ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described below together with all of the other information contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including our consolidated financial statements and related notes appearing in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K and in the section titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” before deciding to invest in our securities. If any of the events or developments described below were to occur, our business, prospects, operating results and financial condition could suffer materially, the trading price of our securities could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment. The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones we face. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently believe to be immaterial may also adversely affect our business.
You should not interpret our disclosure of any of the following risks to imply that such risks have not already materialized.
Risks Related to our Businesses and Industry
We have a history of losses that may continue in the future; our management has identified conditions that raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern; and we may not achieve profitability or generate positive cash flow.
Since our inception, we have incurred losses and negative cash flows from operations. We incurred a net loss from continuing operations of $40.6 million in the fiscal year ended December 28, 2025, and have an accumulated deficit of $456.7 million. We have accrued expenses and other current liabilities of $56.6 million, current debt of $24.3 million, and notes payable and derivative liabilities, net of current portion of $155.3 million, as of December 28, 2025, as well as other current and long-term liabilities (including the $9.5 million liability we recorded relating to a litigation matter with Siemens). We had cash and cash equivalents, excluding restricted cash, of $9.6 million as of December 28, 2025, which was held for working capital expenditures. These conditions raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. Our ability to continue as a going concern requires that we obtain sufficient funding, either through external financial transactions or cash flows generated from operations, to meet our obligations and finance our operations.
If we are not able to secure adequate additional funding, either through external financial transactions or cash flows generated from operations, when needed, we will need to reevaluate our operating plan and may be forced to make reductions in spending, extend payment terms with suppliers, liquidate assets where possible, or suspend or curtail planned programs or cease operations entirely. These actions could materially impact our business, results of operations and future prospects. There can be no assurance that in the event we require additional financing, such financing will be available on terms that are favorable, or at all.
We may not achieve profitability or positive cash flow for a number of reasons, including declines in revenue, as well as increases in costs of our products, U.S. and global macroeconomic trends, including with respect to the impact of U.S. trade tariffs and the imposition of additional tariffs applicable to our industry or our products. In addition, we may be unable to identify further cost savings opportunities below present levels that would not adversely impact the functioning of our existing operations needed to meet customer and regulatory requirements. If we fail to generate sufficient revenue to support our operations, we may not be able to achieve profitability or generate sufficient cash flow to meet our financial obligations and our liquidity position will be negatively impacted. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations - Liquidity and Capital Resources” and “Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements – (1) Organization – (c) Liquidity and Going ” for a further discussion of the other factors that may impact our liquidity position.
Failure to generate sufficient cash flows from operations, raise additional capital or reduce certain discretionary spending would have a material adverse effect on our ability to achieve our intended business objectives.
We may need to raise additional funding to finance our operations. This additional financing may not be available on acceptable terms or at all. Failure to obtain this necessary capital when needed may force us to curtail planned programs or cease operations entirely.
Our operations have consumed significant amounts of cash since inception. We expect to incur significant operating expenses as we continue to grow our business, including expenses incurred in connection with acquisitions and the further integration of acquired businesses, including the SunPower Businesses, Sunder, Ambia and Cobalt. We anticipate that our operating losses and negative operating cash flows will continue into the foreseeable future.
We had cash and cash equivalents, excluding restricted cash, of $9.6 million as of December 28, 2025. Our cash position raises substantial doubt regarding our ability to continue as a going concern for 12 months after the consolidated financial statements issuance. Further, we cannot guarantee that our business will generate sufficient cash flow from operations to fund our operations or liquidity needs. Over time, we expect that we will need to raise additional funds through the issuance of additional equity, equity-related or debt securities or through obtaining credit from financial institutions to fund, together with our principal sources of liquidity, any significant unplanned or accelerated expenses and new strategic investments.
We will require substantial additional capital to continue operations. Such additional capital might not be available when we need it and our actual cash requirements might be greater than anticipated. Additionally, the ability to raise additional financing depends on numerous factors that are outside our control, including general economic and market conditions, interest rates, the health of financial institutions, investors’ and lenders’ assessments of our prospects and the prospects of the solar industry in general. We cannot be certain that additional capital will be available on attractive terms, if at all, when needed, which could be dilutive to stockholders, and our financial condition, results of operations, business and prospects could be materially and adversely affected. If the financial markets become difficult or costly to access, including due to rising interest rates, inflation, fluctuations in exchange rates or other changes in geopolitical or economic conditions, including, without limitation, with respect to tariffs and trade policies, our ability to raise additional capital may be negatively impacted. Our failure to raise capital in the future would have a impact on our ability to expand our business.
Raising additional funds may cause dilution to existing stockholders and/or may restrict our operations or require us to relinquish proprietary rights.
To the extent that we raise additional capital by issuing equity, convertible debt or other convertible securities, our existing stockholders may experience substantial dilution, and the terms of these issued securities may include liquidation or other preferences that adversely affect the rights of our existing common stockholders. For example, we may issue debt or equity securities under our shelf registration statement, through our at-the-market offering facility, through our existing equity line of credit with White Lion, through our standby equity purchase facility with Yorkville or we may issue additional debt or equity securities in private transactions. Any agreements for future debt or preferred equity financings, if available, may involve covenants limiting or restricting our ability to take specific actions, such as raising additional capital, incurring additional debt, making capital expenditures or declaring dividends. Our ability to use our at-the-market offering facility or shelf registration statement are currently constrained by the size of our non-affiliate market capitalization, our trading volume and other factors, and there can be no assurance regarding the price at which we will be able to sell such shares, and any sales of our common stock under our at-the-market offering facility, and any offerings we might complete under our shelf registration statement, may be at prices that result in additional dilution to our existing stockholders. Further, as a result of our current to use Form S-3, we currently cannot use our at-the-market offering facility or conduct securities offerings using our shelf registration statement. If we incur additional debt, the debt holders, together with holders of our outstanding Convertible Senior Notes and the Yorkville Notes (each as defined below), would have rights senior to holders of common stock to make on our assets, and the terms of any future debt could restrict our operations, including our ability to pay dividends on our common stock.
We have identified material weaknesses in our internal controls over financial reporting. As a result of these material weaknesses, we identified material errors to our interim results for the thirteen weeks ended March 30, 2025, the thirteen and twenty-six weeks ended June 29, 2025, and the thirteen and thirty-nine weeks ended September 28, 2025 (the “Prior Periods”) and we have determined that the Prior Periods included in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 30, 2025, June 29, 2025, and September 28, 2025 should no longer be relied upon and should be restated. If we are unable to maintain effective internal controls over financial reporting and disclosure controls and procedures, the accuracy and timeliness of our financial and operating reporting may be adversely affected, and confidence in our operations and disclosures may be lost.
In connection with the preparation and audit of our financial statements for the year ended December 28, 2025, our management identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that a reasonable possibility exists that a material misstatement of annual or interim financial statements would not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. The material weaknesses are as follows:
We did not maintain controls to execute the criteria established in the COSO Framework for (i) the control environment, (ii) control activities, (iii) information and communication, and (iv) monitoring activities.
Each of the control deficiencies identified below constitute a material weakness, either individually or in the aggregate.
Control Environment . Our Company did not maintain an effective control environment and identified the following material weakness: our Company lacked appropriate policies and resources to develop and operate effective internal control over financial reporting and a lack of appropriate and consistent IT policies given the significant volume of financially relevant IT changes, which contributed to our Company’s inability to properly analyze, record and disclose accounting matters timely and accurately.
Control Activities. Our Company did not design and implement effective control activities and identified the following material weakness:
Ineffective design and operation of certain control activities due to significant personnel changes throughout fiscal 2025. Control deficiencies, which aggregate to a material weakness, occurred within substantially all areas of financial reporting.
Information and Communication. Our Company did not design and implement effective information and communication activities and identified the following material weaknesses :
Our Company did not design and maintain effective general information technology controls over logical access and program change management for our key information systems used to support the financial reporting process. Specifically, management did not maintain effective controls to ensure proper segregation of duties related to user administration and other privileged access functions and in implementing program changes in information systems. Due to the pervasive nature of these deficiencies, business process controls that are dependent upon information from these systems were also not effective.
Our Company did not have adequate processes and controls for communicating information among the accounting, finance, operations, and legal departments, necessary to support the proper functioning of internal controls.
Monitoring Activities. Our Company did not design and implement effective monitoring activities and identified the following material weaknesses: (i) failure to adequately monitor compliance with accounting policies, procedures and controls related to substantially all areas of financial reporting; and (ii) failure to properly select, develop and perform ongoing evaluations of the components of internal controls (including the monitoring of service providers’ control environments).
These material weaknesses described in the paragraphs above contributed to material accounting errors identified and corrected during the audit of our financial statements. Additionally, in connection with the preparation of our audited financial statements for the year ended December, 28, 2025, and as a result of these material weaknesses, we identified material errors to our interim results for the thirteen weeks ended March 30, 2025, the thirteen and twenty-six weeks ended June 29, 2025, and the thirteen and thirty-nine weeks ended September 28, 2025 (the “Prior Periods”) and we determined that the Prior Periods included in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 30, 2025, June 29, 2025, and September 28, 2025 (the “Prior Filings”) should no longer be relied upon and should be restated. As a result, the Company will restate the financial statements included in the Prior Filings. If we fail to adequately remediate these material weaknesses, there could be material misstatements that may not be prevented or detected.
We have taken certain steps, such as recruiting additional personnel, in addition to utilizing third-party consultants and specialists, to supplement our internal resources, to enhance our internal control environment and plan to take additional steps to remediate the material weaknesses. Although we plan to complete this remediation process as quickly as possible, we cannot estimate how long it will take. We cannot provide assurance that the measures we have taken to date, and may take in the future, will be sufficient to remediate the control deficiencies that led to our material weakness in internal control over financial reporting or that such measures will prevent or avoid potential future material weaknesses.
If we are not able to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting and Disclosure Controls and procedures, or if material weaknesses are discovered in future periods, a risk that is significantly increased in light of the complexity of our business, we may be unable to accurately and timely report our financial position, results of operations, cash flows or key operating metrics, which could result in late filings of the annual and quarterly reports under the Exchange Act (and which would limit our ability to use Form S-3 and make impact the availability of Rule 144), restatements of financial statements or other corrective disclosures, an inability to access commercial lending markets, defaults under convertible notes and outstanding loans and other agreements, or other material adverse effects on our business, reputation, results of operations, financial condition or liquidity.
We face risks related to the restatement of our previously issued quarterly financial statements.
As a result of our determination that the Prior Filings should no longer be relied upon and should be restated, we face a number of additional risks and uncertainties, which may affect investor confidence in the accuracy of our financial disclosures and may raise reputation issues for our business. For example, we may face potential litigation or other disputes, which may include claims relating to federal and state securities laws, contractual claims and other claims arising from the restatement of the Prior Filings and the material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting and the preparation of our financial statements. As we undertake such restatements of the Prior Filings, we may discover additional errors in the Prior Filings. We cannot ensure that all of the risks and challenges described above will be eliminated or that general reputational harm will not . If one or more of the foregoing risks or , our business, operations and financial condition are likely to be materially and affected.
Our failure to prepare and timely file our periodic reports with the SEC limits our access to the public markets to raise debt or equity capital.
We did not file our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 29, 2024 within the timeframe required by the SEC, our Quarterly Report on Form 10Q for the quarter ended September 28, 2025 or the amendment required to our Current Report originally filed on September 26, 2025 relating to the Sunder acquisition. Accordingly, we are not currently eligible to use a registration statement on Form S-3 that would allow us to continuously incorporate by reference our SEC reports into the registration statement, to use “shelf” registration statements to conduct offerings, or to use our at-the-market offering facility until approximately one year from the date we have regained and maintain status as a current filer. Our inability to use Form S-3 may significantly impair our ability to raise necessary capital to fund our operations and execute our strategy. If we seek to access the capital markets through a registered offering during the period of time that we are unable to use Form S-3, we may be required to publicly disclose the proposed offering and the material terms thereof before the offering commences, we may experience delays in the offering process due to SEC review of a Form S-1 registration statement and we may incur increased offering and transaction costs and other considerations. If we are to raise capital through a registered offering, we would be required to conduct our equity financing transactions on a private placement basis, which may be subject to pricing, size and other imposed under the Nasdaq rules, or seek other sources of capital. The foregoing on our financing approaches could prevent us from pursuing transactions or implementing business strategies that would be to our business.
Changes in international trade policies, tariffs, or trade disputes could significantly and adversely affect our business, revenues, margins, results of operations, and cash flows.
On February 7, 2018, safeguard tariffs on imported solar cells and modules (“ CSPV ”) went into effect pursuant to Proclamation 9693, which approved recommendations to provide relief to U.S. manufacturers and impose safeguard tariffs on imported solar cells and modules, based on the investigations, findings, and recommendations of the U.S. International Trade Commission (the “ International Trade Commission ”). On February 4, 2022, then President Biden issued Proclamation 10339 extending the existing safeguard measures on U.S. imports of CSPV products by an additional four years until February 6, 2026. Prior to the termination of the safeguard tariffs, modules were subject to a tariff rate of approximately 15%. Cells were subjected to a tariff-rate quota, under which the first 5 GW of cell imports each year was exempt from tariffs, and cells imported after the 5 GW quota was reached were subject to the same approximately 15% tariff as modules in the first year, with the same 0.25% decline in each of the three subsequent years. The tariff-free cell quota applied globally, without any allocation by country or region.
