Align Tech (ALGN) Risk Analysis

We prepare our consolidated financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP. These principles are subject to interpretation by the SEC and various bodies formed to interpret and create appropriate accounting principles. A change in these principles or in the way these principles are interpreted by us or by our regulators could materially affect our current or previously issued financial statements.

Compliance with tax laws requires significant judgment concerning our worldwide provision for income taxes. Changes in tax laws, such as the Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting ("BEPS") established by Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development ("OECD"), the OECD/G20 Framework's Pillar Two 15% global minimum tax, and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, or changes to how those laws are applied to our business could affect the amount of tax which we are subject to and the manner in which we operate. We continue to monitor the enactment of legislation to evaluate the impact of changing global tax laws, which could adversely affect our provision for income taxes or operations. The application of indirect taxes (such as sales and use tax ("SUT"), value-added tax ("VAT"), goods and services tax ("GST"), and other indirect taxes) to our operations is complex and evolving. U.S. states, local and foreign taxing jurisdictions have differing rules and regulations governing differing types of taxes, and these rules and regulations are subject to varying interpretations and exemptions that may change over time. We collect and remit SUT, VAT, GST and other taxes in many jurisdictions and we are routinely subject to audits. The positions we take regarding taxes as well as the amounts we collect or remit have and may continue to be challenged and we may be liable for failing to collect or remit all taxes deemed owed or the taxes could exceed our estimates. Certain jurisdictions have applied novel or aggressive interpretations of their laws in new ways in an effort to raise additional tax revenue from U.S. based companies such as us, and we may experience similar developments in the future. In addition, ongoing volatility due to international trade may prompt foreign governments to expand regulatory authority or adopt new measures, increasing compliance risks, taxes, and operational complexities. We have and may continue to dispute rulings or positions taken by tax authorities, which have and may continue to incur significant expenses, time, and effort to defend our positions. The application of existing and new tax laws, and the results of audits could harm our business. Furthermore, there have been and will continue to be substantial ongoing costs associated with complying with the various tax requirements and defending our positions in the numerous markets in which we conduct or will conduct business.

We are or may become, or alleged to be or become, subject to stringent federal, state, and foreign laws and regulations, such as HIPAA, which regulates the security and privacy of patient healthcare information applicable to healthcare providers and their business associates, and the California Consumer Protection Act, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act, which regulates privacy, data security, content regulation and consumer protection. Numerous other states have enacted, or plan to enact, laws relating to privacy, data protection, data governance and cybersecurity, with such enacted laws either in operation or slated to go into operation over the next several years. Outside of the United States, relevant legal requirements continue to evolve. For example, the collection and use of health data and other personal information is governed in the EU by the EU GDPR, which imposes significant obligations upon companies and rights for individuals, with substantial penalties for noncompliance. Numerous other jurisdictions maintain similar legislation or other laws or regulations addressing privacy, data protection, data governance, or cybersecurity. Several jurisdictions, including the EU, United States, China, Australia, and Japan, have enacted data export restrictions and international transfer laws and regulations that established legal requirements for cross-border transfers of all or certain personal information and certain jurisdictions have also established legal requirements for data localization, which may require us to maintain separate servers located in those countries so that all or certain personal information are maintained locally. These laws, regulations and other obligations relating to privacy, data protection, data governance and cybersecurity are constantly evolving and may be created, interpreted or enforced in ways that could impose new, substantially uncertain, and relatively burdensome obligations on our global operations, restrict our activities and our ability to provide our products and services in certain jurisdictions, require us to cease operations or modify our policies and business practices in a materially limiting manner, prevent us from resolving issues quickly or force us to resolve them in unanticipated ways, require us to engage in additional contractual negotiations, increase our costs and obligations and limit our ability to efficiently transfer personal data across borders, cause us to incur significant costs, expenses and damages, and present challenges in adapting our policies and practices to address their requirements. Any failure or perceived failure by us or our vendors, customers, or service providers to comply with applicable privacy and data protection laws or to adequately safeguard personal data or patient healthcare information, even if unfounded, may result in regulatory investigations, enforcement actions, litigation (including class actions), and financial penalties, any of which could materially affect our operations and financial performance. Additionally, concerns over our practices with respect to privacy, data protection, data governance, and cybersecurity could adversely affect our reputation and deter customers and consumers from using our products and services. We have cybersecurity and other forms of insurance coverage related to cyberattacks, breaches, and other incidents or security problems, but we cannot guarantee applicable insurance will be available to us in the future on economically reasonable terms or at all. Damages and claims arising from incidents may not be covered, may exceed coverage limits, and may not cover the time and effort we incur investigating and responding to any incidents, or other costs or liabilities, which may be material. The costs to eliminate, mitigate, or recover from security problems and cybersecurity attacks and incidents could be material and require us to implement additional or different security controls or other measures and, depending on the nature and extent of the problem and the products, services or IT systems impacted, such security problems and cybersecurity attacks and incidents may result in network, IT system interruptions or other disruptions, decreased product sales, data loss, damage, unavailability, or other liabilities, any of which may have a material impact on our operations, net revenues and operating results. The costs associated with cybersecurity tools and infrastructure and competition for scarce cybersecurity and IT resources could limit our ability to identify, eliminate or remediate cybersecurity or other security vulnerabilities or problems or enact changes to minimize the attack surface of our network.

