proprietary works may be protected under copyright law, in some cases we have chosen not to register any copyrights in these works, and instead, primarily rely on protecting our software as a trade secret. In the United States, trade secrets are protected under the federal Economic Espionage Act of 1996 and the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 (the Defend Trade Secrets Act), and under state law, with many states having adopted the Uniform Trade Secrets Act (the UTSA) and several of which that have not. In addition to these federal and state laws inside the United States, under the World Trade Organization’s Trade Related-Aspects of IP Rights Agreement (the TRIPS Agreement), trade secrets are to be protected by World Trade Organization member states as “confidential information.” Under the UTSA and other trade secret laws, protection of our proprietary information as trade secrets requires us to take steps to prevent unauthorized disclosure to third parties or misappropriation by third parties. In addition, the full benefit of the remedies available under the Trade Secrets Act requires specific language and notice requirements present in the relevant agreements, which may not be present in all of our agreements. While we require our officers, employees, consultants, distributors, and existing and prospective customers and to sign confidentiality agreements and take various security measures to protect disclosure and of our trade secrets, we cannot or predict that these measures will be sufficient. The semiconductor industry is generally subject to a high turnover of employees, so the risk of trade secret may be amplified. If any of our trade secrets are subject to disclosure or are otherwise by third parties, our competitive position may be materially and affected.
Our ability to compete successfully depends in part on our ability to commercialize our IP solutions without infringing the patent, trade secret or other intellectual property rights of others.
To the same extent that we seek to protect our technology and inventions with patents, trade secrets and other intellectual property rights, our competitors and other third parties do the same for their technology and inventions. We have no means of knowing the content of patent applications filed by third parties until they are published. It is also difficult and costly to continuously monitor the intellectual property portfolios of our competitors to ensure our technologies do not violate the intellectual property rights of any third parties. In addition, we may have little or no insight into and no control over the content and materials used by vendors to train AI tools. Our use of such tools may inadvertently violate a third party’s rights, be non-compliant with the applicable terms of use or our other legal obligations, or result in a security or privacy risk or data leakage.
Claims by other companies that we infringe their intellectual property rights or that patents on which we rely are invalid could adversely affect our business.
The semiconductor industry is rife with patent assertion entities and is characterized by frequent litigation regarding patent and other intellectual property rights. From time to time, we receive communications from or are sued by third parties that allege that our products or technologies infringe their patent or other intellectual property rights. As a public company with an increased profile and visibility, we may receive similar communications in the future. Lawsuits or other proceedings resulting from allegations of infringement could subject us to significant liability for damages, invalidate our proprietary rights and harm our business. We may not prevail in lawsuits alleging patent infringement given the complex technical issues and inherent uncertainties in intellectual property litigation. If any of our products, technologies or services from which we derive or expect to derive a substantial portion of our revenues, were found to on another company’s intellectual property rights, we could be subject to , an and/or other equitable relief that would the removal of such product from the market or we could be required to redesign such product, or take a license to the third-party technology, which could be . We could also be ordered to pay or other compensation, including and attorneys’ fees to such other company. A outcome in any such could also the sales of our marketed products to our customers or their customers, which in turn could our relationships with our customers, our market share and our product revenues. Even if we are ultimately in any intellectual property , such is expensive and time consuming, will our management’s attention from our business and may our reputation.
In the event that any third-party succeeds in asserting a valid claim against us or any of our customers, we could be forced to do one or more of the following:
■ discontinue selling access to certain technologies that contain the allegedly infringing intellectual property which would result in a decline in our revenue and could result in breach of contract claim by our affected customers and damage to our reputation;
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■ stop receiving payment from a customer that can no longer sell the end-product if it contains allegedly infringing intellectual property ;
■ seek to develop non-infringing technologies, which may not be feasible;
■ incur significant legal expenses;
■ pay substantial monetary damages to the party whose intellectual property rights we may be found to be infringing; and/or
■ we or our customers could be required to seek licenses to the infringed technology that may not be available on commercially reasonable terms, if at all.
If a third-party, AI or open source content causes us to discontinue the use of any of our technologies, we could be required to design around those technologies. This could be costly and time-consuming and could have an adverse impact on our financial results. Any significant impairments of our intellectual property rights from any litigation we face could harm our business and our ability to compete in our industry.
We may not be able to continue to obtain licenses to third-party software and intellectual property on reasonable terms or at all, which may disrupt our business and harm our financial results.
We license third-party software and other intellectual property for use in product research and development and, in several instances, for inclusion in our products such as our license with Qualcomm for FlexNoC. We also license third-party software, including the software of our competitors, to test the interoperability of our products with other industry products and in connection with our professional services. Our third-party licenses typically limit our use of IP to specific uses and for specific time periods and include other contractual obligations with which we must comply. Moreover, certain intellectual property rights may be licensed to us on a non-exclusive basis, and accordingly, the owners of such intellectual property rights are free to license such rights to third parties, including our competitors, on terms that may be superior to those offered to us, which could place us at a competitive disadvantage. These licenses may need to be renegotiated or renewed from time to time, or we may need to obtain new licenses in the future. For example, we may be required to renegotiate or seek a waiver to or consent under our license with Qualcomm with respect to our FlexNoC product in the event of certain changes of control (as defined in our agreements with Qualcomm) and there can be no guarantee we would be in such endeavor. Such provision could prevent us from pursuing a robust sales process in the event of a sale of the Company if Qualcomm to provide consent or waive such change in control provision. In such an event, a change in control could cause us to our license with Qualcomm and our valuation could be affected. See “Business—Material Agreement—Qualcomm Agreements” in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, for additional information. Third parties may stop supporting or maintaining their technology, or they or their technology may be acquired by our competitors. If we are to obtain licenses to these third-party software and intellectual property rights on reasonable terms or at all, we may not be to sell or support the affected products, our customers’ use of the products may be , and/or our product development processes and professional services offerings may be , which could in turn our financial results, our customers, and our reputation. Further, if we or our third-party licensors were to any material term of a license, such a could, among other things, prompt , result in the license being or result in and other . If any of the following were to occur, it could our business and our reputation.
We also cannot be certain that our licensors are not infringing the intellectual property rights of others or that our licensors have sufficient rights to the intellectual property to grant us the applicable licenses. Although we seek to mitigate this risk contractually, we may not be able to sufficiently limit our potential liability. If we are unable to obtain or maintain rights to any of this intellectual property because of intellectual property rights infringement claims brought by third parties against our licensors or against us, our ability to develop, maintain and support our products and technology incorporating that intellectual property could be severely limited and our business could be harmed. Furthermore, regardless of outcome, infringement claims may require us to use significant resources and may divert management’s attention.
Some of our products and technology, including those we acquire, may include software licensed under open-source licenses. Use and distribution of open-source software, where applicable, may entail greater risks than use of third-party commercial software, as open-source licensors generally do not provide support, warranties, indemnification, or other contractual protections regarding infringement claims or the quality of the code. To the extent that our technology may in the future depend upon the successful operation of open-source software, any undetected errors or defects in this open-source software could prevent the deployment or impair the functionality of such technologies and injure our reputation.
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Moreover, some open-source software licenses require users who distribute that open-source software as part of their proprietary software to publicly disclose all or part of the source code to such software and make available any derivative works or modifications of the open-source code on unfavorable terms or at no cost. If we were to combine our proprietary software with such open-source software in a certain manner, we could, under certain circumstances, be required to comply with such license terms. Although we have tools and processes to monitor and restrict our use of open-source software, the risks associated with open-source usage cannot be eliminated and may, if not properly addressed, result in unanticipated obligations that could harm our business.
Any dispute regarding our intellectual property may require us to indemnify certain customers, the cost of which could severely harm our business.