While solar cells and modules based on interdigitated back contact technology were excluded from these safeguard tariffs, our solar products based on other technologies continue were subject to the safeguard tariffs until February 6, 2026.
Solar cells and panels from various countries continue to be subject to U.S. antidumping, and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) actions in the United States. The U.S. Department of Commerce (the “ Department of Commerce ”) maintains antidumping and countervailing duty orders on solar cells as well as panels produced in China. In 2022, the Department of Commerce found that solar product producers in Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam were circumventing the China AD/CVD actions. As a result, imports of solar products from these countries may be treated as if they are of Chinese origin and therefore subject to the aforementioned antidumping and countervailing duty orders. On June 6, 2022, then President Biden issued an Executive Order allowing U.S. solar installers to import solar modules and cells from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam free from certain duties for 24 months, along with other incentives designed to accelerate U.S. domestic production of clean energy technologies. This moratorium ended in June 2024 and China-wide AD/CVD action now applies to imports from those countries that contain Chinese-origin inputs. Additionally, on December 29, 2023, Auxin and Concept Clean Energy, Inc. filed suit in the U.S. Court of International Trade challenging the legal basis for the moratorium and implementing regulations. In August 2025 the Court of International Trade found the moratorium on the collection of AD/CVD duties to be and ordered retroactive collection of duties that should have been paid during that period. The retroactive collection of duties was stayed pending appeal. On February 9, 2026, the U.S. government withdrew its appeal of that decision, but other parties continue to pursue the appeal. In addition, on May 15, 2024 the Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission initiated antidumping and countervailing duty of CSPV products from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. Both the Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission made affirmative findings for all countries. On June 24, 2025, the Department of Commerce imposed antidumping and countervailing duty orders on CSPV products from all four countries. Duty rates range zero to over 100% antidumping duties and approximately 15% to over 3000% countervailing duties depending on the company and country. Antidumping and countervailing duties are assessed retroactively and thus final assessment of duties on imports made after June 2025 will be determined in future proceedings by the Department of Commerce.
The high AD/CVD duty rates, together with uncertainty surrounding the implications of existing tariffs affecting the U.S. solar market and potential trade tensions between the U.S. and other countries has caused and is likely to cause further market volatility, price fluctuations, supply shortages, and project delays, any of which could harm our business, and the pursuit of mitigating actions may divert substantial resources from other projects.
Further, the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act may inhibit importation of certain solar modules or components. In addition, the imposition of tariffs is likely to result in a wide range of impacts to the U.S. solar industry and the global manufacturing market, as well as our business in particular. Such tariffs could materially increase the price of our solar products and result in significant additional costs to the Company, its resellers, and the resellers’ customers, which could cause a significant reduction in demand for our solar power products and greatly reduce our competitive advantage.
Our business depends in part on the availability of rebates, tax credits and other financial incentives. The OBBA has materially reduced the availability of these rebates, credits or incentives, which may adversely impact our business.
U.S. federal, state and local government bodies provide incentives to end users, distributors, system integrators and manufacturers of solar energy systems to promote solar electricity in the form of rebates, tax credits and other financial incentives such as system performance payments, payments for renewable energy credits associated with renewable energy generation and the exclusion of solar energy systems from property tax assessments. These incentives enable us to lower the price charged to customers for energy and for solar energy systems. However, these incentives may expire on a particular date, end when the allocated funding is exhausted or be reduced or terminated as solar energy adoption rates increase. These reductions or terminations often occur without warning.
The IRA extended and modified prior law applicable to U.S. federal tax credits that are available with respect to solar energy systems. Under the IRA, the following tax credits were generally available: (i) a production tax credit under Code Section 45 (for facilities that began construction before January 1, 2025) and Code Section 45Y (for facilities that were place in service after December 31, 2024) (the “PTC”)with respect to electricity produced from certain qualifying facilities, (ii) an investment tax credit under Code Section 48 (for facilities that begin construction before January 1, 2025) and Code Section 48E (for facilities that are placed in service after December 31, 2024) (the “ITC”) in connection with the installation of certain solar facilities and energy storage technology, and (iii) a residential clean energy credit (the “Section 25D Credit”) in connection with the installation of qualifying property that uses solar energy to generate electricity for residential use.
On July 4, 2025, the “OBBBA was enacted and significantly modified the IRA’s clean energy incentive framework by accelerating the termination of certain credits and adding new eligibility restrictions and compliance burdens. The OBBBA effectively repealed, on an accelerated timeline, key federal tax incentives for solar projects by curtailing eligibility for the clean electricity PTC and ITC for applicable solar facilities placed in service after December 31, 2027 (subject to grandfathering for projects that begin construction by July 4, 2026) and by terminating the Section 25D Credit after 2025.
With respect to the PTC, solar energy projects that began construction before January 1, 2025 generally remain eligible for the PTC under Section 45 (as amended by the IRA) and generally are not subject to the accelerated phaseouts or other limitations introduced by the OBBBA. The PTC available to a taxpayer in 2024 and prior taxable years under Code Section 45 generally is equal to a certain rate multiplied by the kilowatt hours of electricity produced by the taxpayer from solar energy at a facility owned by it and sold to an unrelated party during that taxable year. The base rates for the PTC under Code Section 45 is 0.3 cents (adjusted for inflation). This rate is increased to 1.5 cents (adjusted for inflation) for projects that (i) have a maximum net output of less than one megawatt (measured in alternating current), (ii) begin construction before January 29, 2023, and (iii) meet certain prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements. It also may be increased for projects that include a certain percentage of components produced in the U.S. and projects that are located in certain energy communities, in each case subject to applicable requirements and IRS guidance.
The PTC under Code Section 45Y, the successor to Code Section 45 that is applicable for facilities placed in service after December 31, 2024, generally is similar to the PTC under Code Section 45 but includes certain different terms and qualification requirements. The PTC amount under Code Section 45Y generally is equal to the PTC outlined above for Code Section 45, including the availability of the same increased credit rates under the same circumstances. The PTC under Code Section 45Y applies to kilowatt hours of electricity produced at a “qualified facility,” which generally is a facility, such as a solar energy facility, that generates electricity and has a greenhouse gas emission rate that is not greater than zero.
Under the OBBBA, solar facilities that begin construction after July 4, 2026 (one year after enactment of the OBBBA) are ineligible for the Code Section 45Y credit if placed in service after December 31, 2027. Facilities that begin construction prior to July 4, 2026 are not subject to this accelerated placed-in-service deadline. In addition, IRS guidance interpreting these OBBBA termination provisions imposes more stringent “beginning of construction” requirements, increasing the risk that projects may fail to qualify if development timelines slip or if the taxpayer cannot satisfy the applicable standards. Moreover, the OBBBA denies the Code Section 45Y for certain leased residential solar water heating property (while generally excluding leased solar electric generating property from that denial). A facility is not eligible for the PTC under Code Section 45Y if a tax credit already is allowed with respect to the facility under Code Section 45, 48 or 48E (or certain other tax credit provisions) for the taxable year or any prior taxable year.
With respect to the ITC, solar energy projects that began construction before January 1, 2025 generally remain eligible for the ITC under Section 48 and are not subject to the accelerated phaseouts or other limitations introduced by the OBBBA. The ITC available under Code Section 48E is the successor provision of Code Section 48 and is applicable for investments in facilities placed in service after December 31, 2024. The ITC under Code Section 48E generally is similar to the ITC outlined above under Code Section 48 in structure, including generally providing for the same increased credit rates under the same circumstances. The ITC under Code Section 48E applies to investments in a “qualified facility” and “energy storage technology”. A “qualified facility” for these purposes generally is the same as described above for the PTC under Code Section 45Y and “energy storage technology” is defined by reference to such term in Code Section 48.
Similar to Section 45Y, solar facilities that begin construction after July 4, 2026 (one year after enactment) are ineligible for the Section 48E credit if placed in service after December 31, 2027. This placed-in-service deadline would not apply to energy storage technology. Moreover, the OBBBA denies the Code Section 48E for certain leased residential solar water heating property (while generally excluding leased solar electric generating property from that denial). The ITC under Code Section 48E is subject to recapture if the Internal Revenue Service determines that the greenhouse gas emissions rate for the facility exceeds a certain threshold. A facility is not eligible for the ITC under Code Section 48E if a tax credit already is allowed with respect to the facility under Code Section 45, 45Y or 48 (or certain other tax credit provisions) for the taxable year or any prior taxable year.
Under the IRA, the Section 25D Credit available to a taxpayer is equal to the “applicable percentage” of expenditures for property that uses solar energy to generate electricity for use in a dwelling unit located in the U.S. and used as a residence by the taxpayer. The applicable percentage is 26% for such systems that are placed in service before January 1, 2022 and 30% for such systems that are placed in service after December 31, 2021. As modified by the OBBBA, the Section 25D Credit terminated with respect to expenditures made after December 31, 2025, and an expenditure generally is treated as made when the original installation of the property is completed (or, in certain cases, when construction or reconstruction is completed and the taxpayer’s original use of the structure begins). The unavailability of the Section 25D Credit for systems when installation is completed after December 31, 2025 likely will impact the prices of our solar energy systems and overall value proposition our solar systems provide to customers.
The OBBBA also introduces additional restrictions relating to certain FEOC and supply chain sourcing, which may affect project eligibility and increase compliance costs. On February 12, 2026, the U.S. Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service released IRS Notice 2026-15, which provides additional guidance regarding the prohibited foreign entity (“PFE”) rules under the OBBBA. In particular, this notice establishes interim safe harbors for determining whether a project receives material assistance from a PFE, including guidance on calculation of the Material Assistance Cost Ratio. While this guidance reduces certain uncertainties, it is interim in nature, and further rulemaking, including a notice of proposed rulemaking and final regulations expected later in 2026, may modify or replace this framework. Such future guidance could impose more restrictive requirements or additional compliance burdens, which may increase our costs and adversely affect our ability, or our customers’ ability, to qualify for applicable tax credits. If we or our customers are unable to satisfy the PFE or related eligibility requirements, it could materially and adversely affect our revenues, results of operations, cash flows and the overall demand for our products.
The OBBBA has materially reduced the governmental incentives available to participants in the solar industry, which is likely to adversely affect the results of our operations and our ability to compete in this industry by increasing the cost of capital, causing us to increase the prices of our energy and solar energy systems and reduce the size of our addressable market. Even where incentives remain available, evolving statutory requirements and administrative guidance may create uncertainty, increase compliance costs, and delay or reduce tax credit financing, which could disrupt project timelines and harm our liquidity.
Moreover, the U.S. federal tax credits discussed above have complex legal and operational requirements, including with respect to “beginning of construction” and placed-in-service requirements. There also may be uncertainty as to how such requirements promulgated under the IRA or the OBBBA are interpreted. If Internal Revenue Service guidance regarding implementation of the IRA or the OBBBA is viewed by investors as unclear, tax credit financing may be delayed or downsized, harming our ability to secure financing for customers. Our failure to either (i) interpret the new requirements under the IRA and the OBBBA regarding among other things, timing of construction, prevailing wage, apprenticeship, domestic content, siting in an “energy community,” accurately or (ii) adequately update our supply-chain, manufacturing, installation, and record-keeping processes to meet such requirements, may result a partial or full reduction in the related U.S. federal tax benefit, and our customers, financiers and shareholders may require us to indemnify them for certain of such reductions.
We are an “emerging growth company” and a “smaller reporting company” and we cannot be certain if the reduced reporting requirements applicable to these companies will make our common stock less attractive to investors.
We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (JOBS Act). For as long as we continue to be an emerging growth company, we intend to take advantage of exemptions from various reporting requirements that apply to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies, including:
not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, as amended (the “ Sarbanes-Oxley Act ”);
not being required to comply with any requirement that may be adopted by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (the “ PCAOB ”) regarding mandatory audit firm rotation or a supplement to the auditor’s report providing additional information about the audit and the financial statements;
reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements; and
exemptions from the requirements of holding nonbinding advisory stockholder votes on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved.
Under the JOBS Act, emerging growth companies can also delay adopting new or revised accounting standards until such time as those standards apply to private companies. We have elected to avail ourselves of this exemption from new or revised accounting standards and, therefore, will not be subject to the same new or revised accounting standards as other public companies that are not emerging growth companies. As a result, our financial statements may be different from companies that comply with the new or revised accounting pronouncements as of public company effective dates.
We will remain an emerging growth company until the earliest to occur of: (1) the last day of the fiscal year in which we have at least $1.235 billion in total annual gross revenues; (2) the date we qualify as a “large accelerated filer,” with at least $700.0 million of equity securities held by non-affiliates; (3) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities during the prior three-year period; and (4) the last day of the fiscal year ending after the fifth anniversary of our IPO.
Even after we no longer qualify as an emerging growth company, we may still qualify as a “smaller reporting company,” as defined in the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “ Exchange Act ”), which generally would allow us to continue to take advantage of many of the same exemptions from disclosure requirements, including providing only two years of audited financial statements, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation our periodic reports and proxy statements, unless we are also an accelerated filer, in which case different requirements will apply.