Extensive litigation over IP rights is common in technologies and industries on which our products and services are based. Litigation, interferences, oppositions, reexaminations, inter partes reviews, post-grant reviews or other proceedings have been necessary and will likely be needed in the future to determine the validity and scope of certain of our IP rights and those claimed by third parties. These proceedings are used to determine the validity, scope or non-infringement of certain IP rights pertinent to the manufacture, use or sale of our products and the products of competitors. We have been, and may in the future be, sued and need to defend against lawsuits alleging infringement of third parties' IP rights or other legal claims challenging our IP rights. In addition, we periodically receive letters from third parties drawing our attention to their IP rights and there may be other third-party IP rights of which we are presently unaware. As dentistry continues to become more digital, competitors may make defense of our IP more challenging. Asserting or defending these proceedings can be unpredictable (e.g., due to differences in forums, judges, and jurisdictions; case law that continues to evolve with time; changes in administrative policies, etc.), protracted, time-consuming, expensive, and distracting to management and technical personnel. Their outcomes may adversely affect our ability to manufacture and market our products and services, require us to seek licenses for infringing products or technologies, or result in the assessment of significant monetary damages. Unfavorable rulings could also include monetary damages, injunctions prohibiting us from selling our products, or exclusion orders preventing us from importing our products in one or more countries. Moreover, independent actions by competitors, customers, or others have alleged that our efforts to enforce our IP rights constitute unfair competition or violations of antitrust laws. Investigations and additional litigation based on the same or similar claims may be brought in the future. The potential effects on our business operations resulting from litigation, whether or not ultimately determined in our favor or settled by us, are costly and could materially affect our reputation, business, financial condition and results of operations.