In any potential dispute involving our patents copyrights, trademarks, open source or AI content, or other intellectual property, our customers could also become the target of litigation. Some of our agreements, including those with key customers like Texas Instruments Incorporated and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., have historically provided for indemnification, and some require us to provide technical support and information to a customer that is involved in litigation involving use of our technology. In addition, we may be exposed to indemnification obligations, risks and liabilities that were unknown at the time that we acquired assets or businesses for our operations. Any of these indemnification and support obligations could result in substantial and material expenses. In addition to the time and expense required for us to indemnify or supply such support to our customers, a customer’s development, marketing and sales of licensed semiconductors, mobile communications and data security technologies could be severely disrupted or shut down as a result of litigation, which in turn could severely our business as a result of lower or no royalty payments.
Working with the U.S. government, including through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, in connection with licenses and other contracts involves risks related to data rights, intellectual property protection and eligibility status.
We have, including through entities we have acquired, and may enter into additional licenses and additional contracts with the U.S. government which contain customary provisions that give the government substantial and sometimes unilateral rights and remedies not typically found in commercial contracts, including the right to unilaterally modify the contract and terminate the contract for convenience. The future levels of expenditures and authorizations for defense-related programs by the U.S. government may decrease, remain constant or shift to programs in areas where we do not currently provide products, thereby reducing the chances that we will be awarded new contracts. In addition, these contracts subject a portion of our business to the statutes and regulations applicable to doing business with the government, including the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and also subject us to greater scrutiny by the government, which can initiate reviews, audits and investigations regarding our compliance with government contract requirements. New regulations or procurement requirements (including, for example regulations regarding counterfeit and corrupt parts, supply chain diligence and cybersecurity) or changes to current requirements could increase our costs and risk of non-compliance. In addition, if we to comply with government contracting laws, regulations and contract requirements, our contracts may be subject to , and we may be subject to financial and/or other liability under our contracts, the Federal Civil Act (including treble and other ), or law. In particular, the Act’s “whistleblower” provisions also allow private individuals, including present and former employees, to on behalf of the U.S. government. Any , , , , or could affect our ability to operate our business and our financial results.
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Cybersecurity threats continue to increase in frequency and sophistication; a successful cybersecurity attack or prolonged outage regardless of cause could interrupt or disrupt our information technology systems, or those of our third-party service providers, or cause the loss of availability of confidential or protected data which could disrupt our business, force us to incur excessive costs or cause reputational harm.
Security breaches, computer malware, prolonged outages, and computer hacking attacks have become more prevalent across industries and may occur on our systems or those of our third-party service providers or partners. The size and complexity of our information systems make such systems potentially vulnerable to service interruptions or to security breaches from inadvertent or intentional actions by our employees or external service providers, vendors, or from attacks by malicious third parties and state-sponsored actors. Such attacks are increasing in their frequency, levels of persistence, levels of sophistication and intensity, and are being conducted by sophisticated and organized groups and individuals with a wide range of motives and expertise. As a result of our reliance on internet technology and the number of our employees who are working remotely, this may create additional opportunities for cybercriminals to . In addition to access to or acquisition of personal data, confidential information, intellectual property or other sensitive information, such attacks could include the deployment of malware and ransomware, and may use a variety of methods, including -of-service attacks, phishing, social engineering and other means, to such access or acquisition or otherwise affect service reliability and the confidentiality, and availability of information. Like many other companies, we experience attempted cybersecurity actions on a frequent basis, and the frequency of such attempts could increase in the future. While we have invested in measures for the protection of data and information technology, there can be no assurance that our efforts will prevent or quickly identify service or security . The techniques used by to obtain access to systems or systems, or to disable or services, change frequently, and may not be recognized when launched a target and can originate from a wide variety of sources, including outside groups such as organized affiliates, terrorist organizations or foreign governments or agencies. We cannot that our data protection efforts and our investment in information technology will prevent significant , data leakages or in our systems or those of our third-party services providers or partners. Any such or of our systems could affect our business operations and/or result in the of or sensitive confidential information or intellectual property, and could result in financial, legal, business and reputational to us.
Data security breaches could also expose us to liability under various laws and regulations across jurisdictions and increase the risk of litigation and governmental or regulatory investigation. For example, the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act, collectively the CCPA, includes a private right of action for security breaches that could lead to some form of remedy, as well as, regulatory scrutiny, fines, private right of action settlements, and other consequences. Where a security incident involves a breach of security leading to the accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alternation, unauthorized disclosure of, or access to, personal data in respect of which we are a controller or processor under the GDPR or U.K. GDPR, this could result in of up to €20.0 million or 4% of annual global turnover under the GDPR or £17.5 million and 4% of total annual revenue in the case of the U.K. GDPR. Under these laws, we may be required to notify such to regulators and/or individuals which may result in us incurring additional costs. Moreover, any such compromise of our information security or that of our third parties could result in the or publication or other of our confidential business or proprietary information or personal information or that of other parties with which we do business, an in our operations, the transfer of cash or other assets, the release of customer or employee data or a of privacy or other laws. In addition, computer programmers and hackers also may be to develop and deploy viruses, worms and other software programs that attack our products, or that otherwise any security , and any such attack, could us to liability to customer . Any of the foregoing could our reputation and business, could have a material effect on our results of operations, and cause us to incur significant costs, including legal expenses and remediation costs.
We maintain cyber liability and business interruption insurance renewed annually; however, this insurance may not be sufficient to cover the financial, legal, business or reputational losses that may result from an interruption or breach of our systems.
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We are subject to data protection, AI, and privacy and security laws, regulations, standards and other requirements across different markets where we conduct our business. Our actual or perceived failure to comply with such obligations could harm our business.
The global data protection landscape continues to evolve, and we are or may become subject to numerous state, federal and foreign laws, regulations, legal requirements, contractual obligations and industry standards regarding security, data protection and privacy and any actual or perceived failure to comply with these requirements, obligations or standards could harm our reputation and business. If we are found to have violated any such laws or regulations in any such jurisdiction, we may be subject to enforcement actions that require us to change our business practices in a manner which may negatively impact our revenue, as well as expose us to litigation, fines, civil and/or criminal penalties and adverse publicity that could cause our customers to lose trust in us, negatively impacting our reputation and business in a manner that our financial position. The evolution of new standards and enforcement practices may create uncertainty in our business, affect our ability to operate in certain jurisdictions or to collect, store, transfer, use and share personal information, necessitate the acceptance of more obligations in our contracts, result in liability or impose additional costs on us. The cost of compliance with these laws, regulations and standards is high and is likely to increase in the future.
As part of our business, we collect personal data, and other potentially sensitive and/or regulated data from our customers. In the United States, numerous federal and state laws and regulations, including data breach notification laws, data privacy and security laws, and consumer protection laws and regulations govern the collection, use, disclosure, protection and other processing of personal information. Compliance with state and federal privacy laws, such as the California Consumer Privacy Protection Act of 2018 (CPPA), subsequently amended by the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 (CPRA) increase our compliance costs and potential liability, and could harm our business, including how we use personal information. A number of other proposals exist for new federal and state privacy legislation that, if passed could increase our potential liability, increase our compliance costs and harm our business.
Our operations abroad may also be subject to increased scrutiny or attention from data protection authorities. For example, the EU General Data Protection Regulation (EU GDPR) and the U.K. General Data Protection Regulation and the U.K. Data Protection Act 2018 (UK GDPR) (collectively, the GDPR) imposes comprehensive data privacy compliance obligations on our collection, processing, sharing, disclosure, transfer and other use of data relating to an identifiable living individual or “personal data”. The EU and U.K. regimes also include laws which, among other things, require European Economic Area (EEA) member states and the U.K. to regulate marketing by electronic means and the use of cookies and similar technologies. The GDPR has resulted in, and will continue to result in, significant compliance burdens and costs for companies with customers and/or operations in the EEA and the U.K. If our privacy or data security measures fail to comply with applicable current or future laws and regulations, we may be subject to litigation, regulatory investigations, and enforcement notices requiring us to change the way we use personal data or our marketing practices. For example, under the GDPR we may be subject to fines of up to €20 million / £17.5 million or up to 4% of the total worldwide annual group turnover of the preceding financial year (whichever is higher) for major . In addition to the foregoing, a of the GDPR could result in regulatory , reputational , orders to / change our processing of our data, enforcement notices, and/ or assessment notices (for a compulsory audit). We may also face civil including representative actions and other class action type (where individuals have ), potentially amounting to significant compensation or liabilities, as well as associated costs, of internal resources, reputational and a potential of business.