We cannot predict if investors will find our securities less attractive because we may rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our common stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the trading price of our securities may be more volatile.
Macroeconomic conditions in our domestic and international markets, as well as inflation concerns, instability of financial institutions, rising interest rates, and recessionary concerns may adversely affect our industry, business and financial results.
Our business depends on the overall demand for our solar energy products and on the economic health and willingness of our customers and potential customers to purchase our products and services. As a result of macroeconomic or market uncertainty, including inflation concerns, rising interest rates, recessionary concerns, and geopolitical conflicts, customers may decide to delay purchasing our products and services or not purchase at all. In addition, a number of the risks associated with our business, which are disclosed in these risk factors, may increase in likelihood, magnitude or duration, and we may face new risks that we have not yet identified.
In the past, unfavorable macroeconomic and market conditions have resulted in sustained periods of decreased demand. Macroeconomic and market conditions could be adversely affected by a variety of political, economic or other factors in the U.S. and international markets, which could, in turn, adversely affect spending levels of installers and end users and could create volatility or deteriorating conditions in the markets in which we operate. Macroeconomic uncertainty or weakness could result in:
reduced demand for our products as a result of constraints on spending for solar energy systems by our customers and/or a reduction in government subsidies for renewable energy investments;
increased price competition for our products that may adversely affect revenue, gross margin and profitability;
the introduction of any disadvantageous trade regulations and import duties and tariffs;
decreased ability to forecast operating results and make decisions about budgeting, planning and future investments;
decrease in the popularity of solar energy as a green energy solution;
business and financial difficulties faced by our suppliers or other partners, including impacts to material costs, sales, liquidity levels, ability to continue investing in their businesses, ability to import or export goods, ability to meet development commitments and manufacturing capability; and
increased overhead and production costs as a percentage of revenue.
Reductions in customer spending in response to unfavorable or uncertain macroeconomic and market conditions, globally or in a particular region where we operate, would adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Existing regulations and policies, including trade policies and tariffs, and changes to these regulations and policies, including changes to trade policies and tariffs, may present technical, regulatory, and economic barriers to the purchase and use of solar power products, which may significantly reduce demand for our products and services.
The market for electric generation products is heavily influenced by federal, state and local government laws, geopolitical forces (such as trade policies and tariffs), regulations and policies concerning the electric utility industry in the U.S. and abroad, as well as policies promulgated by electric utilities. These regulations and policies often relate to electricity pricing and technical interconnection of customer-owned electricity generation, and trade and policy changes that make solar power less competitive with other power sources could deter investment in the research and development of alternative energy sources as well as customer purchases of solar power technology, which could in turn result in a significant reduction in the demand for our solar power products. The market for electric generation equipment is also influenced by geopolitics, trade and local content laws, policies and tariffs, regulations and policies that can discourage growth and competition in the solar industry and create economic barriers to the purchase of solar power products, thus reducing demand for our solar products. In addition, on-grid applications depend on access to the grid, which is also regulated by government entities. We anticipate that our solar power products and our installation will continue to be subject to oversight and regulation in accordance with federal, state, local and foreign regulations relating to construction, safety, environmental protection, utility interconnection and metering, trade, and related matters. It is to track the requirements of individual states or local jurisdictions and design equipment to comply with the varying standards. In addition, the U.S. and European Union, among others, have imposed tariffs or are in the process of evaluating the imposition of tariffs on solar panels, solar cells, polysilicon, and potentially other components. These and any other tariffs or similar taxes or duties may increase the price of our solar products and affect our cost reduction roadmap, which could our results of operations and financial condition. We cannot predict what actions may be taken by the United States or other countries with respect to trade policies and tariffs or with respect to other policies and incentives that impact the solar industry, or that promote other forms of energy production over the solar industry. Any new regulations or policies pertaining our solar power products may result in significant additional expenses for our customers, which could cause a significant reduction in demand for our solar power products.
We rely on net metering and related policies to offer competitive pricing to customers in many of our current markets and changes to net metering policies may significantly reduce demand for electricity from residential solar energy systems.
Net metering is one of several key policies that have enabled the growth of distributed generation solar energy systems in the U.S., providing significant value to customers for electricity generated by their residential solar energy systems but not directly consumed on-site. Net metering allows a homeowner to pay his or her local electric utility for power usage net of production from the solar energy system or other distributed generation source. Homeowners receive a credit for the energy an interconnected solar energy system generates in excess of that needed by the home to offset energy purchases from the centralized utility made at times when the solar energy system is not generating sufficient energy to meet the customer’s demand. In many markets, this credit is equal to the residential retail rate for electricity and in other markets, such as Hawaii and Nevada, the rate is less than the retail rate and may be set, for example, as a percentage of the retail rate or based upon a valuation of the excess electricity. In some states and utility territories, customers are also reimbursed by the centralized electric utility for net excess generation on a periodic basis.
Net metering programs have been subject to legislative and regulatory scrutiny in some states and territories including, but not limited to, California, New Jersey, Arizona, Nevada, Connecticut, Florida, Maine, Kentucky, Puerto Rico and Guam. These jurisdictions, by statute, regulation, administrative order or a combination thereof, have recently adopted or are considering new restrictions and additional changes to net metering programs either on a state-wide basis or within specific utility territories. Many of these measures were introduced and supported by centralized electric utilities. These measures vary by jurisdiction and may include a reduction in the rates or value of the credits customers are paid or receive for the power they deliver back to the electrical grid, caps or limits on the aggregate installed capacity of generation in a state or utility territory eligible for net metering, expiration dates for and phasing out of net metering programs, replacement of net metering programs with alternative programs that may provide less compensation and limits on the capacity size of individual distributed generation systems that can qualify for net metering. Net metering and related policies concerning distributed generation also received attention from federal legislators and regulators.
In California, the California Public Utilities Commission (“ CPUC ”) issued an order in 2016 retaining retail-based net metering credits for residential customers of California’s major utilities as part of Net Energy Metering 2.0 (“ NEM 2.0 ”). Under NEM 2.0, new distributed generation customers receive the retail rate for electricity exported to the grid, less certain non-by passable fees. Customers under NEM 2.0 also are subject to interconnection charges and time-of-use rates. Existing customers who receive service under the prior net metering program, as well as new customers under the NEM 2.0 program, currently are permitted to remain covered by them on a legacy basis for a period of 20 years. On September 3, 2020, the CPUC opened a new proceeding to review its current net metering policies and to develop Net Energy Metering 3.0 (“ NEM 3.0 ”), also referred to by the CPUC as the NEM 2.0 successor tariff. NEM 3.0 was finalized on December 15, 2022 and includes several changes from previous net metering plans. The changes instituted by NEM 3.0 impacted the amount that homeowners with solar power will be able to recuperate when selling excess energy back to the utility grid. With NEM 3.0, the value of the credits for net exports are tied to the state’s Distributed Energy Resources Avoided Cost Calculator Documentation (“ ACC ”). Another significant change with NEM 3.0 relates to the netting period: the time period over which the utilities measure the clean energy being imported or exported. In general, longer netting periods have typically been advantageous for solar power customers because production can offset any consumption. NEM 3.0 will instead measure energy using instantaneous netting, which means interval netting approximately every 15 minutes. This will lead to more NEM customers’ electricity registering as exports, now valued at the new, lower ACC value. Overall, the institution on NEM 3.0 has resulted in a smaller market for residential solar systems and it is not certain that market conditions will or that NEM 3.0 will be amended or replaced with a more solar- rate structure. Other states may adopt policies similar to NEM 3.0 that cause to other residential solar markets.
Any shortage, delay or component price change from these suppliers or delays and price increases associated with the product transport logistics could result in sales and installation delays, cancellations and loss of market share.
We purchase solar panels, inverters and other system components from a number of suppliers for certain components; however, we may be susceptible to quality issues, shortages and price changes. If we fail to develop, maintain and expand relationships with existing or new suppliers, we may be unable to adequately meet anticipated demand for our solar energy systems or may only be able to offer our systems at higher costs or after delays. If one or more of the suppliers that we rely upon to meet anticipated demand ceases or reduces production, we may be unable to satisfy this demand due to an inability to quickly identify alternate suppliers or to qualify alternative products on commercially reasonable terms.
In particular, there are a limited number of inverter and battery suppliers. Once we design a system for use with a particular inverter or battery, if that type of inverter or battery is not readily available at an anticipated price, we may incur additional delay and expense to redesign the system and source alternative inventory.
In addition, production of solar panels involves the use of numerous raw materials and components. Several of these have experienced periods of limited availability, particularly polysilicon, as well as indium, cadmium telluride, aluminum and copper. The manufacturing infrastructure for some of these raw materials and components has a long lead time, requires significant capital investment and relies on the continued availability of key commodity materials, potentially resulting in an inability to meet demand for these components. The prices for these raw materials and components fluctuate depending on global market conditions and demand and we may experience rapid increases in costs or sustained periods of limited supplies.
Despite efforts to obtain components from multiple sources whenever possible, many suppliers may be single-source suppliers of certain components. If we cannot maintain long-term supply agreements or identify and qualify multiple sources for components, access to supplies at satisfactory prices, volumes and quality levels may be harmed. We may also experience delivery delays of components from suppliers in various global locations. In addition, while there are alternative suppliers and service providers that we could enter into agreements with to replace our suppliers on commercially reasonable terms, we may be unable to establish alternate supply relationships or obtain or engineer replacement components in the short term, or at all, at favorable prices or costs. Qualifying alternate suppliers or developing our own replacements for certain components may be time-consuming and costly and may force us to make modifications to our product designs.
Our need to purchase supplies globally and our continued international expansion further subjects us to risks relating to currency fluctuations. Any decline in the exchange rate of the U.S. dollar compared to the functional currency of component suppliers could increase component prices. In addition, the state of the financial markets could limit suppliers’ ability to raise capital if they are required to expand their production to meet our needs or satisfy our operating capital requirements. Changes in economic and business conditions, wars, governmental changes and other factors beyond our control or which we do not presently anticipate, could also affect suppliers’ solvency and ability to deliver components on a timely basis. Any of these shortages, delays or price changes could limit our growth, cause cancellations or adversely affect profitability and the ability to compete in the markets in which we operate effectively.
Our business substantially focuses on solar service agreements and transactions with residential customers.
Our business substantially focuses on solar service agreements and transactions with residential customers. Our energy system sales to homeowners utilize power purchase agreements (“ PPAs ”), leases, loans and other products and services. We currently offer PPAs and leases through Goodleap LLC, LightReach, EverBright, LLC, Dividend Solar Loan Company and other financial institutions. If we were unable to arrange new or alternative financing methods for PPAs and leases on favorable terms, our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects could be materially and adversely affected.
If we fail to manage operations and growth effectively, we may be unable to execute our business plan, maintain high levels of customer service or adequately address competitive challenges.
We have experienced significant growth in recent periods (including through the integration of acquired companies) as measured by our number of customers, and we intend to continue efforts to expand our business within existing and new markets. This growth (including these integration activities) has placed, and any future growth may place, a strain on management, operational and financial infrastructure. Our growth requires our management to devote a significant amount of time and effort to maintain and expand relationships with customers, dealers and other third parties, attract new customers and dealers, arrange financing for growth and manage expansion into additional markets.
In addition, our current and planned operations, personnel, information technology and other systems and procedures might need to be revised to support future growth and may require us to make additional unanticipated investments in its infrastructure. Our success and ability to further scale our business will depend, in part, on our ability to manage these changes in a cost-effective and efficient manner.
If we cannot manage operations and growth, we may be unable to meet expectations regarding growth, opportunity and financial targets, take advantage of market opportunities, execute our business strategies or respond to competitive pressures. This could also result in declines in quality or customer satisfaction, increased costs, difficulties in introducing new offerings or other operational difficulties. Any failure to effectively manage our operations and growth could adversely impact our reputation, business, financial condition, cash flows and results of operations.
We have incurred losses and may be unable to achieve or sustain profitability in the future.
We have incurred net losses in the past, including a net loss from continuing operations of $44.3 million in the fiscal year ended December 28, 2025, and we have an accumulated deficit of $456.7 million as of December 28, 2025. Additionally, as of December 28, 2025, we had current indebtedness of $24.3 million and long-term indebtedness, including derivative liabilities, net of current of $155.3 million. We will continue to incur net losses as spending increases to finance the expansion of operations, installation, engineering, administrative, sales and marketing staffs, spending increases on brand awareness and other sales and marketing initiatives and implement internal systems and infrastructure to support the Company’s growth. We do not know whether revenue will grow rapidly enough to absorb these costs, and our limited operating history makes it difficult to assess the extent of these expenses or their impact on results of operations. Our ability to achieve profitability depends on a number of factors, including but not limited to:
Growing the customer base;
Maintaining or further lowering the cost of capital;
Reducing the cost of components for our solar service offerings;
Growing and maintaining our sales partner network;
Growing our direct-to-consumer and New Homes business to scale; and
Reducing operating costs by lowering customer acquisition costs and optimizing our design and installation processes and supply chain logistics.
Even if we do achieve profitability, we may be unable to sustain or increase profitability in the future.