We have and are continuing to incorporate AI and machine learning technologies into certain of our products, services and IT systems, while continuing to explore the opportunities that AI could bring to our company. However, there can be no assurance that we or our customers will realize the expected benefits from these investments. AI innovation presents risks and challenges that could impact our business. Our or our vendors' AI technologies may be developed using inaccurate, incomplete, flawed or biased algorithms, training methodologies or data, which could lead to the dissemination of false information and result in competitive harm, regulatory penalties, legal liability, or brand or reputational harm. AI is subject to a dynamic and rapidly evolving legal and regulatory environment, which, without appropriate review, governance and risk management, could expose us to unforeseen legal or regulatory scrutiny and liabilities. For example, the U.S. AI regulatory framework remains in development and has been introduced at the federal level through executive orders and legislation has been introduced and enacted at the state level. In Europe, the EU AI Act entered into force on August 1, 2024 which will become fully effective on August 2, 2026, with some provisions effective in February 2025. Other jurisdictions are considering similar legislation. Although we do not engage in developing or providing AI systems for which their placement on the market, putting into service, or use would qualify as "prohibited AI practices," restrictions and obligations under this regulation, to the extent applicable to us, could have a negative impact on our business, global systems, financial condition and results of operations. Additionally, other jurisdictions have proposed, and in certain cases enacted, laws and regulations addressing aspects of the use and development of AI. The evolving AI regulatory environment may, among other impacts, result in inconsistencies among AI regulations and frameworks across jurisdictions; onerous compliance, governance, and research and development obligations that may require us to rework or reevaluate products or services to be compliant or result in the development of products that are unacceptable under new or revised regulatory frameworks; increased risk of exposure to investigations, proceedings and claims related to our AI models; increased liability related to the use of AI by our customers, consumers or suppliers beyond our control; delays in the deployment of new products and services; competitive and reputational harm; and increased cybersecurity risks. Additionally, as we offer more third-party AI models in our solutions, we face risks inherent in how third-party AI models used in our solutions have been developed and deployed, including situations in which the third party may lack a proper license or consent for the training data used for their model. The use and availability of third-party AI models in our solutions could result in scrutiny and legal liability, including intellectual property infringement claims. Such claims or scrutiny could cause reputational harm and loss of customers, and adversely impact our business and financial results. In addition, new competition regulations on AI development and deployment could impose new requirements on our markets that could impact our business and financial results. The input of confidential information or trade secrets into AI systems may result in the loss of intellectual property, proprietary rights or attorney-client privilege in such information or trade secrets. The use of AI technologies for developing products or services may adversely affect or preclude our intellectual property rights in such products or services, or may expose us to liability related to the infringement, misappropriation or other violation of third-party intellectual property. Further, particularly given the nascent stage of the technology, the use of AI can lead to unintended consequences, including the generation of outputs that appear correct but are factually inaccurate, misleading, or that result in unintended biases and discriminatory outcomes, or are otherwise flawed, which could harm our reputation and business and expose us to risks related to such inaccuracies or errors in these outputs.

DSOs, OSOs and other large group practices have become an increasingly important channel for adoption of our products and services. If doctors at DSOs, OSOs or other large group practices reduce, delay, or do not expand their purchasing of our products and services, or otherwise change priorities, protocols, or workflows in ways that reduce utilization of our products, demand for our products and services may not increase or may decrease, which could have a material impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, on behalf of the doctors in their affiliated practices, DSOs and other large group practices may have greater leverage to negotiate pricing, volume-based discounts, rebates, extended payment terms, or other commercial concessions, which could adversely affect our ASPs, gross margins and profitability.

In addition to our direct sales force, we have and expect to continue to use distributors, resellers or other commercial intermediaries to import, market, sell, service and support our products and services. Our distribution agreements are generally non-exclusive and terminable by either party with customary notice. If qualified and acceptable alternative commercial intermediaries cannot be quickly found and trained in the use, marketing, sales and support of our products and services, our revenues and ability to sell or service our products and services in key markets could be adversely affected. These commercial intermediaries may also choose to sell alternative or competing products or services. In addition, we may be held responsible for the actions of these commercial intermediaries, their employees and commercial intermediaries for non-compliance with laws and regulations, including fair competition, bribery and corruption, import and export compliance, safety, data privacy, false advertising or unfair and deceptive trade practices, and marketing and sales activities. If these commercial intermediaries fail to satisfy customers, our reputation and brand loyalty could be harmed. An intermediary may also affect our ability to effectively market our products in certain foreign countries or regulatory jurisdictions if it holds the regulatory authorization in such countries or within such regions and causes, by action or inaction, the suspension of such marketing authorization or sanctions for non-compliance or prevents us from taking control of any such authorization. It may be difficult, expensive, and time-consuming for us to re-establish market access or regulatory compliance.

We depend on commercial freight carriers, primarily United Parcel Service, Inc., to deliver our products. If the operations of commercial freight carriers are disrupted or we fail to mitigate any disruptions, we may be unable to timely deliver products to our customers who may choose alternative products, causing our net revenues and gross margin to decline, possibly materially. Moreover, when fuel costs increase, our freight costs generally do as well. In addition, we earn an increasingly larger portion of our total revenues from international sales, which carry higher shipping costs that negatively impact our gross margin and results of operations. If freight costs materially increase and we are unable to successfully pass all or significant portions of the increases along to our customers, or we cannot otherwise offset such increases, our gross margin and financial results could be materially affected.