We are also subject to European Union rules with respect to cross-border transfers of personal data out of the EEA and the U.K. In addition to Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) which went into effect in June of 2021, in July of 2023, the US and EU announced the EU-U.S. Data Protection Framework (DPF) which replaced Privacy Shield and also serves as a lawful basis for transatlantic data transfer for companies to receive personal data from the EU, UK and Switzerland without additional safeguards. We currently rely on the SCCs to transfer personal data outside the EEA and the U.K., including to the United States. As supervisory authorities issue further guidance on personal data export mechanisms, we could suffer additional costs, complaints and/or regulatory investigations or fines.
Further, the exit of the U.K. from the EU, often referred to as Brexit, created uncertainty with regard to data protection regulation in the U.K. The European Commission has adopted and renewed until December 27, 2031 subject to a mid-point review in four years, an “essentially equivalent” decision in favor of the U.K., enabling uninterrupted free data transfers from EU member states to the U.K. without additional safeguards. Any changes to this decision will lead to additional costs and increase our overall risk exposure.
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In addition, we are subject to evolving data privacy and security laws, rules and regulations in the PRC, particularly the Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL), Cybersecurity Law (CSL) and Data Security Law (DSL), along with their implementing regulations and standards. Consent from the data subject is required for any collection or processing of personal data, unless one of a limited number of exemptions applies. Notably, the PIPL, similar to the EU GDPR, applies extraterritorially in certain circumstances.
The PIPL, CSL and DSL also specify rules for transferring personal information and the sui-generis category of ‘important data’ out of the PRC. Compliance with security assessments, obtaining certifications of group privacy standards by designated agencies, or entering into standard contracts (in approved form) with overseas recipients (to be filed with a PRC government agency) are among the requirements for transfer of personal data. All businesses in China additionally require government approval to transfer any amount of ‘important data’ generated within the PRC overseas. Chinese law also imposes restrictions on the disclosure of data to foreign judicial and law enforcement bodies, and the extent and modalities of the application of this rule remain uncertain.
In addition to the CSL, the DSL and the PIPL, the relevant government authorities of the PRC have promulgated various regulations, draft regulations, guidelines and standards at both the national and provincial levels that are designed to provide further implemental guidance in accordance with the laws mentioned above. These laws and regulations continue to evolve with an unpredictable impact on our operations in the PRC and related compliance costs. In addition, these laws and regulations are drafted broadly and thus leave significant discretion to the relevant PRC authorities, increasing the uncertainty about how they will be interpreted and enforced in practice.
Although we make reasonable efforts to comply with all applicable data protection laws and regulations, our interpretations and such measures have been or may prove to be insufficient or incorrect. The effects of any applicable state, federal and international laws and regulations that are currently in effect or that may go into effect in the future, are significant and may require us to modify our data processing practices and policies and to incur substantial costs and potential liability in an effort to comply with such laws and regulations. Allegations of non-compliance, whether or not true, could be costly, time consuming, and cause reputational harm. In addition to government regulation, privacy advocates and industry groups may propose new and different self-regulatory standards. Because the interpretation and application of privacy and data protection laws continue to evolve, it is possible that these laws may be interpreted and applied in a manner that are inconsistent with one another or inconsistent with our existing data management practices or the features of our products and services. Any actual or perceived failure to comply with these and other data protection and privacy laws and regulations could result in regulatory and increased exposure to the risk of or the imposition of consent orders, resolution agreements, requirements to take particular actions with respect to training, policies or other activities, and civil and , including , which could our business. In addition, we or our third-party service providers could be required to fundamentally change our business activities and practices or modify our products and services, which could our business. Any of the foregoing could result in additional cost and liability to us, our reputation, inhibit sales, and our business.
Risks Related to Legal, Regulatory, Accounting and Tax Matters
Our failure to comply with the large body of laws and regulations to which we are subject could materially harm our business.
We are subject to regulation by various governmental agencies in the United States and other jurisdictions in which we operate. These laws and regulations (and the government agency responsible for their enforcement in the United States) cover: radio frequency emission regulatory activities (Federal Communications Commission); anti-trust regulatory activities (Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice); consumer protection laws (Federal Trade Commission); import/export regulatory activities (Department of Commerce); product safety regulatory activities (Consumer Products Safety Commission); worker safety (Occupational Safety and Health Administration); environmental protection (Environmental Protection Agency and similar state and local agencies); employment matters (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission); and tax and other regulations by a variety of regulatory authorities in each of the areas in which we conduct business. In certain jurisdictions, regulatory requirements in one or more of these areas may be more stringent than in the United States.
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In the area of employment matters, we are subject to a variety of federal, state and foreign employment and labor laws and regulations, including the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act, the WARN Act and other regulations related to working conditions, wage and hour pay, overtime pay, employee benefits, anti-discrimination, and termination of employment. We are subject to local employment statutes and regulations in other jurisdictions. Noncompliance with any of these applicable regulations or requirements could subject us to investigations, sanctions, enforcement actions, fines, damages, penalties, or injunctions. In certain instances, former employees have brought claims against us, and we expect that we will encounter similar actions against us in the future. An adverse outcome in any such litigation could require us to pay , attorneys’ fees and costs. These enforcement actions could our reputation and business. If any governmental sanctions are imposed, or if we do not prevail in any possible civil or , our business could be . In addition, responding to any action will likely result in a significant of management’s attention and resources and an increase in professional fees.
Our failure to comply with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, other applicable anti-corruption and anti-bribery laws, and applicable anti-money laundering laws could subject us to penalties and other adverse consequences.
We have extensive international operations, and a substantial portion of our business is conducted outside of the United States. Our operations are subject to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as amended (the FCPA), the U.S. domestic bribery statute contained in 18 U.S.C. § 201, the U.S. Travel Act, the USA PATRIOT Act, as well as the anti-corruption, anti-bribery, and anti-money laundering laws in the countries where we do business. Anti-corruption laws are interpreted broadly and prohibit companies and their employees and agents from promising, authorizing, making, or offering, soliciting, or accepting, directly or indirectly, improper payments or other benefits to or from any person whether in the public or private sector. The FCPA also requires publicly traded companies to maintain records that accurately and fairly represent their transactions, and to have an adequate system of internal accounting controls. As we increase our international sales and business, our risks under these laws may increase.
Though we maintain policies, internal controls and other measures reasonably designed to promote compliance with applicable anti-corruption, anti-bribery laws, and anti-money laundering laws and regulations, our employees or agents may nevertheless engage in improper conduct for which we might be held responsible. Any violations of these laws, or even allegations of such violations, can lead to an investigation and/or enforcement action, which could disrupt our operations, involve significant management distraction, and lead to significant costs and expenses, including legal fees. If we, or our employees or agents acting on our behalf, are found to have engaged in practices that violate these laws and regulations, we could suffer severe fines and , profit , on future conduct, securities , on transacting government business, from securities exchanges and other consequences that may our business. In addition, our reputation, our revenue or our stock price could be affected if we become the subject of any publicity related to actual or potential of any of these laws and regulations.
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We are subject to government regulations, including import, export and economic sanctions laws and artificial intelligence regulations that may restrict our ability to sell to or get paid by customers in certain regions, or expose us to liability and increase our costs.