A material drop in the retail price of utility-generated electricity or electricity from other sources could adversely impact our ability to attract customers, which would harm our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
We believe a homeowner’s decision to buy solar energy from us is primarily driven by a desire to lower electricity costs. Decreases in the retail prices of electricity from utilities or other energy sources would harm our ability to offer competitive pricing and could harm its business. The price of electricity from utilities could decrease as a result of:
the construction of a significant number of new power generation plants, including nuclear, coal, natural gas or renewable energy technologies;
the construction of additional electric transmission and distribution lines;
a reduction in the price of natural gas or other natural resources as a result of new drilling techniques or other technological developments, a relaxation of associated regulatory standards, or broader economic or policy developments;
energy conservation technologies and public initiatives to reduce electricity consumption;
subsidies impacting electricity prices, including in connection with electricity generation and transmission; and
development of new energy technologies that provide less expensive energy.
A reduction in utility electricity prices would make the purchase of our solar service offerings less attractive. If the retail price of energy available from utilities were to decrease due to any of these or other reasons, we would be at a competitive disadvantage. As a result, we may be unable to attract new homeowners and growth would be limited.
We face competition from both traditional energy companies and renewable energy companies.
The solar energy and renewable energy industries are both highly competitive and continually evolving as participants strive to distinguish themselves within their markets and compete with large utilities. Our primary competitors are the traditional utilities that supply energy to potential customers. We compete with these utilities primarily based on price, predictability of price and the ease by which customers can switch to electricity generated by our solar energy systems. If we cannot offer compelling value to its customers based on these factors, then our business will not grow. Utilities generally have substantially greater financial, technical, operational and other resources than us. As a result of their greater size, these competitors may be able to devote more resources to the research, development, promotion and sale of their products or respond more quickly to evolving industry standards and changes in market conditions than we can. Utilities could also offer other value added products and services that could help them compete with us even if the cost of electricity they offer is higher than ours. In addition, utilities’ diversified generation portfolios may allow utilities to sell electricity more cheaply than electricity generated by our solar energy systems.
Our growth strategy depends on the widespread adoption of solar power technology.
The distributed residential solar energy market is at a relatively early stage of development compared to fossil fuel-based electricity generation. If additional demand for distributed residential solar energy systems fails to develop sufficiently or takes longer to develop than we anticipate, the Company may be unable to originate additional solar service agreements and related solar energy systems and energy storage systems to grow the business. In addition, demand for solar energy systems and energy storage systems in our targeted markets may not develop to the extent it anticipates. As a result, we may need to successfully broaden our customer base through origination of solar service agreements and related solar energy systems and energy storage systems within its current markets or in new markets we may enter.
Many factors may affect the demand for solar energy systems, including, but not limited to, the following:
availability, substance and magnitude of solar support programs including government targets, subsidies, incentives, renewable portfolio standards and residential net metering rules;
the relative pricing of other conventional and non-renewable energy sources, such as natural gas, coal, oil and other fossil fuels, wind, utility-scale solar, nuclear, geothermal and biomass;
performance, reliability and availability of energy generated by solar energy systems compared to conventional and other non-solar renewable energy sources;
availability and performance of energy storage technology, the ability to implement such technology for use in conjunction with solar energy systems and the cost competitiveness such technology provides to customers as compared to costs for those customers reliant on the conventional electrical grid; and
general economic conditions and the level of interest rates.
The residential solar energy industry is constantly evolving, which makes it difficult to evaluate our prospects. We cannot be certain if historical growth rates reflect future opportunities or its anticipated growth will be realized. The failure of distributed residential solar energy to achieve, or its being significantly delayed in achieving, widespread adoption could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our business could be adversely affected by seasonal trends, poor weather, labor shortages, and construction cycles.
Our business is subject to significant industry-specific seasonal fluctuations. In the U.S., many customers make purchasing decisions towards the end of the year in order to take advantage of tax credits and residential solar sales tend to decline during the winter months. In addition, sales in the new home development market are often tied to construction market demands, which tend to follow national trends in construction, including declining sales during cold weather months.
Natural disasters, terrorist activities, political unrest, economic volatility, and other outbreaks could disrupt our delivery and operations, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Global pandemics or fear of spread of contagious diseases, such as Ebola virus disease (EVD), coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), H1N1 flu, H7N9 flu, avian flu and monkeypox, as well as hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, or other natural disasters could disrupt our business operations, reduce or restrict operations and services, incur significant costs to protect its employees and facilities, or result in regional or global economic distress, which may materially and adversely affect business, financial condition, and results of operations. Actual or threatened war, terrorist activities, political unrest, civil strife, future disruptions in access to bank deposits or lending commitments due to bank failures and other geopolitical uncertainty could have a similar adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations. On February 24, 2022, the Russian Federation launched an invasion of Ukraine that has had an immediate impact on the global economy resulting in higher energy prices and higher prices for certain raw materials and goods and services which in turn is contributing to higher inflation in the U.S. and other countries across the globe with significant to financial markets. Any one or more of these events may our operation and delivery efforts and affect sales results, or even for a period of time, which could materially and affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations. We cannot predict the full effects the supply chain constraints will have on our business, cash flows, liquidity, financial condition and results of operations at this time due to numerous uncertainties.
We are exposed to the credit risk of customers and our finance partners, and payment delinquencies on accounts receivables.
Defaults by customers and the financial institutions that fund some of our customers’ solar systems have not been material to date, but we expect that the risk of customer defaults or financial partner defaults may increase as we grow our business. For example, Sunnova Energy International, Inc. (“Sunnova”), a major provider of financing for solar systems, announced that substantial doubt exists regarding its ability to continue as a going concern. While the Company does not use Sunnova for any of its customer financing, if any of our financing partners experience liquidity concerns or stop funding projects, we may incur significant losses or project delays. If any of our customers are unable to make milestone payments on systems purchased in cash, our revenue and costs could be adversely affected. If economic conditions worsen, certain of our customers or finance partners may face liquidity and may be to their payment obligations to us on a timely basis or at all, which could have a material effect on our financial condition and results of operations.
We may not realize the anticipated benefits of past or future acquisitions, including the transactions under the asset purchase agreement with the SunPower Debtors, the Sunder Acquisition, the Ambia Acquisition, and the Cobalt Acquisition and integration of these acquisitions may disrupt our business.
In November 2022, we acquired The Solaria Corporation (“Solaria”), after which Complete Solar was renamed “Complete Solaria, Inc.” In October 2023, we subsequently sold solar panel assets of Solaria, including intellectual property and customer contracts, to Maxeon Solar Technologies, Ltd., which resulted in an impairment loss of $147.5 million and loss on disposal of $1.8 million. On September 30, 2024, we completed the acquisition of the Acquired SunPower Assets under the APA with the SunPower Debtors, which resulted in our acquisition of the SunPower Businesses and a significant expansion of our business operations and headcount. On September 21, 2025, we entered into an agreement to acquire Sunder and completed the Sunder Acquisition effective September 24, 2025. On November 21, 2025, we entered into an agreement to acquire Ambia and completed the Ambia Acquisition on November 21, 2025. We completed the acquisition of Cobalt on February 2, 2026. In the future, we may acquire additional companies, project pipelines, products, or technologies, or enter into joint ventures or other strategic initiatives. Our ability as an organization to integrate acquisitions is unproven. We may not realize the anticipated benefits of our acquisitions or any other future acquisition or the acquisition may be viewed negatively by customers, financial markets or investors.
Any acquisition has numerous risks, including, but not limited to, the following:
difficulty in assimilating the operations and personnel of the acquired company;
difficulty in effectively integrating the acquired technologies or products with current products and technologies;
difficulty in maintaining controls, procedures and policies during the transition and integration;
disruption of ongoing business and distraction of management and employees from other opportunities and challenges due to integration issues;
difficulty integrating the acquired company’s accounting, management information and other administrative systems;
inability to retain key technical and managerial personnel of the acquired business;
inability to retain key customers, vendors, and other business partners of the acquired business;
inability to achieve the financial and strategic goals for the acquired and combined businesses;
incurring acquisition-related costs or amortization costs for acquired intangible assets that could impact operating results;
failure of due diligence processes to identify significant issues with product quality, legal and financial liabilities, among other things;
inability to assert that internal controls over financial reporting are effective; and
inability to obtain, or obtain in a timely manner, approvals from governmental authorities, which could delay or prevent such acquisitions.
inability to rebuild trust with home builders due to the bankruptcy of the SunPower Debtors.
inability to obtain advantageous financing arrangements with financiers in order to pass the saving on to customers.
We may be required to file claims against other parties for infringing its intellectual property that may be costly and may not be resolved in its favor.
To protect our intellectual property rights and to maintain competitive advantage, we have filed, and may continue to file, suits against parties we believe infringe or misappropriate our intellectual property. Intellectual property litigation is expensive and time-consuming, could divert management’s attention from our business, and could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, or financial condition, and our enforcement efforts may not be successful. In addition, the validity of our patents may be challenged in such litigation. Our participation in intellectual property enforcement actions may negatively impact our financial results.
Developments in technology or improvements in distributed solar energy generation and related technologies or components may materially adversely affect demand for our offerings.
Significant developments in technology, such as advances in distributed solar power generation, energy storage solutions such as batteries, energy storage management systems, the widespread use or adoption of fuel cells for residential or commercial properties or improvements in other forms of distributed or centralized power production may materially and adversely affect demand for our offerings and otherwise affect our business. Future technological advancements may result in reduced prices to consumers or more efficient solar energy systems than those available today, either of which may result in current customer dissatisfaction. We may not be able to adopt these new technologies as quickly as its competitors or on a cost-effective basis.
Additionally, recent technological advancements may impact our business in ways not currently anticipated. Any failure by us to adopt or have access to new or enhanced technologies or processes, or to react to changes in existing technologies, could result in product obsolescence or the loss of competitiveness of and decreased consumer interest in its solar energy services, which could have a material adverse effect on its business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our business is subject to complex and evolving data protection laws. Many of these laws and regulations are subject to change and uncertain interpretation and could result in claims, increased cost of operations or otherwise harm its business.
Consumer personal privacy and data security have become significant issues and the subject of rapidly evolving regulation in the U.S. Furthermore, federal, state and local government bodies or agencies have in the past adopted, and may in the future adopt, more laws and regulations affecting data privacy. For example, the state of California enacted the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“ CCPA ”) and California voters recently approved the California Privacy Rights Act (“ CPRA ”). The CCPA creates individual privacy rights for consumers and places increased privacy and security obligations on entities handling the personal data of consumers or households. The CCPA went into effect in January 2020 and it requires covered companies to provide new disclosures to California consumers, provides such consumers, business-to-business contacts and employees new ways to opt-out of certain sales of personal information, and allows for a new private right of action for data breaches. The CPRA modifies the CCPA and imposes additional data protection obligations on companies doing business in California, including additional consumer rights processes and opt outs for certain uses of sensitive data. The CCPA and the CPRA may significantly impact the Company’s business activities and require substantial compliance costs that adversely affect its business, operating results, prospects and financial condition. To date, we have not experienced substantial compliance costs in connection with fulfilling the requirements under the CCPA or CPRA. However, we cannot be certain that compliance costs will not increase in the future with respect to the CCPA and CPRA or any other recently passed consumer privacy regulation.
Outside the U.S., an increasing number of laws, regulations, and industry standards may govern data privacy and security. For example, the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (“ EU GDPR ”) and the United Kingdom’s GDPR (“ UK GDPR ”) impose strict requirements for processing personal data. Under the EU GDPR, companies may face temporary or definitive bans on data processing and other corrective actions; fines of up to 20 million Euros or 4% of annual global revenue, whichever is greater; or private litigation related to processing of personal data brought by classes of data subjects or consumer protection organizations authorized at law to represent their interests. Non-compliance with the UK GDPR may result in substantially similar adverse consequences to those in relation to the EU GDPR, including monetary penalties of up to £17.5 million or 4% of worldwide revenue, whichever is higher.
In addition, we may be unable to transfer personal data from Europe and other jurisdictions to the U.S. or other countries due to data localization requirements or limitations on cross-border data flows. Europe and other jurisdictions have enacted laws requiring data to be localized or limiting the transfer of personal data to other countries. In particular, the European Economic Area (“ EEA ”) and the United Kingdom have significantly restricted the transfer of personal data to the U.S. and other countries whose privacy laws it believes are not adequate. Other jurisdictions may adopt similarly stringent interpretations of their data localization and cross- border data transfer laws. Although there are currently various mechanisms that may be used to transfer personal data from the EEA and UK to the U.S. in compliance with law, such as the EEA and UK’s standard contractual clauses, these mechanisms are subject to legal challenges, and there is no assurance that the Company can satisfy or rely on these measures to lawfully transfer personal data to the U.S. If there is no lawful manner for us to transfer personal data from the EEA, the UK, or other jurisdictions to the U.S., or if the requirements for a legally-compliant transfer are too onerous, we could face significant consequences, including the or of its operations, the need to relocate part of or all of its business or data processing activities to other jurisdictions at significant expense, increased exposure to regulatory actions, substantial and , the to transfer data and work with partners, vendors and other third parties, and its processing or transferring of personal data necessary to operate its business. Some European regulators have ordered certain companies to or permanently certain transfers out of Europe for the EU GDPR’s cross-border data transfer .