Geopolitical events, wars, military actions, terrorism, or major public health crises have and could in the future harm or disrupt international commerce and the global economy, and could materially adversely affect our business. Such events have and could result in, among other things, supply chain and trade disruptions, changes in diplomatic and trade relationships, new and retaliatory tariffs, trade protection measures, quotas, embargoes, trade sanctions and countersanctions, customs investigations or restrictions, boycotts, reduced consumer spending, government shutdowns, cyberattacks, energy shortages or power outages, energy rationing that adversely impacts our manufacturing facilities, rising fuel or rising costs of producing, procuring, and shipping our products, constraints, volatility or disruption in the financial markets, employee deaths or injuries, restrictions and shortages of food, water, shelter and medical supplies, data or information exchange, disruptions, interruptions or limitations in telecommunication services, critical systems or applications reliant on a stable and uninterrupted communications infrastructure, and protests that may impact delivery of our products to customers or destruction of property. Such events may also cause a shift in public opinion about companies based in the United States or in the regions where we operate or plan to operate, which could adversely impact our reputation and business. Tariffs or proposed tariffs, customs duties, or fees, and any retaliatory tariffs, international trade disputes, or protectionist trade measures taken in response to such tariffs may increase the cost of our products and the components or the raw materials used to make them, reduce demand for our products and adversely impact our gross margin and results of operations, limit our ability to sell to certain customers, limit or prohibit the availability of certain raw materials, components and parts necessary for our products or the products of our suppliers, or impede or slow the movement of our goods across borders. For example, the U.S. Department of Commerce has initiated an investigation under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, as amended, to determine the effects on the national security of imports of personal protective equipment (PPE), medical consumables, and medical equipment including devices. A significant portion of the products we sell, and the components and raw materials used in our products are originally manufactured or sourced outside the United States. For example, we manufacture clear aligners in our facility in Mexico and ship them to the United States, primarily for our United States customers, with the remainder eventually shipped to other international locations. Tariffs have and could in the future result in additional costs for our products, which may reduce demand for our products and adversely impact our gross margin and results of operations, and we may not be able to fully or substantially mitigate the impact of any new or increased tariffs or pass price increases on to our customers and to the extent we do, we may experience reduced demand for our products. On February 20, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that certain of the tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act were unlawful, and while we are no longer subject to such tariffs as a result of that decision, we are currently subject to new, temporary tariffs on imports under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, effective February 24, 2026. The extent and duration of any tariffs and the resulting impact on general economic conditions and on our business, financial condition and results of operations are uncertain. Foreign countries have and may continue to adopt other measures such as controls on the import or export of goods, technology or data, including personal data, which could adversely impact our operations and supply chains or limit our ability to offer certain products or services. We may take various actions in response to these measures, including changing suppliers, where we manufacture our products, or restructuring business relationships. Such actions may be expensive, time-consuming, disruptive to our logistics and operations, irreversible, and more costly for us and our customers. Trade restrictions may be announced with little or no advance notice and we may be unable to effectively mitigate any adverse impacts in a timely manner or at all. Military conflicts, wars, and escalation of terrorist or gang activities have and may in the future materially adversely impact the economies in which we operate. Our iTero operations, headquartered in Israel, are close to areas that have been affected by the conflict between Israel and Hamas. The outbreak of military conflict between the United States and Iran on February 28, 2026 and Israel's war against Iran has resulted in instability around the Middle East region, particularly a disruption in shipment of global oil and gas flows, with cascading effects on energy prices and global economic conditions. Additionally, our supply chains and demand for our products could be impaired as a result of political instability, drug trafficking, the continuation or escalation of terrorist or gang activities (particularly with respect to our manufacturing operations in Mexico), hostilities, export and import restrictions, sanctions or boycotts. These events could disrupt ongoing operations and may materially impact the logistics, timing and cost of shipping of our products and materials or our ability to operate out of impacted areas, and our ongoing contingency planning and business continuity measures to mitigate these risks may not be sufficient. Additionally, China's territorial conflicts with other neighboring countries may impact our operations and sales in China. We cannot predict the progress or outcome of these events or the reactions by governments, businesses or consumers and each event could, individually or in the aggregate, materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.