Certain of our products, including our IP interconnect and other solutions and technology are subject to U.S. export controls, including the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Export Administration Regulations (EAR) and economic and trade sanctions regulations administered by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Controls. These regulations may limit the export of our products and technology, and provision of our services outside of the United States, or may require export authorizations, including by license, a license exception, or other appropriate government authorizations and conditions, including annual or semi-annual reporting. Export control and economic sanctions laws may also include prohibitions on the sale or supply of certain of our products to embargoed or sanctioned countries, regions, governments, persons, and entities. In addition, various countries regulate the importation of certain products, through import permitting and licensing requirements, and have enacted laws that could limit our ability to distribute our products. The exportation, re-exportation, and importation of our products and technology and the provision of services, including by our partners, must comply with these laws or else we may be adversely affected through reputational harm, government investigations, penalties, and a denial or of our ability to export our products and technology. Complying with export control and sanctions laws may be time-consuming and may result in the or of sales . Although we take precautions to prevent our products and technology from being provided in of such laws, our products and technology have previously been, and could in the future be, provided in of such laws, the precautions we take. If we are found to be in of U.S. sanctions or export control laws, it could result in substantial and for us and for the individuals working for us. Changes in export or import laws or sanctions policies may impact our operations, the introduction and sale of our products in international markets, or, in some cases, restrict our ability to sell to or get paid by customers, prevent the export or import of our products and technology to certain countries, regions, governments, persons, or entities altogether, which could our business.
Assertions by third parties of infringement or other violation by us of their intellectual property rights could harm our business.
Third parties may assert that we have infringed, misappropriated, or otherwise violated their copyrights, patents, and other intellectual property rights, particularly as new technologies such as AI impact the industries in which we operate. We may experience brand or reputational harm, competitive harm or legal liability if we do not have sufficient rights to use the output of AI or open source content, or the data or other material or content on which these rely. In addition, we may incur liability through the breach of third-party intellectual property licenses or contracts to which we are a party, and violations of applicable laws and regulations. For example, there is uncertainty in the U.S. courts as to how AI technologies affect IP ownership, including copyright protections, which may expose us or our customers to claims of copyright infringement or misappropriation.
We will lose sales if we are unable to obtain government authorization to export certain of our products and services, and we will be subject to legal and regulatory consequences if we do not comply with applicable export control laws and regulations or if such laws and regulations were to change.
Exports of certain of our IP interconnect and other solutions are subject to export controls imposed by the U.S. government and administered by the U.S. Departments of State and Commerce. In certain instances, these regulations may require pre-shipment authorization from the administering department. For products subject to the EAR, administered by BIS, the requirement for a license is dependent on the type and end use of the product, the final destination, the identity of the end user and whether a license exception might apply. Certain of our solutions are subject to EAR. Obtaining export licenses can be difficult, costly and time-consuming and we may not always be successful in obtaining necessary export licenses, and our failure to obtain required import or export approval for our products or limitations on our ability to export or sell our products imposed by these laws may harm our international and domestic revenue. Noncompliance with these laws could have negative consequences, including government investigations, penalties and reputational . The of comparable restrictions on competitors in other countries may affect our competitive position.
In addition, in October 2022, October 2023 and April 2024, BIS modified certain of its regulations affecting the export of semiconductor products and equipment, with particular focus on export to China. In December 2024, BIS further expanded export controls on certain advanced semiconductors that can be used in advanced weapon systems and in AI and advanced computing products. We must continue to comply with such regulations and take additional review and precautions as required when such export regulations are updated or changed by the U.S. federal government.
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We derive revenue from products that are not subject to the EAR from parties that are subject to the Entity List of the EAR (a list of entities to which the transfer of EAR-controlled technology or software requires a U.S. export license). Current and future business with these entities may be limited in scope or suspended entirely if regulations pertaining to such non-EAR products change, and our revenue could be adversely impacted. Regulatory changes concerning the export classification of our products, changes to the applicability of the EAR to certain product offerings, or the addition of new entities to the Entity List or other restricted party lists can further increase the scope of export restrictions applicable to our business. Failure to obtain export licenses for our products or having one or more of our customers be restricted from receiving exports from us could restrict our ability to sell to and get paid by customers in certain countries, which could significantly reduce our revenue and harm our business.
The U.S. federal government has increased its Entity List materially and expanded its regulatory scope with respect to semiconductors in recent years, which affects the range and number of customers, including Chinese customers available to license our products and technology. This raises an additional risk that China and/or other jurisdictions may enact retaliatory legislation or regulations that may raise similar adverse risks. As reflected in other Risk Factors, such risks may increase if additional Chinese entities are placed on the Entity List due, among other things, to their business with Russia in light of China’s stance and actions taken relating to Russia-Ukraine tensions and hostilities.
We face risks associated with doing business in China.
For the year ended December 31, 2025, we derived 24.5% of our revenue from customers located in China. As a result, the economic, political, legal and social conditions in China could harm our business. Various factors may in the future cause the Chinese government to impose controls on credit or prices, or to take other action, which could inhibit economic activity in China, and thereby harm the market for our products. In addition, the legal system in China has inherent uncertainties that may limit the legal protections available in the event of any claims or disputes that we have with third parties, including our ability to protect the IP we develop or license in China or elsewhere. As China’s legal system is still evolving, the interpretation of many laws, regulations and rules is not always uniform and enforcement of these laws, regulations and rules involve uncertainties, which may limit the remedies available in the event of any claims or disputes with third parties. In addition, any litigation in China may be protracted and result in substantial costs and diversion of resources and management attention. We have observed sustained reports of intellectual property theft and in China.
Some of the other risks related to doing business in China include:
■ The Chinese government exerts substantial influence over the manner in which we must conduct our business activities.
■ Restrictions on currency exchange may limit our ability to receive, transfer and use our cash effectively.
■ Increased uncertainties related to the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights, including risk of theft or misappropriation of our products and intellectual property in China, as well as any intellectual property rights that we may license to a Chinese (or other emerging jurisdiction) entity, including any joint ventures we may form.
■ Increased uncertainties relating to Chinese regulation of exports of products and technology to and from China.
■ Increased and rapidly changing export and related trade regulations including tariffs and restrictions imposed by U.S. and Chinese legislation, executive actions and regulations.
■ The Chinese government may favor its local businesses and make it more difficult for foreign businesses to operate in China on an equal footing or create generally difficult conditions for foreign headquartered businesses to operate.
■ Increased uncertainties related to the enforcement of contracts with certain parties.
■ More restrictive rules on foreign investment could adversely affect our ability to expand our operations in China.
■ Geopolitical tensions may lead to increased export sanctions against China and/or Chinese entities or U.S. companies operating in China or selling products or services into China.
■ Geopolitical changes in China-Taiwan relations could disrupt our operations in China and Taiwan and the operations of companies in China and Taiwan that are our customers, each of which could materially and adversely affect our business and operating results.
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Political instability, changes in government, elections, or destabilizing political developments in or around the major countries and jurisdictions in which we do business have created challenges and an adverse business environment which in turn has impacted our business and financial condition. Worldwide and regional geopolitical tensions and conflicts, including but not limited to China, Hong Kong, Israel, Korea and Taiwan where our customers are located, have resulted in changing regulatory requirements or other disruptions that have and could continue to impact our international operations and operating strategies, global product demand and sales, access to global markets, hiring, and profitability. If a disaster, war or catastrophic event affects our ability to work with customers in any of these countries, including China, our business could be harmed by a decline in sales, increased contract expense, and substantial time spent on alternative demand generation. As a result of our growing operations in China, these risks could our business.
Further, on September 3, 2021, former President Biden issued Executive Order 14032 (Addressing the Threat from Securities Investments that Finance Certain Companies of the People’s Republic of China) targeting entities that are deemed part of the Chinese military-industrial complex. Among other things, this executive order prohibits the purchase or sale of any publicly traded securities of a designated entity. We do not expect that this executive order will impact us; however, further government escalation of restrictions related to Chinese investors and dealings in securities could harm certain shareholders.