Any inability to adequately address privacy and security concerns, even if unfounded, or comply with applicable privacy and data security laws, regulations and policies, could result in additional cost and liability to us damage our reputation, inhibit sales and adversely affect our business. Furthermore, the costs of compliance with, and other burdens imposed by, the laws, regulations and policies that are applicable to our business may limit the use and adoption of, and reduce the overall demand for, its solutions. If we are not able to adjust to changing laws, regulations and standards related to privacy or security, our business may be harmed.
Any unauthorized access to or disclosure or theft of personal information we gather, store or use could harm our reputation and subject us to claims or litigation.
We receive, store and use personal information of customers, including names, addresses, e-mail addresses, and other housing and energy use information. We also store information of dealers, including employee, financial and operational information. We rely on the availability of data collected from customers and dealers in order to manage our business and market our offerings. We take certain steps in an effort to protect the security, integrity and confidentiality of the personal information collected, stored or transmitted, but there is no guarantee inadvertent or unauthorized use or disclosure will not occur or third parties will not gain unauthorized access to this information despite our efforts. Although we take precautions to provide for disaster recovery, our ability to recover systems or data may be expensive and may interfere with normal operations. Also, although we obtain assurances from such third parties that they will use reasonable safeguards to secure their systems, we may be adversely affected by unavailability of their systems or use or disclosure or its data maintained in such systems. Because techniques used to obtain access or systems change frequently and generally are not identified until they are launched a target, our suppliers or vendors and our dealers may be to anticipate these techniques or to implement adequate preventative or mitigation measures.
Cyberattacks in particular are becoming more sophisticated and include, but are not limited to, malicious software, attempts to gain unauthorized access to data and other electronic security breaches that could lead to disruptions in critical systems, disruption of customers’ operations, loss or damage to data delivery systems, unauthorized release of confidential or otherwise protected information, corruption of data and increased costs to prevent, respond to or mitigate cybersecurity events. In addition, certain cyber incidents, such as advanced persistent threats, may remain undetected for an extended period.
Unauthorized use, disclosure of or access to any personal information maintained by us or on the behalf of us, whether through breach of our systems, breach of the systems of our suppliers, vendors or dealers by an unauthorized party or through employee or contractor error, theft or misuse or otherwise, could harm our business. If any such unauthorized use, disclosure of or access to such personal information were to occur, our operations could be seriously disrupted and we could be subject to demands, claims and litigation by private parties and investigations, related actions and penalties by regulatory authorities.
In addition, we could incur significant costs in notifying affected persons and entities and otherwise complying with the multitude of federal, state and local laws and regulations relating to the unauthorized access to, use of or disclosure of personal information. Finally, any perceived or actual unauthorized access to, use of or disclosure of such information could harm our reputation, substantially impair our business, financial condition and results of operations. While we currently maintain cybersecurity insurance, such insurance may not be sufficient to cover against claims, and we cannot be certain that cyber insurance will continue to be available on economically reasonable terms, or at all, or that any insurer will not deny coverage as to any future claim.
If we fail to comply with laws and regulations relating to interactions by the Company or its dealers with current or prospective residential customers, it could result in negative publicity, claims, investigations and litigation and adversely affect financial performance.
Our business substantially focuses on home improvement contracts for the installation of solar systems for residential customers. We offer leases, loans and other products and services directly to consumers and through sales partners in our dealer networks, who utilize sales people employed by or engaged as third-party service providers of such contractors. We and our dealers must comply with numerous federal, state and local laws and regulations that govern matters relating to interactions with residential consumers, including those pertaining to consumer protection, marketing and sales, privacy and data security, consumer financial and credit transactions, mortgages and refinancings, home improvement contracts, warranties and various means of customer solicitation, including under the laws described below in “ As sales to residential customers have grown, we have increasingly become subject to substantial financing and consumer protection laws and regulations. ” These laws and regulations are dynamic and subject to potentially differing interpretations and various federal, state and local legislative and regulatory bodies may initiate investigations, expand current laws or regulations, or enact new laws and regulations regarding these matters. Changes in these laws or regulations or their interpretation could dramatically affect how we and our dealers do business, acquire customers and manage and use information collected from and about current and prospective customers and the costs associated therewith. We and our dealers strive to comply with all applicable laws and regulations relating to interactions with residential customers. It is possible, however, that these requirements may be interpreted and applied in a manner from one jurisdiction to another and may with other rules or our practices or the practices of our dealers.
Although we require dealers to meet consumer compliance requirements, we do not control dealers and their suppliers or their business practices. Accordingly, we cannot guarantee they follow ethical business practices such as fair wage practices and compliance with environmental, safety and other local laws. A lack of demonstrated compliance could lead us to seek alternative dealers or suppliers, which could increase costs and have a negative effect on business and prospects for growth. Violation of labor or other laws by our dealers or suppliers or the divergence of a dealer or supplier’s labor or other practices from those generally accepted as ethical in the U.S. or other markets in which the Company does or intends to do business could also attract negative publicity and harm the business.
From time to time, we have been included in lawsuits brought by the consumer customers of certain contractors in our networks, citing claims based on the sales practices of these contractors. We cannot be sure that a court of law would not determine that we are liable for the actions of the contractors in our networks or that a regulator or state attorney general’s office may hold us accountable for violations of consumer protection or other applicable laws by. Our risk mitigation processes may not be sufficient to mitigate financial harm associated with violations of applicable law by our contractors or ensure that any such contractor is able to satisfy its indemnification obligations to us. Any significant judgment against us could expose it to broader liabilities, a need to adjust our distribution channels for products and services or otherwise change our business model and could adversely impact the business.
We may be unsuccessful in introducing new services and product offerings.
We intend to introduce new offerings of services and products to both new and existing customers in the future, including home automation products and additional home technology solutions. We may be unsuccessful in significantly broadening our customer base through the addition of these services and products within current markets or in new markets the Company may enter. Additionally, we may not be successful in generating substantial revenue from any additional services and products introduced in the future and may decline to initiate new product and service offerings.
Damage to our brand and reputation or change or loss of use of our brand could harm our business and results of operations.
We depend significantly on our reputation for high-quality products, excellent customer service and the brand name “SunPower” to attract new customers and grow our business. If we fail to continue to deliver solar energy systems or energy storage systems within the planned timelines, if our offerings do not perform as anticipated or if we damage any of our customers’ properties or delays or cancels projects, our brand and reputation could be significantly impaired. Future technological improvements may allow the company to offer lower prices or offer new technology to new customers; however, technical limitations in our current solar energy systems and energy storage systems may prevent us from offering such lower prices or new technology to existing customers.
In addition, given the sheer number of interactions our personnel or dealers operating on our behalf have with customers and potential customers, it is inevitable that some customers’ and potential customers’ interactions with us or dealers operating on our behalf will be perceived as less than satisfactory. This has led to instances of customer complaints, some of which have affected our digital footprint on rating websites and social media platforms. If we cannot manage hiring and training processes to avoid or minimize these issues to the extent possible, our reputation may be harmed and our ability to attract new customers would suffer.
In addition, if we were to no longer use, lose the right to continue to use or if others use the “SunPower” brand, we could lose recognition in the marketplace among customers, suppliers and dealers, which could affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and would require financial and other investment and management attention in new branding, which may not be as successful.
Our success depends on the continuing contributions of key personnel, including Thurman J. Rodgers. If we are unable to attract and retain key employees and qualified personnel, our business and prospects could be harmed.
We rely heavily on the services of our key executive officers and other key employees, in particular Thurman J. Rodgers, and the loss of services of any principal member of the management team or other key employees could adversely affect our operations. There have been, and from time to time there may continue to be, changes in our management team resulting from the hiring or departure of executives and key employees, or the transition of executives within our business, which could disrupt our business. For example, during 2024, 2025 and early 2026, we had turnover in key positions, including our Chief Executive Officer and our Chief Financial Officer. As a result of the SunPower Acquisition, the Sunder Acquisition, the Ambia Acquisition and the Cobalt Acquisition, we also appointed new employees to key positions and restructured our management reporting lines. Such changes in our executive management team or workforce may be disruptive to our business, divert management’s attention, result in a loss of knowledge and negatively impact employee morale. If we encounter further turnover or difficulties associated with the transition or departure of our executive officers and key employees, or if we are in recruiting new personnel or in retaining and motivating existing personnel, our operations may be , which could our business.
We are investing significant resources in developing new members of management as we complete our restructuring and strategic transformation, including as a result of the SunPower Acquisition. We also anticipate that over time we will need to hire a number of highly skilled technical, sales, marketing, administrative, and accounting personnel. The competition for qualified personnel is intense in this industry. We may not be successful in attracting and retaining sufficient numbers of qualified personnel to support its anticipated growth. We cannot guarantee that any employee will remain employed with us for any definite period of time since all employees, including key executive officers, serve at-will and may terminate their employment at any time for any reason.
Labor is subject to external factors that are beyond our control, including our industry’s highly competitive market for skilled workers and leaders, cost inflation, and workforce participation rates. As we build our brand and become more well known and grow globally, there is increased risk that competitors or other companies will seek to hire our personnel. The failure to attract, integrate, train, motivate and retain these personnel could seriously harm our business and prospects.
If we or our dealers or suppliers fail to hire and retain sufficient employees and service providers in key functions, our growth and ability to timely complete customer projects and successfully manage customer accounts would be constrained.
To support growth, we and our dealers need to hire, train, deploy, manage and retain a substantial number of skilled employees, engineers, installers, electricians and sales and project finance specialists. Competition for qualified personnel in this industry has increased substantially, particularly for skilled personnel involved in the installation of solar energy systems. We and our dealers also compete with the homebuilding and construction industries for skilled labor. These industries are cyclical and when participants in these industries seek to hire additional workers, it puts upward pressure on us and our dealers’ labor costs. Companies with whom our dealers compete to hire installers may offer compensation or incentive plans that certain installers may view as more favorable. As a result, our dealers may be unable to attract or retain qualified and skilled installation personnel. The further unionization of the industry’s labor force or the homebuilding and construction industries’ labor forces could also increase our dealers’ labor costs.
Shortages of skilled labor could significantly delay a project or otherwise increase dealers’ costs. Further, we need to continue to increase the training of the customer service team to provide high-end account management and service to homeowners before, during and following the point of installation of its solar energy systems. Identifying and recruiting qualified personnel and training them requires significant time, expense and attention. It can take several months before a new customer service team member is fully trained and productive at the standards established by us. If we are unable to hire, develop and retain talented customer service or other personnel, we may not be able to grow our business.
Our operating results and ability to grow may fluctuate from quarter to quarter and year to year, which could make future performance difficult to predict and could cause operating results for a particular period to fall below expectations.
Our quarterly and annual operating results and its ability to grow are difficult to predict and may fluctuate significantly. We have experienced seasonal and quarterly fluctuations in the past and expect to experience such fluctuations in the future. In addition to the other risks described in this “Risk Factors” section, the following factors could cause operating results to fluctuate:
expiration or initiation of any governmental rebates or incentives;
significant fluctuations in customer demand for our solar energy services, solar energy systems and energy storage systems;
our dealers’ ability to complete installations in a timely manner;
our and our dealers’ ability to gain interconnection permission for an installed solar energy system from the relevant utility;
the availability, terms and costs of suitable financing;
the amount, timing of sales and potential decreases in value of Solar Renewable Energy Certificates;
our ability to continue to expand its operations and the amount and timing of expenditures related to this expansion;
announcements by us or our competitors of significant acquisitions, strategic partnerships, joint ventures or capital-raising activities or commitments;
changes in our pricing policies or terms or those of competitors, including centralized electric utilities;
actual or anticipated developments in competitors’ businesses, technology or the competitive landscape; and
natural disasters or other weather or meteorological conditions.
For these or other reasons, the results of any prior quarterly or annual periods should not be relied upon as indications of our future performance.
Our ability to obtain insurance on the terms of any available insurance coverage could be materially adversely affected by international, national, state or local events or company-specific events, as well as the financial condition of insurers.
Our insurance policies cover legal and contractual liabilities arising out of bodily injury, personal injury or property damage to third parties and are subject to policy limits.
However, such policies do not cover all potential losses and coverage is not always available in the insurance market on commercially reasonable terms. In addition, we may have disagreements with insurers on the amount of recoverable damages and the insurance proceeds received for any loss of, or any damage to, any of our assets may be claimed by lenders under financing arrangements or otherwise may not be sufficient to restore the loss or damage without a negative impact on its results of operations. Furthermore, the receipt of insurance proceeds may be delayed, requiring us to use cash or incur financing costs in the interim. To the extent our experiences covered losses under its insurance policies, the limit of our coverage for potential losses may be decreased or the insurance rates it has to pay increased. Furthermore, the losses insured through commercial insurance are subject to the credit risk of those insurance companies. While we believe our commercial insurance providers are currently creditworthy, we cannot such insurance companies will remain so in the future.
We may not be able to maintain or obtain insurance of the type and amount desired at reasonable rates. The insurance coverage obtained may contain large deductibles or fail to cover certain risks or all potential losses. In addition, our insurance policies are subject to annual review by insurers and may not be renewed on similar or favorable terms, including coverage, deductibles or premiums, or at all. If a significant accident or event occurs for which we are not fully insured or the Company suffers losses due to one or more of its insurance carriers defaulting on their obligations or contesting their coverage obligations, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We may be subject to breaches of our information technology systems, which could lead to disclosure of internal information, damage to our reputation or relationships with dealers, suppliers, and customers, and disrupt access to online services. Such breaches could subject us to significant reputational, financial, legal, and operational consequences.