On October 7, 2022, BIS issued export controls related to the Chinese semiconductor manufacturing, advanced computing, and supercomputer industries imposing broad end-use and other restrictions on facilities in China that develop or produce semiconductor chips or manufacturing equipment, impacting our ability to license or support our products to entities in or doing business with certain advanced AI or “supercomputer” design companies, foundries and manufacturers of assemblies and components in China. On October 17, 2023, BIS issued regulations amending the October 7, 2022 rule. Then on December 2, 2024, BIS further expanded export controls on certain advanced semiconductors that can be used in advanced weapon systems and in AI and advanced computing products. These restrictions, and any subsequent restrictions, may have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations, or financial condition and we may no longer be able to license or support our products to certain companies in China. Furthermore, increased restrictions on China exports may lead to regulatory retaliation by the Chinese government and possibly further escalate geopolitical tensions, and any such scenarios may adversely impact our business. It is difficult to predict what further trade-related actions governments may take, whether the current U.S. presidential administration may impact such tensions, the extent to which we may be to mitigate the effects of any trade-related actions, and the longer-term implications of trade-related actions on the market for us. The prospect of future export controls that are implemented in a similar manner may continue to have an ongoing impact on our business, results of operation, or financial conditions.
There have been additional regulatory mandates from the U.S. government that affect our current and future sales and operations in China. Beginning on January 2, 2025, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Outbound Investment Security Program went into effect. Codified at 31 C.F.R. § 850.101 et seq, the Outbound Investment Security Program prohibits or requires notification of certain types of outbound investments by U.S. persons into certain entities located in or subject to the jurisdiction of China, Hong Kong, and Macau (as well as certain entities subject to Chinese ownership or control) that are engaged in the development of certain national security technologies and products (presently, certain semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies, and artificial intelligence technologies), as well as any other countries that are or may be designated under the program’s regulations. This 2026 U.S. National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) included the Comprehensive Outbound Investment National Security (COINS) Act of 2025 was signed on December 18, 2025 and expanded the U.S. outbound investment controls and introduced stricter notification and prohibitions for investments in sensitive technologies. Implementing regulations are expected by the U.S. Department of Treasury within 450 days of enactment, and until such time, the 2025 rules remain in effect. As a result of the foregoing, we and our applicable subsidiaries may need to take appropriate steps to comply with these regulations and the cost of doing so, as well as any failure to comply, could have an adverse impact on our business, results of operation or financial condition.
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We anticipate conducting certain of our operations through joint venture arrangements with Chinese entities. If the Chinese government determines that these arrangements do not comply with applicable regulations, our business could be adversely affected. If the PRC regulatory agencies determine that the agreements that establish the structure and relationship for our operations in China do not comply with PRC regulatory restrictions on foreign investment, we could be subject to severe penalties. In addition, changes in such Chinese laws and regulations may materially and adversely affect our business.
There are uncertainties regarding the interpretation and application of PRC laws, rules and regulations, including, but not limited to, the laws, rules and regulations governing the validity and enforcement of the joint venture arrangement such as the one we are contemplating entering into with certain Chinese entities, including one of our shareholders who holds less than 5% of our outstanding common stock. Because many laws and regulations are relatively new, the interpretations of many laws, regulations and rules are not always uniform. Moreover, the interpretation of statutes and regulations may be subject to government policies reflecting domestic political agendas. Enforcement of existing laws or contracts based on existing law may be uncertain and sporadic. Although we believe, based on our understanding of the current PRC laws, rules and regulations, the structure for our current and contemplated operations based in China complies with all applicable PRC laws, rules and regulations and does not violate, breach, contravene or otherwise conflict with any applicable PRC laws, rules or regulations, we cannot assure you that the PRC regulatory authorities will not determine that such joint venture arrangements do not violate PRC laws, rules or regulations. If the PRC regulatory authorities determine that any joint ventures, we may enter into are in of applicable PRC laws, rules or regulations, such joint venture arrangements may become or unenforceable, which will substantially affect our operations .
The Chinese government has broad discretion in dealing with violations of laws and regulations, including levying fines, revoking business and other licenses and requiring actions necessary for compliance. In particular, licenses and permits issued or granted by relevant governmental agencies may be revoked at a later time by other regulatory agencies. We cannot predict the effect of the interpretation of existing or new Chinese laws or regulations on our business. Any of these or similar actions could significantly disrupt our operations or restrict us from conducting a substantial portion of our operations, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. There can be no assurance that the U.S. government will refrain from imposing additional restrictions or constraints on dealings or investments in China, including our investment in Transchip or any future joint venture arrangements.
Joint ventures or similar investments are subject to a number of risks, the occurrence of which could adversely impact any of our current or future joint ventures or similar investments, which in turn could harm our business.
Joint ventures or similar investments such as the investment in Transchip as discussed elsewhere in this report, and other joint ventures or similar investments we may form in the future are subject to a number of risks, including but not limited to:
■ Our joint venture or investment partners may not commit sufficient resources to market and distribute our products or to otherwise support the joint venture and its intended operations.
■ Our joint venture or investment partners may have economic or business interests or goals that are different from ours.
■ Our joint venture or investment partners may infringe the IP we assign or license to such joint venture, or the IP of other parties, which may be adverse to us, expose us to litigation and other potential liabilities.
■ Disputes may arise among us and our joint venture or investment partners that result in adverse business conditions, delays or termination of activities contemplated by such joint venture or investment or that could result in costly litigation or arbitration that diverts management attention and resources.
■ Our joint venture or investment partners have, and may in the future, not provide us with timely and accurate information regarding the status, compliance or activities of the joint venture or investment which could, among other things, impact our ability to accurately forecast financial results, provide timely information to our shareholders and could create a potential risk of us having to restate our financial results.
■ Risks associated with the ability to generate sufficient revenue and our investment to continue operations.
■ Any of the risks related to doing business in China or having a Chinese joint venture or investment that are discussed elsewhere in these risk factors.
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The occurrence of one or more of the above risks, or any other negative events, could adversely impact our joint ventures or similar investments including our investment in Transchip and we may be required to incur significant impairment charges.
Social and environmental responsibility regulations, policies and provisions, as well as customer and investor demands, may make our supply chain more complex and may adversely affect our relationships with customers, investors and government regulators.
There is an increased focus on corporate social and environmental responsibility in the semiconductor industry. A number of our customers have adopted, or may adopt, procurement policies that include social and environmental responsibility provisions or requirements that their suppliers should comply with, or they may seek to include such provisions or requirements in their procurement terms and conditions. An increasing number of investors are also requiring companies to disclose corporate social and environmental policies, practices and metrics. Legal and regulatory requirements, as well as investor expectations, on corporate social responsibility practices and disclosure, are subject to change, can be unpredictable, and may be difficult and expensive for us to comply with, given the complexity of our supply. For example, the current U.S. presidential administration has a different view and approach to many social and environmental policies as compared to prior administrations and may result in us having to adopt positions that may be at odds with those of our customers and investors. If we are unable to comply, or are unable to cause our suppliers to comply, with such policies or provisions or meet the requirements of our customers and our investors, a customer may stop purchasing products from us or an investor may sell their shares, and may take legal action us, which could our reputation, revenue and results of operations.
We could be subject to changes in tax rates or the adoption of new tax legislation, whether in or out of the United States, or could otherwise have exposure to additional tax liabilities, which could harm our business.
As a multinational business, we are subject to income and other taxes in both the United States and various foreign jurisdictions. Changes to tax laws or regulations in the jurisdictions in which we operate, or in the interpretation of such laws or regulations, could significantly increase our effective tax rate and reduce our cash flow from operating activities, and otherwise have a material adverse effect on our financial condition. In addition, other factors or events, including business combinations and investment transactions, changes in the valuation of our deferred tax assets and liabilities, adjustments to taxes upon finalization of various tax returns or as a result of deficiencies asserted by taxing authorities, increases in expenses not deductible for tax purposes, changes in available tax credits, changes in transfer pricing methodologies, other changes in the apportionment of our income and other activities among tax jurisdictions, and changes in tax rates, could also increase our effective tax rate.
Our tax filings are subject to review or audit by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (the IRS) and state, local and foreign taxing authorities. We may also be liable for taxes in connection with businesses we acquire. Our determinations are not binding on the IRS or any other taxing authorities, and accordingly the final determination in an audit or other proceeding may be materially different than the treatment reflected in our tax provisions, accruals and returns. An assessment of additional taxes because of an audit could harm our business.