Our business requires the use and storage of confidential and proprietary information, intellectual property, commercial banking information, personal information concerning customers, employees, and business partners, and corporate information concerning internal processes and business functions. Malicious attacks to gain access to such information affects many companies across various industries, including ours.
Where appropriate, we use encryption and authentication technologies to secure the transmission and storage of data. These security measures may be compromised as a result of third-party security breaches, employee error, malfeasance, faulty password management, or other irregularity or malicious effort, and result in persons obtaining unauthorized access to data.
We devote resources to network security, data encryption, and other security measures to protect our systems and data, but these security measures cannot provide absolute security. Because the techniques used to obtain unauthorized access, disable or degrade service, or sabotage systems change frequently, target end users through phishing and other malicious techniques, and/or may be difficult to detect for long periods of time, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques or implement adequate preventative measures. As a result, we may experience a breach of our systems in the future that reduces our ability to protect sensitive data. In addition, hardware, software, or applications we develop or procure from third parties may contain defects in design or manufacture or other problems that could unexpectedly compromise information security. Unauthorized parties may also attempt to gain access to our systems or facilities through , trickery or other forms of team members, contractors and temporary staff. If we experience, or are perceived to have experienced, a significant data security , to detect and appropriately respond to a significant data security , or to implement disclosure controls and procedures that provide for timely disclosure of data security deemed material to our business, including or updates to previous disclosures, we could be to a risk of , increased insurance costs, remediation and prospective costs, to our reputation and brand, and possible liability, or government enforcement actions, any of which could affect our business, results of operations, and financial condition.
We may also share information with contractors and third-party providers to conduct business. While we generally review and typically request or require such contractors and third-party providers to implement security measures, such as encryption and authentication technologies to secure the transmission and storage of data, those third-party providers may experience a significant data security breach, which may also detrimentally affect our business, results of operations, and financial condition as discussed above. See also under this section, “ We may be required to file claims against other parties for infringing its intellectual property that may be costly and may not be resolved in our favor .” We rely substantially upon trade secret laws and contractual restrictions to protect our proprietary rights, and, if these rights are not sufficiently protected, our ability to compete and generate revenue could suffer.
As sales to residential customers have grown, we have increasingly become subject to consumer protection laws and regulations.
As we continue to seek to expand our retail customer base, our activities with customers are subject to consumer protection laws that may not be applicable to other businesses, such as federal truth-in-lending, consumer leasing, telephone and digital marketing, and equal credit opportunity laws and regulations, as well as state and local finance laws and regulations. Claims arising out of actual or alleged violations of law may be asserted against us by individuals or governmental entities and may expose the Company to significant damages or other penalties, including fines. In addition, our affiliations with third-party dealers may subject the Company to alleged liability in connection with actual or alleged violations of law by such dealers, whether or not actually attributable to us, which may expose us to significant and , and we may incur substantial expenses in legal actions related to third-party dealers, whether or not ultimately found liable.
The competitive environment in which we operate often requires the undertaking of customer obligations, which may turn out to be costlier than anticipated and, in turn, materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.
We are often required, at the request of our end customer, to undertake certain obligations such as:
system output performance warranties; and
system maintenance.
Such customer obligations involve complex accounting analyses and judgments regarding the timing of revenue and expense recognition, and in certain situations these factors may require us to defer revenue or profit recognition until projects are completed or until contingencies are resolved, which could adversely affect revenues and profits in a particular period.
We are subject to risks associated with construction, cost overruns, delays, regulatory compliance and other contingencies, any of which could have a material adverse effect on its business and results of operations.
We are a licensed contractor in certain communities that we service and are ultimately responsible as the contracting party for every solar energy system installation. A significant portion of our business depends on obtaining and maintaining required licenses in various jurisdictions. All such licenses are subject to audit by the relevant government agency. Our failure to obtain or maintain required licenses could result in the termination of certain of our contracts. For example, we hold a license with California’s Contractors State License Board (the “ CSLB ”) and that license is currently under probation with the CSLB. If we fail to comply with the CSLB’s law and regulations, it could result in termination of certain of our contracts, monetary penalties, extension of the license probation period or revocation of its license in California. In addition, we may be liable, either directly or through its solar partners, to homeowners for any damage we cause to them, their home, belongings or property during the installation of our systems. For example, we either directly or through its solar partners, frequently penetrate homeowners’ roofs during the installation process and may incur liability for the to weatherproof such penetrations following the completion of construction. In addition, because the solar energy systems we or our solar partners deploy are high voltage energy systems, we may incur liability for to comply with electrical standards and manufacturer recommendations.
Further, we or our installation partners may face construction delays or cost overruns, which may adversely affect our or our sales partners’ ability to ramp up the volume of installation in accordance with our plans. Such delays or overruns may occur as a result of a variety of factors, such as labor shortages, defects in materials and workmanship, adverse weather conditions, transportation constraints, construction change orders, site changes, labor issues and other unforeseen difficulties, any of which could lead to increased cancellation rates, reputational harm and other adverse effects.
In addition, the installation of solar energy systems, energy storage systems, and other energy-related products requiring building modifications are subject to oversight and regulation in accordance with national, state, and local laws and ordinances relating to building, fire, and electrical codes, safety, environmental protection, utility interconnection and metering, and related matters. We also rely on certain employees to maintain professional licenses in many of the jurisdictions in which we operate, and the failure to employ properly licensed personnel could adversely affect our licensing status in those jurisdictions. It is difficult and costly to track the requirements of every individual authority having jurisdiction over our installations and to design solar energy systems to comply with these varying standards. Any new government regulations or utility policies pertaining to our systems may result in significant additional expenses to homeowners and us and, as a result, could cause a significant reduction in demand for solar service offerings.
While we have a variety of stringent quality standards that the Company applies in the selection of its solar partners, we do not control our suppliers and solar partners or their business practices. Accordingly, we cannot guarantee that they follow our standards or ethical business practices, such as fair wage practices and compliance with environmental, safety and other local laws. A lack of demonstrated compliance could lead us to seek alternative suppliers or contractors, which could increase costs and result in delayed delivery or installation of our products, product shortages or other disruptions of its operations. Violation of labor or other laws by our suppliers and solar partners or the divergence of a supplier’s or solar partners’ labor or other practices from those generally accepted as ethical in the U.S. or other markets in which we do business could also attract negative publicity and harm our business, brand and reputation in the market.
Compliance with occupational safety and health requirements and best practices can be costly, and noncompliance with such requirements may result in potentially significant penalties, operational delays and adverse publicity.
The installation and ongoing operations and maintenance of solar energy systems and energy storage systems requires individuals hired by us, our dealers, or third-party contractors, potentially including employees, to work at heights with complicated and potentially dangerous electrical systems. The evaluation and modification of buildings as part of the installation process requires these individuals to work in locations that may contain potentially dangerous levels of asbestos, lead, mold or other materials known or believed to be hazardous to human health. There is substantial risk of serious injury or death if proper safety procedures are not followed. Our operations are subject to regulation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“ OSHA ”) and the Department of Transportation (“ DOT ”) and equivalent state and local laws. Changes to OSHA or DOT requirements, or stricter interpretation or enforcement of existing laws or regulations, could result in increased costs. If we fail to comply with applicable OSHA or DOT regulations, even if no work-related serious injury or death occurs, we may be subject to civil or enforcement and be required to pay substantial , incur significant capital expenditures or or limit operations. Because individuals hired by us or on our behalf to perform installation and ongoing operations and maintenance of the Company’s solar energy systems and energy storage systems, including its dealers and third-party contractors, are compensated on a per project basis, they are incentivized to work more quickly than installers compensated on an hourly basis. While we have not experienced a high level of to date, this incentive structure may result in higher rates than others in the industry and could accordingly the Company to increased liability. Individuals hired by or on behalf of us may have workplace and receive citations from OSHA regulators for safety , resulting in . Any such , citations, , or to comply with industry practices may subject us to publicity, its reputation and competitive position and affect the business.
Our business has benefited from the declining cost of solar energy system components, but it may be harmed if the cost of such components stabilizes or increases in the future.
Our business has benefited from the declining cost of solar energy system components and to the extent such costs stabilize, decline at a slower rate or increase, our future growth rate may be negatively impacted. The declining cost of solar energy system components and the raw materials necessary to manufacture them has been a key driver in the price of our solar energy systems, and the prices charged for electricity and customer adoption of solar energy. Solar energy system component and raw material prices may not continue to decline at the same rate as they have over the past several years or at all. In addition, growth in the solar industry and the resulting increase in demand for solar energy system components and the raw materials necessary to manufacture them may also put upward pressure on prices. An increase of solar energy system components and raw materials prices could slow growth and cause business and results of operations to suffer. Further, the cost of solar energy system components and raw materials has increased and could increase in the future due to tariff , duties, the of or changes in economic governmental incentives or other factors.
Product liability claims against us could result in adverse publicity and potentially significant monetary damages.
It is possible our solar energy systems or energy storage systems could injure customers or other third parties or our solar energy systems or energy storage systems could cause property damage as a result of product malfunctions, defects, improper installation, fire or other causes. Any product liability claim we face could be expensive to defend and may divert management’s attention. The successful assertion of product liability claims against us could result in potentially significant monetary damages, potential increases in insurance expenses, penalties or fines, subject the Company to adverse publicity, damage our reputation and competitive position and affect sales of solar energy systems or energy storage systems. In addition, product liability , , or other experienced by other companies in the residential solar industry could lead to market conditions to the industry as a whole and may have an effect on our ability to expand its portfolio of solar service agreements and related solar energy systems and energy storage systems, thus affecting our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our warranty costs may exceed the warranty reserve.
We provide warranties that cover parts performance and labor to purchasers of our solar modules. We also have legacy warranty and performance obligations from our former business manufacturing solar panels. We maintain a warranty reserve on our financial statements, and our warranty claims may exceed the warranty reserve. Any significant warranty expenses could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations. Significant warranty problems could impair our reputation which could result in lower revenue and a lower gross margin.
We are subject to legal proceedings and regulatory inquiries and may be named in additional claims or legal proceedings or become involved in regulatory inquiries, all of which are costly, distracting to our core business and could result in an unfavorable outcome or harm our business, financial condition, results of operations or the trading price for our securities.
We are involved in claims and legal proceedings that arise from normal business activities. In addition, from time to time, third parties have asserted and may in the future assert claims against us. We evaluate all claims, lawsuits and investigations with respect to their potential merits, our potential defenses and counter claims, settlement or litigation potential and the expected effect on us. In the event that we are involved in significant disputes, including the legal claims noted below, or are the subject of a formal action by a regulatory agency, we could be exposed to costly and time-consuming legal proceedings that could result in any number of outcomes. Although outcomes of such actions vary, any claims, proceedings or regulatory actions initiated by or against us whether or not, could result in expensive costs of defense, awards, injunctive relief, increased costs of business, or orders to change certain business practices, significant dedication of management time, of significant operational resources or some other to the business. In any of these cases, our business, financial condition or results of operations could be impacted. We make a provision for a liability relating to legal matters when it is both probable that a liability has been incurred and the amount of the can be reasonably estimated. These provisions are reviewed at least quarterly and adjusted to reflect the impacts of negotiations, estimated settlements, legal rulings, advice of legal counsel and other information and events pertaining to a particular matter. Depending on the nature and timing of any such , an resolution of a matter could materially affect our future business, financial condition or results of operations, or all of the foregoing, in a particular quarter.
See “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data - Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements - Note 12 - Commitments and Contingencies ” for a further discussion of the legal claims summarized therein.
In addition to the other information provided in Note 12, on February 22, 2024, the court in the case issued an order against certain subsidiaries of the Company which awarded Siemens approximately $6.9 million. On March 15, 2024, Siemens filed a motion seeking to recover $2.67 million for attorneys’ fees, expenses, and pre-and post-judgment interest. The Company opposed Siemens’ motion for attorneys’ fees, expenses, and pre- and post-judgment interest on April 5, 2024. On June 17, 2024, the court entered a final order which awarded Siemens a total of $2.0 million in attorneys’ fees and costs. We have appealed these judgments. On August 19, 2024, Siemens applied for the enforcement to a sister state judgment in the Superior Court of Alameda, California and the court entered a judgement in favor of Siemens. On December 9, 2024, Siemens moved to amend the judgment to add the Company as a judgement debtor. Our subsidiaries opposed the Siemens motion. The court heard the motion by submission on April 3, 2025, but has not yet issued a ruling. The Company recognized $6.9 million as a legal loss related to this litigation in 2023, and in 2024, the Company recorded an additional accrual for $2.0 million for attorneys’ fees, expenses, and pre-judgment interest, in accrued expenses and other current liabilities within its consolidated balance sheet as of December 29, 2024. This legal was recognized in fiscal 2024 in from operations, net of tax on the consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive . The Company had liability of $6.9 million recorded as a legal related to this , excluding amounts for attorneys’ fees and costs, in accrued expenses and other current liabilities within its consolidated balance sheet at December 29, 2024. On December 4, 2025, the Company entered into a Settlement Agreement with Siemens Government Technologies, Inc. and Siemens Industry, Inc. to a case in the Circuit Court of Fairfax County, Virginia and other related cases as well as to potential related to Siemens’ Atwater Wastewater Treatment Plant. In exchange for full releases, the Company agreed to pay Siemens $9.5 million spread across four payments to be made at the end of each calendar quarter during fiscal 2026. If the Company engages in any form of new financing or new debt worth $1.0 million or more, or obtains shareholder approval for the issuance of additional shares in connection with the raise of additional funds and/or any merger or acquisition activity, the next due quarterly payment to Siemens (if any) becomes immediately due and payable. The settlement payment to Siemens is secured by a first-priority continuing security interest in $9.5 million of Company collateral. This security interest is reduced on a one-to-one basis as the settlement payments are made.