Further changes in the tax laws of foreign jurisdictions could arise, in particular, as a result of the base erosion and profit shifting project that was undertaken by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (the OECD). The OECD, which represents a coalition of member countries, recommended changes to numerous long-standing tax principles. These changes, if adopted, could increase tax uncertainty and may adversely affect our provision for income taxes and increase our tax liabilities.
Our ability to use net operating losses to offset future taxable income may be subject to certain limitations.
We have incurred cumulative losses historically and it is possible that we will not achieve profitability in the future. Realization of our existing net operating loss (NOL) carryforwards and other tax attributes (such as research tax credits) depends on future taxable income, and there is a risk that our NOL carryforwards and other tax attributes could expire unused before we achieve profitability and be unavailable to offset future taxable income, which could materially and adversely affect our operating results.
In general, under Sections 382 and 383 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the Code), if a corporation undergoes an “ownership change,” generally defined as a cumulative change of more than 50 percentage points (by value) in its equity ownership by certain stockholders over a three-year period, the corporation’s ability to use its pre-change NOL carryforwards and other pre-change tax attributes (such as research tax credits) to offset its post-change income or taxes may be limited. We may have experienced ownership changes in the past and may experience additional ownership changes in the future, including as a result of subsequent changes in our stock ownership, some of which are outside our control. Accordingly, we may not be able to utilize a material portion of our NOL carryforwards, even if we achieve profitability.
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The requirements of being a public company require significant resources and management attention and affect our ability to attract and retain executive management and qualified board members.
As a public company, we incur increased legal, accounting, compliance and other expenses that we did not previously incur as a private company. We are subject to the Exchange Act, including the reporting requirements thereunder, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the rules and other applicable securities rules and regulations. These rules and regulations impose various requirements on public companies, including establishment and maintenance of effective disclosure and financial controls and corporate governance practices. Our management and other personnel need to devote a substantial amount of time to these compliance initiatives, which divert their attention away from our core business operations and revenue-producing activities. Moreover, compliance with these rules and regulations increases our legal and financial compliance costs, makes some activities more difficult, time-consuming or costly and increases demand on our systems and resources, particularly after we are no longer an ‘‘emerging growth company.’’ Further, we expect that these rules and regulations may make it more difficult and more expensive for us to obtain directors’ and officers’ liability insurance, which in turn could require us to incur substantially higher costs to obtain the same or similar coverage or accept reduced policy limits and coverage, which, if we accept such reduced policy limits and coverage, could make it more for us to attract and retain qualified individuals to serve on our board of directors and as our executive officers. In addition, we may experience meeting applicable financial statements timing, auditing and reporting requirements under the Exchange Act. Any by us to file our periodic reports with the SEC in a timely manner could our reputation and reduce the trading price of our common stock.
We continue to evaluate these rules and regulations and cannot predict or estimate the amount of additional costs we may incur or the timing of such costs. These rules and regulations are often 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 the courts, 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. In addition, if we fail to comply with these rules and regulations, we could be subject to a number of penalties, including the delisting of our common stock, fines, sanctions or other regulatory action or civil litigation.
If we fail to maintain an effective system of disclosure controls and internal control over financial reporting, our ability to produce timely and accurate financial statements or comply with applicable regulations could be impaired.
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires, among other things, that we maintain effective disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting. Our disclosure controls and other procedures are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by us in the reports that we file with the SEC is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in SEC rules and forms and that information required to be disclosed in reports under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to our principal executive and financial officers, and we continue to evaluate how to improve controls. We are also continuing to improve our internal control over financial reporting. In order to maintain and improve the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting, we have expended, and anticipate that we will continue to expend, significant resources, including accounting-related costs and significant management oversight.
Our current controls and any new controls that we develop may become inadequate because of changes in conditions in our business. Further, weaknesses in our disclosure controls and internal control over financial reporting may be discovered in the future. Any failure to develop or maintain effective controls or any difficulties encountered in their implementation or improvement could harm our business or cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations and may result in a restatement of our financial statements for prior periods. Any failure to implement and maintain effective internal control over financial reporting also could adversely affect the results of periodic management evaluations and annual independent registered public accounting firm attestation reports regarding the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting that we are required to include in our periodic reports that will be filed with the SEC. disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting could also cause investors to confidence in our reported financial and other information, which would likely have a effect on the trading price of our common stock. In addition, if we are to continue to meet these requirements, we may not be to remain listed. As a public company, we are required to provide an annual management report on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting.
Our independent registered public accounting firm is not required to formally attest to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting until after we are no longer an “emerging growth company” as defined in the JOBS Act. At such time, our independent registered public accounting firm may issue a report that is adverse in the event it is not satisfied with the level at which our internal control over financial reporting is documented, designed or operating. Any failure to maintain effective disclosure controls and internal control over financial reporting could harm our business and could cause a decline in the trading price of our common stock.
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We are an “emerging growth company,” and we cannot be certain if the reduced disclosure requirements applicable to emerging growth companies will make our common stock less attractive to investors.
We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in the JOBS Act, and we could remain an emerging growth company until the last day of our fiscal year following the fifth anniversary of the closing of our initial public offering. For as long as we continue to be an emerging growth company, we may choose to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies, including, but not limited to:
■ not being required to engage an auditor to report on our internal controls over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act;
■ not being required to comply with any requirement that may be adopted by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board regarding mandatory audit firm rotation or a supplement to the auditor’s report providing additional information about the audit and the financial statements (i.e., an auditor discussion and analysis);
■ not being required to submit certain executive compensation matters to stockholder advisory votes, such as “say-on-pay,” “say-on-frequency,” and “say-on-golden-parachutes”; and
■ not being required to disclose certain executive compensation related items such as the correlation between executive compensation and performance and comparisons of the chief executive officer’s compensation to median employee compensation.
In addition, as an emerging growth company, we are only permitted to provide two years of audited financial statements and two years of selected financial data (in addition to any required interim financial statements and selected financial data) in this report, and to present correspondingly reduced disclosure in “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.”
We have elected to take advantage of this reduced disclosure obligation and certain of the other exemptions described above and may elect to take advantage of these and other reduced reporting requirements in the future. As a result, the information that we provide to our stockholders may be different than the information you might receive from other public reporting companies in which you hold equity interests. In addition, the JOBS Act permits emerging growth companies to delay adopting new or revised accounting standards until such time as those standards apply to private companies. We have elected to use this extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards until the earlier of the date we (i) are no longer an emerging growth company; or (ii) affirmatively and irrevocably opt out of the extended transition period provided in the JOBS Act. As a result, our consolidated financial statements and the reported results of operations contained therein may not be directly comparable to those of other public companies. We cannot predict whether investors will find our common stock less attractive because of our reliance on these exemptions. If some investors do find our common stock less attractive, there may be a less active trading market for our common stock and our stock price may be reduced or become more .
We will remain an emerging growth company, and will be able to take advantage of the foregoing exemptions, until the last day of our fiscal year following the fifth anniversary of the closing of our initial public offering or such earlier time that we otherwise cease to be an emerging growth company, which will occur upon the earliest of (i) the last day of the first fiscal year in which our annual gross revenue is $1.235 billion or more; (ii) the date on which we have, during the previous three-year period, issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities; and (iii) the date that we become a “large accelerated filer” as defined in Rule 12b-2 under the Exchange Act, which will occur as of the end of any fiscal year in which (x) the market value of our common equity held by non-affiliates is $700 million or more as of the last business day of our most recently completed second fiscal quarter, (y) we have been required to file annual and quarterly reports under the Exchange Act for a period of at least 12 months and (z) we have filed at least one annual report pursuant to the Exchange Act.
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Risks Related to Ownership of Our Common Stock
An active and liquid trading market for our common stock may not be sustained.