The requirements of being a public company may strain our resources, divert management’s attention and affect our ability to attract and retain qualified directors and officers.
We face increased legal, accounting, administrative and other costs and expenses as a public company that we did not incur as a private company. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, including the requirements of Section 404, as well as rules and regulations subsequently implemented by the SEC, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 and the rules and regulations promulgated and to be promulgated thereunder, the PCAOB and the securities exchanges, impose additional reporting and other obligations on public companies. Compliance with public company requirements will increase costs and make certain activities more time- consuming. A number of those requirements will require us to carry out activities we had not done previously.
If any issues in complying with those requirements are identified (for example, if we or the auditors identify a material weakness or significant deficiency in the internal control over financial reporting), we could incur additional costs rectifying those issues, and the existence of those issues could adversely affect our reputation or investor perceptions of it. It may also be more expensive to obtain director and officer liability insurance. Risks associated with our status as a public company may make it more difficult to attract and retain qualified persons to serve on the SunPower Board or as executive officers. The additional reporting and other obligations imposed by these rules and regulations will increase legal and financial compliance costs and the costs of related legal, accounting and administrative activities. These increased costs will require us to divert a significant amount of money that could otherwise be used to expand the business and achieve strategic objectives. Advocacy efforts by stockholders and third parties may also prompt additional changes in governance and reporting requirements, which could further increase costs.
Our ability to use net operating loss carryforwards and certain other tax attributes may be limited.
We have incurred substantial losses during our history and do not expect to become profitable in the near future and may never achieve profitability. Under current U.S. federal income tax law, unused losses for the tax year ended December 31, 2017 and prior tax years will carry forward to offset future taxable income, if any, until such unused losses expire, and unused federal losses generated after December 31, 2017 will not expire and may be carried forward indefinitely but will be only deductible to the extent of 80% of current year taxable income in any given year. Many states have similar laws.
In addition, both current and future unused net operating loss (“ NOL ”) carryforwards and other tax attributes may be subject to limitation 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 greater than 50 percentage point change (by value) in equity ownership by certain stockholders over a three-year period. The Business Combination may have resulted in an ownership change for us and, accordingly, our NOL carryforwards and certain other tax attributes may be subject to limitations (or disallowance) on their use after the Business Combination. Our NOL carryforwards may also be subject to limitation as a result of prior shifts in equity ownership. Additional ownership changes in the future could result in additional limitations on our NOL carryforwards. Consequently, even if we achieve profitability, we may not be able to utilize a material portion of our NOL carryforwards and other tax attributes, which could have a material effect on cash flow and results of operations.
Risks Related to our Common Stock and Other Securities
Our Directors, executive officers and principal stockholders will continue to have significant influence over our company, which could limit your ability to influence the outcome of key transactions, including a change of control.
Our Directors, executive officers and each of our 5% stockholders and their affiliates, in the aggregate, beneficially own approximately 30% of the outstanding shares of our common stock, based on the number of shares outstanding as of April 1, 2026 (including all convertible securities and securities that such holders have the right to acquire within 60 days following April 1, 2026). As a result, these stockholders, if acting together, will be able to significantly influence matters requiring approval by our stockholders, including the election of directors and the approval of mergers, acquisitions or other extraordinary transactions. They may also have interests that differ from yours and may vote in a way with which you disagree, and which may be adverse to your interests. This concentration of ownership may have the effect of delaying, preventing or deterring a change of control of our company, could deprive our stockholders of an opportunity to receive a premium for their common stock as part of a sale of our company and might ultimately affect the market price of our common stock.
The trading price of our common stock may be volatile, and you could lose all or part of your investment.
Fluctuations in the price of our securities could contribute to the loss of all or part of your investment. The trading price of our securities could be volatile and subject to wide fluctuations in response to various factors, some of which are beyond our control. Any of the factors listed below could have a material adverse effect on your investment in our securities and our securities may trade at prices significantly below the price you paid for them. In such circumstances, the trading price of our securities may not recover and may experience a further decline.
Factors affecting the trading price of our securities:
actual or anticipated fluctuations in our quarterly financial results or the quarterly financial results of companies perceived to be similar to us;
changes in the market’s expectations about our operating results;
success of competitors;
our operating results failing to meet the expectation of securities analysts or investors in a particular period;
changes in financial estimates and recommendations by securities analysts concerning us or the market in general;
operating and stock price performance of other companies that investors deem comparable to us;
our ability to develop product candidates;
changes in laws and regulations affecting our business;
commencement of, or involvement in, litigation involving us;
changes in our capital structure, such as future issuances of securities or the incurrence of additional debt;
the volume of shares of our securities available for public sale
any major change in our Board of Directors or management;
sales of substantial amounts of common stock by our Directors, executive officers or significant stockholders or the perception that such sales could occur; and
general economic and political conditions such as recessions, interest rates, fuel prices, international currency fluctuations and acts of war or terrorism.
If securities or industry analysts do not publish or cease publishing research or reports about us, our business, or our market, or if they change their recommendations regarding our securities adversely, the price and trading volume of our securities could decline.
The trading market for our securities is influenced by the research and reports that industry or securities analysts may publish about us, our business, our market, or our competitors. If any of the analysts who currently cover us change their recommendation regarding our stock adversely, or provide more favorable relative recommendations about our competitors, the price of our securities would likely decline. If any analyst who currently cover us were to cease coverage of us or fail to regularly publish reports on us, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which could cause our stock price or trading volume to decline. If we obtain additional coverage and any new analyst issues, an adverse or misleading opinion regarding us, our business model, our intellectual property or our stock performance, or if our operating results fail to meet the expectations of analysts, our stock price could decline.
A market for our securities may not continue, which would adversely affect the liquidity and price of our securities.
The price of our securities may fluctuate significantly due to general market and economic conditions and an active trading market for our securities may not be sustained. In addition, the price of our securities can vary due to general economic conditions and forecasts, our general business condition and the release of our financial reports. If our securities are not listed on, or become delisted from Nasdaq for any reason, and are quoted on the OTC Bulletin Board, an inter-dealer automated quotation system for equity securities that is not a national securities exchange, the liquidity and price of our securities may be more limited than if we were quoted or listed on Nasdaq or another national securities exchange. You may be unable to sell your securities unless a market can be established or sustained.
If we fail to meet all applicable requirements of Nasdaq and Nasdaq determines to delist our common stock, the delisting could adversely affect the market liquidity of our common stock and the market price of our common stock could decrease.
If we are unable to satisfy the Nasdaq criteria for continued listing, our common stock would be subject to delisting. A delisting of our common stock could negatively impact us by, among other things, reducing the liquidity and market price of our common stock; reducing the number of investors willing to hold or acquire our common stock, which could negatively impact our ability to raise equity financing; decreasing the amount of news and analyst coverage of us; and limiting our ability to issue additional securities or obtain additional financing in the future. In addition, delisting from Nasdaq may negatively impact our reputation and, consequently, our business.
There can be no assurance that we will maintain compliance with the requirements for listing our common stock on Nasdaq. On April 28, 2025, we received a letter from the Listing Qualifications staff of Nasdaq (the “Nasdaq Staff”) indicating that, as a result of our delay in filing the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 29, 2024 (the “2024 Form 10-K”), we were not in compliance with the timely filing requirements for continued listing under Nasdaq Listing Rule 5250(c)(1). The Nasdaq letter had no immediate effect on the listing or trading of our common stock or warrants. The Nasdaq listing rules require Nasdaq-listed companies to timely file all required periodic reports with the SEC. The Nasdaq letter stated that, under Nasdaq rules, the Company had 60 calendar days to submit a plan to regain compliance with Nasdaq’s continued listing requirements. We filed our 2024 Form 10-K on April 30, 2025. Subsequently, on November 19, 2025, we received a from the Nasdaq staff indicating that, as a result of our delay in filing the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 28, 2025 (the “Q3 Form 10-Q”), we were not in compliance with the timely filing requirements for continued listing under Nasdaq Listing Rule 5250(c)(1). The Nasdaq letter relating to our Q3 Form 10-Q had no immediate effect on the listing or trading of our common stock or warrants. The Nasdaq letter stated that, under Nasdaq rules, the Company had 60 calendar days to submit a plan to compliance with Nasdaq’s continued listing requirements. We filed the Q3 Form 10-Q on December 19, 2025.
If Nasdaq delists our securities from trading on its exchange for failure to meet the listing standards, we and our stockholders could face significant material adverse consequences including:
a limited availability of market quotations for our securities;
a determination that our common stock is a “penny stock” which will require brokers trading in our common stock to adhere to more stringent rules, possibly resulting in a reduced level of trading activity in the secondary trading market for our common stock;
a limited amount of analyst coverage; and a decreased ability to issue additional securities or obtain additional financing in the future.
Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market by our shareholders could cause the price of our common stock to decline.
Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market could occur at any time. If our stockholders sell, or the market perceives that our stockholders intend to sell, substantial amounts of our common stock in the public market, the market price of our common stock could decline.
Provisions in our Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaws and provisions of the Delaware General Corporation Law may delay or prevent an acquisition by a third party that could otherwise be in the interests of shareholders.
Our Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaws contain several provisions that may make it more difficult or expensive for a third party to acquire control of us without the approval of our board. These provisions, which may delay, prevent or deter a merger, acquisition, tender offer, proxy contest, or other transaction that stockholders may consider favorable, include the following:
advance notice requirements for stockholder proposals and director nominations;
provisions limiting stockholders’ ability to call special meetings of stockholders and to take action by written consent;
restrictions on business combinations with interested stockholders;
no cumulative voting; and
the ability of the Board of Directors to designate the terms of and issue new series of preferred stock without stockholder approval, which could be used, among other things, to institute a rights plan that would have the effect of significantly diluting the stock ownership of a potential hostile acquirer, likely preventing acquisitions by such acquirer.
These provisions of our Certificate of Incorporation and Proposed Bylaws could discourage potential takeover attempts and reduce the price that investors might be willing to pay for the shares of our common stock in the future, which could reduce the market price of our common stock.
The provision of our Certificate of Incorporation requiring exclusive venue in the Court of Chancery in the State of Delaware and the federal district courts of the U.S. for certain types of lawsuits may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against directors and officers.
Our Certificate of Incorporation provides that, unless otherwise consented to by us in writing, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware (or, if the Court of Chancery does not have jurisdiction, another State court in Delaware or the federal district court for the District of Delaware) will, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be the sole and exclusive forum for the following types of actions or proceedings:
any derivative action or proceeding brought on behalf of us;
any action asserting a claim of breach of a duty (including any fiduciary duty) owed by any of our current or former Directors, officers, stockholders, employees or agents to us or our stockholders;
any action asserting a claim against us or any of our current or former Directors, officers, stockholders, employees or agents relating to any provision of the Delaware General Corporation Law (“DGCL”) or our Certificate of Incorporation or the Bylaws or as to which the DGCL confers jurisdiction on the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware; and
any action asserting a claim against us or any of our current or former Directors, officers, stockholders, employees or agents governed by the internal affairs doctrine of the State of Delaware, in each such case unless the Court of Chancery (or such other state or federal court located within the State of Delaware, as applicable) has dismissed a prior action by the same plaintiff asserting the same claims because such court lacked personal jurisdiction over an indispensable party named as a defendant therein.
Our Certificate of Incorporation will further provide that, unless otherwise consented to by us in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the federal district courts of the U.S. will, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be the sole and exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint against any person in connection with any offering of our securities, asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in our securities will be deemed to have notice of and consented to this provision.
Although our Certificate of Incorporation contains the choice of forum provisions described above, it is possible that a court could rule that such provisions are inapplicable for a particular claim or action or that such provisions are unenforceable. For example, under the Securities Act, federal courts have concurrent jurisdiction over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Securities Act, and investors cannot waive compliance with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. In addition, Section 27 of the Exchange Act creates exclusive federal jurisdiction over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or the rules and regulations thereunder, and, therefore, the exclusive forum provisions described above do not apply to any actions brought under the Exchange Act.
Although we believe these provisions will benefit us by limiting costly and time-consuming litigation in multiple forums and by providing increased consistency in the application of applicable law, these exclusive forum provisions may limit the ability of our shareholders to bring a claim in a judicial forum that such shareholders find favorable for disputes with us or our Directors, officers or employees, which may discourage such lawsuits against us and our Directors, officers and other employees.
We may be required to repurchase up to 5,618,488 shares of common stock from the investors with whom we entered into Forward Purchase Agreements in connection with the closing of the Business Combination, which would reduce the amount of cash available to us to fund our growth plan.