Our common stock is currently listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol “AIP”. The price for our common stock may vary and an active or liquid market in our common stock may not be sustained. The lack of an active market may impair the value of your shares, your ability to sell your shares at the time you wish to sell them and the prices that you may obtain for your shares. An inactive market may also impair our ability to raise further capital by selling additional shares of our common stock and our ability to acquire other companies, products or technologies by using our common stock as consideration. Furthermore, there can be no guarantee that we will continue to satisfy the continued listing standards of Nasdaq. If we fail to satisfy the continued listing standards, we could be delisted, which would negatively impact the value and liquidity of your investment.
Our stock price may be volatile, and investors in our common stock may not be able to resell shares of our common stock at or above the price paid, or at all.
The trading price of our common stock could be volatile and subject to wide fluctuations in response to various factors, many of which are beyond our control, including, but not limited to:
■ variations in our actual or anticipated annual or quarterly operating results or those of others in our industry;
■ the potential effects arising if U.S. inflationary, tariffs and other trade and/or currency devaluation trends continue or increase;
■ results of operations that otherwise fail to meet the expectations of securities analysts and investors;
■ changes in earnings estimates or recommendations by securities analysts, or other changes in investor perceptions of the investment opportunity associated with our common stock relative to other investment alternatives;
■ market conditions in the semiconductor industry;
■ market volatility caused by the rapidly evolving AI-related developments;
■ failure to meet our publicly announced guidance or other expectations about our business;
■ publications, reports or other media exposure of our products or those of others in our industry, or of our industry generally;
■ announcements by us or others in our industry, or by our or their respective suppliers, distributors or other business partners, regarding, among other things, significant contracts, price reductions, capital commitments or other business developments, the entry into or termination of strategic transactions or relationships, securities offerings or other financing initiatives, and public reaction thereto;
■ additions or departures of key management personnel;
■ regulatory actions involving us or others in our industry, or actual or anticipated changes in applicable government regulations or enforcement thereof;
■ the development and sustainability of an active trading market for our common stock;
■ sales, or anticipated sales, of large blocks of our common stock, such as any sales that may occur following the expiration of the lockups entered into in connection with our initial public offering or any sales to cover tax obligations or exercise costs in connection with the vesting of restricted stock units or the exercise of options, respectively;
■ general economic and securities market conditions, including rising interest rates; and
■ other factors discussed in this “Risk Factors” section and elsewhere in this report.
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Furthermore, the stock market in general has experienced price and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of particular companies. Broad market and industry factors may significantly affect the market price of our common stock, regardless of our actual operating performance. These and other factors may cause the market price and demand for our common stock to fluctuate significantly, which may limit or prevent investors from readily selling their shares of common stock and may otherwise negatively affect the liquidity of our common stock. In addition, in the past, when the market price of a stock has been volatile, holders of that stock have sometimes instituted securities class action litigation against the company that issued the stock. If any of our stockholders were to bring a lawsuit against us, we could incur substantial costs defending the lawsuit. Such a lawsuit could also divert the time and attention of our management from our core business operations.
Since our stock price may be volatile, investors in our common stock may not be able to resell shares of our common stock at or above the price paid, or at all.
We may fail to meet our publicly announced guidance or other expectations about our business, which could cause our stock price to decline.
We provide guidance regarding our expected financial and business performance including our anticipated future revenues, operating expenses and other financial metrics. Correctly identifying the key factors affecting business conditions and predicting future events is inherently uncertain. Any guidance that we provide may not always be accurate or may vary from actual results due to our inability to correctly identify risks and uncertainties and to quantify their impact on our financial performance. We provide no assurances that such guidance will ultimately be accurate, and any such guidance should be treated with appropriate caution. If we fail to meet our guidance or if we find it necessary to revise such guidance, even if seemingly insignificant, investors and analysts may lose confidence in us and the market value of our common stock could be materially adversely affected.
If equity research analysts or industry analysts do not publish research or reports about our business, or if they change their recommendations regarding our common stock adversely, our stock price and trading volume could decline.
The trading market for our common stock is influenced by the research and reports that industry or equity research analysts publish about us or our business. As a newly public company, we may be slow to attract research coverage and the analysts who publish information about our common stock will have had relatively little experience with us, which could affect their ability to accurately forecast our results and could make it more likely that we fail to meet their estimates. If only a few securities or industry analysts commence coverage of us, the trading price for our common stock will be negatively impacted. When we obtain industry or equity research analyst coverage, we will not have any control over the analysts’ content and opinions included in their reports. If any of the analysts who cover us issue an adverse or misleading opinion regarding us, our business model, financial performance, stock price or otherwise, our stock price would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts ceases coverage of our company or fails to regularly publish reports on us, we could visibility in the financial markets, which in turn could cause our stock price or trading volume to and result in the of all or a part of your investment in us.
Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market could cause our stock price to fall.
If our existing stockholders, including current or former employees sell, or indicate an intention to sell, substantial amounts of our common stock in the public market, the market price of our common stock could decline. As of December 31, 2025, we had approximately 44.3 million shares of common stock outstanding.
Shares of common stock that are either subject to outstanding options or reserved for future issuance pursuant to restricted stock unit grants, in each case, under our equity incentive plans are eligible for sale in the public market to the extent permitted by the provisions of various vesting schedules and Rule 144 and Rule 701 under the Securities Act. If these additional shares of common stock are sold, or if it is perceived that they will be sold, in the public market, the market price of our common stock could decline.
In addition, certain of our executive officers, directors and stockholders affiliated with our directors have entered or may enter into Rule 10b5-1 plans providing for sales of shares of our common stock from time to time. Under a Rule 10b5-1 plan, a broker executes trades pursuant to parameters established by the executive officer, director or affiliated stockholder when entering into the plan, without further direction from the executive officer, director or affiliated stockholder. A Rule 10b5-1 plan may be amended or terminated in some circumstances.
Our executive officers, directors and stockholders affiliated with our directors may also buy or sell additional shares outside of a Rule 10b5-1 plan when they are not in possession of material, nonpublic information.
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K. Charles Janac, our President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, beneficially owns a significant percentage of our common stock and will be able to exert significant control over matters subject to stockholder approval.
As of December 31, 2025, K. Charles Janac, our President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, held voting power over approximate ly 21.6% of our outstanding voting stock. T herefore, this stockholder will have the ability to influence us through this ownership position. For example, this stockholder may be able to exercise significant influence over 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 our common stock that you may feel are in your best interest as one of our stockholders.
Our issuance of additional capital stock in connection with financings, acquisitions, investments, our stock incentive plans or otherwise could dilute the ownership and voting power of our other stockholders.
We have 300,000,000 shares of common stock authorized as of December 31, 2025. In addition, our Certificate of Incorporation authorizes us to issue up to 10,000,000 shares of preferred stock with such rights and preferences as may be determined by our board of directors. Our Certificate of Incorporation authorizes us to issue shares of common stock or other securities convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable for shares of our common stock from time to time, for the consideration and on the terms and conditions established by our board of directors in its sole discretion, whether in connection with a financing, an acquisition, an investment, our stock incentive plans or otherwise. Such additional shares of our common stock or such other securities may be issued at a discount to the market price of our common stock at the time of issuance. Our preferred stock could be issued with voting, liquidation, dividend and other rights superior to the rights of our common stock. As discussed below, the potential issuance of preferred stock may delay or prevent a change in control of us, discourage bids for our common stock at a premium to the market price, and materially and adversely affect the market price and the voting and other rights of the holders of our common stock. Any issuance of such securities could result in substantial dilution to our existing stockholders and cause the market price of shares of our common stock to .
We do not expect to declare or pay any dividends on our common stock for the foreseeable future.
We do not intend to pay cash dividends on our common stock for the foreseeable future. Consequently, investors must rely on sales of their shares of our common stock after price appreciation, which may never occur, as the only way to realize any future gains on their investment. Investors seeking dividends should not purchase shares of our common stock. Any future determination to pay dividends will be at the discretion of our board of directors and subject to, among other things, our compliance with applicable law, and depending on, among other things, our business prospects, financial condition, results of operations, cash requirements and availability, debt repayment obligations, capital expenditure needs, the terms of any preferred equity securities we may issue in the future, covenants in the agreements governing our current and future indebtedness, other contractual restrictions, industry trends, the provisions of the Delaware General Corporation Law (the DGCL) affecting the payment of dividends and distributions to stockholders and any other factors or considerations our board of directors may regard as relevant. Furthermore, because we are a holding company, our ability to pay dividends on our common stock will depend on our receipt of cash distributions and dividends from our direct and indirect wholly owned subsidiaries, which may be similarly impacted by, among other things, the terms of any preferred equity securities these subsidiaries may issue in the future, debt agreements, other contractual restrictions and provisions of applicable law. See “Dividend Policy” for additional information.
Provisions in our Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaws and under the DGCL contain antitakeover provisions that could prevent or discourage a takeover .
Provisions in our Certificate of Incorporation and our Bylaws may discourage, delay or prevent a merger, acquisition or other change in control of our company that stockholders may consider favorable, including transactions in which you might otherwise receive a premium for your shares. These provisions could also limit the price that investors might be willing to pay in the future for shares of our common stock, thereby depressing the market price of our common stock. In addition, because our board of directors is responsible for appointing the members of our management team, these provisions may frustrate or prevent any attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management by making it more difficult for stockholders to replace members of our board of directors. Among other things, these provisions include those establishing:
■ a classified board of directors with three-year staggered terms, which may have the effect of deferring, delaying or discouraging hostile takeovers, or changes in control of us or our management;
■ no cumulative voting in the election of directors, which limits the ability of minority stockholders to elect director candidates;
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■ the exclusive right of our board of directors to elect a director to fill a vacancy created by the expansion of the board of directors or the resignation, death or removal of a director, which prevents stockholders from filling vacancies on our board of directors;
■ the ability of our board of directors to authorize the issuance of shares of preferred stock and to determine the terms of those shares, including preferences and voting rights, without stockholder approval, which could be used to significantly dilute the ownership of a hostile acquirer;
■ the ability of our board of directors to alter our bylaws without obtaining stockholder approval;
■ the required approval of the holders of at least two-thirds of the shares entitled to vote at an election of directors to amend or repeal our bylaws or amend the provisions of our Certificate of Incorporation regarding the election and removal of directors;
■ a prohibition on stockholder action by written consent, which forces stockholder action to be taken at an annual or special meeting of our stockholders;
■ the requirement that a special meeting of stockholders may be called only by the chairman of the board of directors or a majority of our board of directors, which may delay the ability of our stockholders to force consideration of a proposal or for stockholders controlling a majority of our capital stock to take action, including the removal of directors; and
■ advance notice procedures that stockholders must comply with in order to nominate candidates to our board of directors or to propose matters to be acted upon at an annual meeting or special meeting of stockholders, which may discourage or delay a potential acquirer from conducting a solicitation of proxies to elect the acquirer’s own slate of directors or otherwise attempting to obtain control of us until the next stockholder meeting or at all.
In addition, we are subject to Section 203 of the DGCL. Subject to specified exceptions, Section 203 prohibits a publicly held Delaware corporation from engaging in a “business combination” with an “interested stockholder” for a period of three years after the date of the transaction in which the person became an interested stockholder unless such transaction is approved in a prescribed manner. “Business combinations” include mergers, asset sales and other transactions resulting in a financial benefit to the “interested stockholder.” Subject to various exceptions, an “interested stockholder” is a person who, together with his or her affiliates and associates, owns, or within three years did own, 15% or more of the corporation’s outstanding voting stock.
Any provision of our Certificate of Incorporation, Bylaws or Delaware law that has the effect of delaying or preventing a change in control could limit the opportunity for our stockholders to receive a premium for their shares of our capital stock and could also affect the price that some investors are willing to pay for our common stock.
Our Certificate of Incorporation provides that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware is the exclusive forum for substantially all disputes between us and our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers or employees.
Our Certificate of Incorporation provides that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware (the Delaware Court of Chancery) will be the exclusive forum for (1) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf; (2) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any of our directors, officers or other employees or stockholders to us or our stockholders; (3) any action asserting a claim against us, any director or our officers and employees arising pursuant to any provision of the DGCL, our Certificate of Incorporation or our Bylaws, or as to which the DGCL confers exclusive jurisdiction on the Delaware Court of Chancery; or (4) any action asserting a claim against us, any director or our officers or employees that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine; provided that, the exclusive forum provision will not apply to suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Securities Act, the Exchange Act, the rules and regulations thereunder or any other claim for which the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction; and provided further that, if and only if the Delaware Court of Chancery any such action for of subject matter jurisdiction, such action may be brought in another state or federal court sitting in the State of Delaware. Our Certificate of Incorporation further provides that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the federal district courts of the United States of America shall, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be the sole and forum for the resolution of any asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in shares of our capital stock shall be deemed to have notice of and to have consented to the provisions of our Certificate of Incorporation described above.
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We believe these provisions benefit us by providing increased consistency in the application of the DGCL by chancellors particularly experienced in resolving corporate disputes and in the application of the Securities Act by federal judges, as applicable, efficient administration of cases on a more expedited schedule relative to other forums and protection against the burdens of multi-forum litigation. However, these provisions may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers or other employees or agents, which may discourage such lawsuits against us and our directors, officers and other employees and agents. The enforceability of similar choice of forum provisions in other companies’ certificates of incorporation has been challenged in legal proceedings, and it is possible that, in connection with any applicable action brought us, a court could find the choice of forum provisions contained in our Certificate of Incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable in such action. If a court were to find the choice of forum provision contained in our Certificate of Incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could our business.
General Risk Factors
Actions of stockholders could cause us to incur substantial costs, divert management’s attention and resources and have an adverse effect on our business .
As a public company, we may, from time to time, be subject to proposals and other requests from stockholders urging us to take certain corporate actions, including proposals seeking to influence our corporate policies or effect a change in our management. In the event of such stockholder proposals, particularly with respect to matters which our management and board of directors, in exercising their fiduciary duties, disagree with or have determined not to pursue, our business could be harmed because responding to actions and requests of stockholders can be costly and time-consuming, disrupting our operations and diverting the attention of management and our employees. Additionally, perceived uncertainties as to our future direction may result in the loss of potential business opportunities and may make it more difficult to attract and retain qualified personnel, business partners and customers.
Litigation , including securities class action litigation, may impair our reputation and lead us to incur significant costs. For example, we are currently involved in ongoing litigation related to patent infringement claims.
From time to time, we may be party to various lawsuits and claims arising in the normal course of business, which may include lawsuits or claims relating to contracts, third-party contractors, intellectual property rights, employment matters or other aspects of our business. We may face claims based on intellectual property rights from individuals, companies, non-practicing entities, academic and research institutions, and other parties, including claims from multiple sources against us and other companies. Claims that our products infringe the intellectual property rights of others, regardless of merit, may cause us to incur large costs to respond to, defend and resolve the claims, and they may divert the efforts and attention of our management and technical personnel from our operations.
In addition, in the past, following periods of volatility in the overall market and the market price of a company’s securities, securities class action litigation has often been instituted against companies that experienced such volatility. Litigation, if instituted against us, whether or not valid and regardless of outcome, could result in substantial costs, reputational harm and a diversion of our management’s attention and resources. In addition, we may be required to pay damage awards or settlements or become subject to injunctions or other equitable remedies, which could harm our business. The outcome of litigation is often difficult to predict, and any litigation may harm our business.
Although we have various insurance policies in place, the potential liabilities associated with litigation matters now or that could arise in the future, could be excluded from coverage or, if covered, could exceed the coverage provided by such policies. In addition, insurance carriers may seek to rescind or deny coverage with respect to any claim or lawsuit. If we do not have sufficient coverage under our policies, or if coverage is denied, we may be required to make material payments to settle litigation or satisfy any judgment. Any of these consequences could harm our business.