On and around July 13, 2023, FACT entered into separate Forward Purchase Agreements (the “Forward Purchase Agreements”) with each of (i) Meteora Special Opportunity Fund I, LP (“ MSOF ”), Meteora Capital Partners, LP (“ MCP ”) and Meteora Select Trading Opportunities Master, LP (“MSTO”) (with MSOF, MCP, and MSTO collectively as “ Meteora ”); (ii) Polar Multi-Strategy Master Fund (“ Polar ”), and (iii) Diametric True Alpha Market Neutral Master Fund, LP, Diametric True Alpha Enhanced Market Neutral Master Fund, LP, and Pinebridge Partners Master Fund, LP (collectively, “Sandia”, and each of Meteora, Polar, and Sandia, individually, an “ FPA Investor ”, and together, the “ FPA Investors ”), pursuant to which FACT (now SunPower (f/k/a Complete Solaria, Inc.) following the closing of the Business Combination) agreed to purchase in the aggregate, on the date that is 24 months after the closing date of the Forward Purchase Agreements (the “ Maturity Date ”), up to 5,618,488 shares of common stock then held by the FPA Investors (subject to certain conditions and purchase limits set forth in the Forward Purchase Agreements). Pursuant to the terms of the Forward Purchase Agreements, each FPA Investor further agreed not to redeem any of the FACT Class A Ordinary Shares owned by it at such time. The per price at which the FPA Investors have the right to sell the shares to us on the Maturity Date will not be less than $5.00 per share. On December 18, 2023, the Company and each FPA Investor entered into separate amendments to the Forward Purchase Agreements (the “ First Amendments”). The First Amendments lower the reset floor price of each Forward Purchase Agreement from $5.00 to $3.00 and allow the Company to raise up to $10,000,000 of equity from existing stockholders without triggering certain anti-dilution provisions contained in the Forward Purchase Agreements; provided, the insiders pay a price per share for their initial investment equal to the price per share as quoted on the Nasdaq on the day of purchase; provided, further, that any subsequent investments are made at a price per share equal to the of (a) the price per share as quoted by Nasdaq on the day of the purchase or (b) the amount paid in connection with the initial investment. On May 7 and 8, 2024, respectively, the Company entered into separate amendments to the Forward Purchase Agreements (the collectively the “ Second Amendments ”) with Sandia (the “ Sandia Second Amendment ”) and Polar (the “ Polar Second Amendment ”). The Second Amendments lower the reset price of each Forward Purchase Agreement from $3.00 to $1.00 per share and amend the VWAP Trigger Event provision to read: “After December 31, 2024, an event that occurs if the VWAP Price, for any 20 trading days during a 30 consecutive trading day-period, is below $1.00 per Share.” The Sandia Second Amendment is not until the Company executes similar amendments with both Polar and Meteora. Subsequently, on June 14, 2024, the Company entered into an amendment to the Forward Purchase Agreement with Sandia (the “ Sandia Third Amendment ”). The Sandia Third Amendment sets the reset price of each Forward Purchase Agreement to $1.00 per share and amends the VWAP Trigger Event provision to read: “After December 31, 2024, an event that occurs if the VWAP Price, for any 20 trading days during a 30 consecutive trading day-period, is below $1.00 per Share.” In the event either Polar or Meteora amend their Forward Purchase Agreements to include different terms from the $1.00 reset price and VWAP trigger adjustment, or file a notice of a VWAP trigger event, as referenced herein, the Sandia Forward Purchase Agreement will be retroactively amended to reflect those terms and liquidity on the Sandia Forward Purchase Agreement, including any of the 1,050,000 shares that were sold upon execution of the Sandia Forward Purchase Agreement. On July 17, 2024, the Company entered into the third amendment to the Forward Purchase Agreement with Polar (the “ Polar Third Amendment ”), pursuant to which the Company and Polar agreed that Section 2 (Most Nation) of the Forward Purchase Agreement is applicable to all 2,450,000 shares subject to the Forward Purchase Agreement. On July 15, 2025, the Company and Meteora entered into an amendment to the FPA between Meteora and the Company, on July 16, 2025, the Company and Sandia entered into an amendment to the FPA between Sandia and the Company, and on August 1, 2025, the Company and Polar entered in an amendment to the FPA between Polar and the Company (collectively, the “FPA Amendments”). The FPA Amendments extend the valuation date applicable to the Forward Purchase Agreements (the “Valuation Date”) to the earliest to occur of (a) July 17, 2026, (b) the date specified by Meteora or Sandia, as applicable, in a written notice to be delivered to the Company at their discretion and (c) 90 days after delivery by us of a written notice in the event that for any 20 trading days during a 30 consecutive trading day-period that occurs at least six months after the date of the transactions under the Amended and Business Combination Agreement entered into on May 26, 2023, the applicable volume-weighted average price (“VWAP Price”) is less than the then applicable reset price, provided that a registration statement was and available for the entire measurement period and remains continuously and available during the entire 90 day notice period. The FPA Amendments further amend the definition of “Settlement Amount Adjustment” to provide that if the expected Settlement Amount (as defined in the FPA Amendments) determined by the VWAP Price over the 15 scheduled trading days ending on but excluding the valuation date exceeds the Settlement Amount Adjustment, then the Settlement Amount Adjustment shall be deemed to be zero, and that if the Settlement Amount Adjustment exceeds the Settlement Amount, then the Settlement Amount Adjustment shall be paid, at the Company’s option, in cash or shares of our common stock. The FPA Amendments also amend the definition of “Cash Settlement Payment Date” to provide that if the Settlement Amount Adjustment exceeds the Settlement Amount, we shall remit to the applicable seller the difference between (i) the Settlement Amount Adjustment and (ii) the Settlement Amount. The FPA Amendments further provide that the Settlement Amount will be used solely as a calculation mechanism to determine any liability the Company may owe to the applicable seller via the Settlement Amount Adjustment, and notwithstanding anything to the , the applicable seller shall not be required to remit the Settlement Amount to the Company or return any portion of the Prepayment Amount.
If the FPA Investors hold some or all of the 5,618,488 forward purchase agreement shares on the Maturity Date, and the per share trading price of our common stock is less than the per share price at which the FPA Investors have the right to sell the common stock to us on the Maturity Date, we would expect that the FPA Investors will exercise this repurchase right with respect to such shares. In the event that we are required to repurchase these forward purchase agreement shares, or in the event that the Forward Purchase Agreements are terminated, the amount of cash arising from the Business Combination that would ultimately be available to fund our liquidity and capital resource requirements would be reduced accordingly, which would adversely affect our ability to fund our growth plan in the manner we had contemplated when entering into the Forward Purchase Agreements.
Warrants to purchase shares of our common stock may not be exercised at all or may be exercised on a cashless basis and we may not receive any cash proceeds from the exercise of such warrants.
The exercise price of warrants to purchase shares of our common stock may be higher than the prevailing market price of the underlying shares of common stock. The exercise price of such warrants is subject to market conditions and may not be advantageous if the prevailing market price of the underlying shares of common stock is lower than the exercise price. The cash proceeds associated with the exercise of such warrants to purchase our common stock are contingent upon our stock price. The value of our common stock will fluctuate and may not align with the exercise price of such warrants at any given time. If such warrants are “out of the money,” meaning the exercise price is higher than the market price of our common stock, there is a high likelihood that warrant holders may choose not to exercise their warrants. As a result, we may not receive any proceeds from the exercise of such warrants.
Furthermore, with regard to certain warrants to purchase shares of our common stock that were issued in a private placement at the time of FACT’s IPO and warrants issued to certain selling securityholders in connection with conversion of working capital loans, it is possible that we may not receive cash upon their exercise, since these warrants may be exercised on a cashless basis. A cashless exercise allows warrant holders to convert the warrants into shares of our common stock without the need for a cash payment. Instead of paying cash upon exercise, the warrant holder would receive a reduced number of shares based on a predetermined formula. As a result, the number of shares issued through a cashless exercise will be lower than if the warrants were exercised on a cash basis, which could impact the cash proceeds we receive from the exercise of such warrants.
Servicing our outstanding debt requires a significant amount of cash, and we may not have sufficient cash flow from our business to pay our substantial debt.
Our ability to make scheduled payments of the principal of, to pay interest on or to refinance our indebtedness, including (a) 12.00% Notes due 2029 and the 7.00% Convertible Senior Notes due 2029 (the 7.00% Notes due 2029 and with the 12.00% Notes due 2029, collectively, the “ Convertible Senior Notes ”) and (b) the convertible note and convertible debenture issued to Yorkville (collectively, the “ Yorkville Notes ”), depends on our future performance, which is subject to economic, financial, competitive and other factors beyond our control. Our business may not continue to generate cash flow from operations in the future sufficient to service our debt and make necessary capital expenditures. Additionally, as a result of the delayed filing of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 29, 2024 and, subsequently, our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 28, 2025, we incurred additional interest under the Convertible Senior Notes. If we are unable to generate such cash flow, we may be required to adopt one or more alternatives, such as selling assets, restructuring debt or obtaining additional equity capital on terms that may be onerous or highly dilutive. Our ability to refinance our indebtedness will depend on the capital markets and our financial condition at such time. We may not be able to engage in any of these activities or engage in these activities on terms, which could result in a on our debt obligations, including the Convertible Senior Notes.
The conversion features of the Convertible Senior Notes may adversely affect our financial condition and operating results.
The holders of Convertible Senior Notes will be entitled to convert their notes at and during specified periods at their option. If one or more holders elect to convert their notes, unless we elect to satisfy our conversion obligation by delivering solely shares of our common stock (other than paying cash in lieu of delivering any fractional share), at maturity, we would be required to settle a portion or all of our conversion obligation through the payment of cash, which could adversely affect our liquidity.
Certain provisions in the indentures or other agreements governing the Convertible Senior Notes, as well as the agreements governing the Yorkville Notes, may delay or prevent an otherwise a beneficial takeover attempt of us.
Certain provisions in the indentures or other agreements governing the Convertible Senior Notes may make it more difficult or expensive for a third party to acquire us. For example, the indentures and other agreements governing the Convertible Senior Notes will require us to repurchase the Convertible Senior Notes for cash upon the occurrence of a fundamental change and, in certain circumstances, to increase the conversion rate for a holder that converts its notes in connection with a make-whole fundamental change. A takeover of us may trigger the requirement that we repurchase the Convertible Senior Notes and/or increase the conversion rate, which could make it costlier for a potential acquirer to engage in such takeover. Such additional costs may have the effect of delaying or preventing a takeover of us that would otherwise be beneficial to investors.
Conversion of the Convertible Senior Notes or the Yorkville Notes may dilute the ownership interest of our stockholders or may otherwise depress the price of our common stock.
The conversion of some or all of the Convertible Senior Notes may dilute the ownership interests of our stockholders. Upon conversion of the Convertible Senior Notes, we have the option to pay or deliver, as the case may be, cash, shares of our common stock or a combination of cash and shares of our common stock. If we elect to settle our conversion obligation in shares of our common stock or a combination of cash and shares of our common stock, any sales in the public market of our common stock issuable upon such conversion could adversely affect prevailing market prices of our common stock. In addition, the existence of the Convertible Senior Notes may encourage short selling by market participants because the conversion of the Convertible Senior Notes could be used to satisfy short positions, or anticipated conversion of the Convertible Senior Notes into shares of our common stock could depress the price of our common stock.
The accounting method for the Convertible Senior Notes could adversely affect our reported financial condition and results.
The accounting method for reflecting the Convertible Senior Notes on our balance sheet, accruing interest expense for the Convertible Senior Notes and reflecting the underlying shares of our common stock in our reported diluted earnings per share may adversely affect our reported earnings and financial condition.
In addition, we expect that the shares of common stock underlying the Convertible Senior Notes will be reflected in our diluted earnings per share using the “if converted” method. Under that method, diluted earnings per share would generally be calculated assuming that all the Convertible Senior Notes were converted solely into shares of common stock at the beginning of the reporting period, unless the result would be anti-dilutive. The application of the if-converted method may reduce our reported diluted earnings per share to the extent we are profitable in the future, and accounting standards may change in the future in a manner that may adversely affect our diluted earnings per share.
Furthermore, if any of the conditions to the convertibility of the Convertible Senior Notes is satisfied, then we may be required under applicable accounting standards to reclassify the liability carrying value of the Convertible Senior Notes as a current, rather than a long-term, liability. This reclassification could be required even if no noteholders or holders of affiliate notes convert their notes or affiliate notes, respectively, following the satisfaction of those conditions and could materially reduce our reported working capital.
Future sales (including potential sales of securities to White Lion pursuant to the White Lion Purchase Agreement and potential sales to Yorkville under the Yorkville Purchase Agreement), or the perception of future sales, by us or our stockholders in the public market could cause the market price for the common stock to decline.
The sale of shares of our common stock in the public market, or the perception that such sales could occur, could harm the prevailing market price of shares of our common stock. These sales, or the possibility that these sales may occur, also might make it more difficult for the us to sell equity securities in the future at a time and at a price that it deems appropriate. In the future, we may issue our securities to raise capital or in connection with investments or acquisitions. The amount of shares of common stock issued or issuable upon exercise or conversion of securities issued in connection with a capital raise or an investment or acquisition could constitute a material portion of the then-outstanding shares of our common stock. Any issuance of additional securities in connection with capital raising activities, investments or acquisitions may result in additional dilution to our stockholders.
