KLA (KLAC) Risk Analysis

We maintain significant operations outside the United States, and existing and evolving trade restrictions imposed by the U.S. and other governments could significantly disrupt our global operations. The U.S. government has tightened export controls for commodities, software, and technology (collectively, "items") destined to China over the past several years. These controls have included, for example, restrictions on exporting certain items to military end users and for military end uses, the addition of numerous entities to the U.S. Entity List (a list of parties that are generally ineligible to receive U.S.-regulated items without prior licensing from Commerce), and the creation of new licensing requirements that apply to the export, re-export, and transfer of certain foreign-made items that are the direct product of U.S.-origin technology or produced by a plant or major component of a plant that itself is the direct product of U.S.-origin technology and that are destined to Huawei or its affiliates and other specified companies on the U.S. Entity List, and other facilities in China where the production of advanced node ICs occurs. In October 2022, Commerce published the 2022 BIS Rules, which introduced restrictions related to semiconductor, semiconductor manufacturing, supercomputer and advanced computing items and end uses. These rules impose restrictions on our ability to sell, ship and support certain equipment and otherwise conduct business with certain counterparties, primarily including China-based companies involved in advanced semiconductor manufacturing. Further, the 2022 BIS Rules impose restrictions on the activities of U.S. persons with respect to certain items that are not subject to the Export Administration Regulations ("EAR"), which departs from Commerce's typical practice of controlling items that are subject to the EAR and could further restrict our ability to conduct business in China. In October 2023, Commerce issued the 2023 BIS Rules designed to update export controls on advanced computing semiconductors and semiconductor manufacturing equipment, as well as items that support supercomputing applications and end uses, to certain D1, D4 and/or D5 countries in Supplement No. 1 of Part 740 of the U.S. EAR, including China. The 2023 BIS Rules adjust the parameters included in the 2022 BIS Rules that determine whether an advanced computing chip is restricted and impose new measures to address risks of circumvention of the controls established by the 2022 BIS Rules. In December 2024 and January 2025, Commerce again issued incremental 2024 BIS Rules and 2025 BIS Rules, adding even more companies to the U.S. Entity List and revising the definition of advanced DRAM, further restricting our ability to provide certain items and services to facilities in China producing advanced DRAM ICs. In September 2025, Commerce released an interim final rule that further expands export control restrictions and licensing requirements for foreign entities 50% or more directly or indirectly owned by one or more listed parties on the U.S. Entity List, Military End-User List, and certain entities on the Specially Designated Nationals and Block Persons List, which Commerce has labeled the "Affiliates Rule." The new rule increases compliance requirements with the EAR by imposing on exporters, re-exporters, and transferors of items subject to the EAR a responsibility to know the ownership of the parties to a transaction. In November 2025, the BIS suspended the Affiliates Rule for one year until November 2026. Commerce may continue to add China-based entities to the U.S. Entity List and impose other end use or end user export restrictions, which could disrupt or prevent our product shipments to China-based entities, and further disrupt our revenue recognition, business operations and our ability to support our customers in China. These rules and regulations may significantly harm our business unless we are able to obtain required licenses. We will continue to apply for export licenses, when required, in an effort to avoid disruption to our and our customers' operations, but there can be no assurance that export licenses applied for by either us or our customers, now or in the future, will be granted. To the extent Commerce does issue licenses to us or to our customers, such licenses may have a short duration or require us to satisfy various conditions. If pending and future export license applications are not granted, or additional restrictions are imposed, or if regulators adopt new interpretations of existing regulations, the potential impact on us could be material by disrupting our supply chain and product shipment, impairing our ability to complete product development in a timely manner, or our ability to support existing customers of covered products or supply customers of covered products outside the impacted regions, and requiring us to transition certain operations out of one or more of the identified countries. Failure to obtain export licenses has harmed and could continue to harm our backlog, requiring us to return substantial deposits received from customers in China for purchase orders, and/or further limiting our ability to meet our contractual obligations and sell our products or provide services to our customers in China. In addition, the U.S. export restrictions on semiconductors and semiconductor technology to China and Chinese customers may reduce the need for our products and make it easier for our China-based competitors to develop and sell their own products and take market share from us. We may lose revenue in future periods related to anticipated sales to customers in China unless we are able to replace their orders with other customer orders for which either an export license has been obtained or is not required. Our revenue from sales of products and provision of services to customers in China was 30%, 33% and 43% for fiscal years 2026, 2025 and 2024, respectively, and future revenue from China as a percentage of our overall revenue may decline as a result of the current and future Commerce rules and regulations. Additionally, the Chinese government has adopted, and may further adopt, new regulations, in response to U.S. government actions, which could adversely affect our ability to do business in China. We have faced delays and could face additional delays or denials in the export of our tools by regulatory agencies for national security or other regulatory concerns in the countries in which we do business, which could negatively affect our results of operations and timing of revenue recognition. We have controls and procedures designed to maintain compliance with U.S. and other applicable export control laws and regulations; however, we cannot guarantee that such controls and procedures will be successful in preventing violations or allegations of violations of increasingly complex and often conflicting regulations worldwide. Recently, some of our products destined for China have been held up by U.S. Customs and Border Protection due to questions about the nature of the customer or about the capabilities of our products. We cannot make any assurance that products that have been held up will be cleared for shipment in a timely manner or without a license. Shipment delays or cancellations could have an adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. The complexity and evolving nature of the rules and regulations, and the fact that Commerce or other relevant regulators might adopt interpretations of regulations that differ from those of the Company, increase our risk of non-compliance. Any violations by us of applicable export laws and regulations could result in significant civil and criminal penalties, including fines and criminal proceedings against the Company or responsible employees, a denial of export privileges, suspension or debarment. Our employees, customers, suppliers or other third parties with whom we work may also engage in conduct for which the Company might be held responsible. We could face significant compliance, litigation or settlement costs and diversion of management's attention from our business as a result. Further, the Company may be subject to negative publicity or reputational harm, resulting in reduced demand for our products, employee attrition and other negative impact on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

We are exposed to additional risks related to our receipt of external funding for certain strategic development programs from various governments and government agencies, both domestically and internationally. Governments and government agencies typically have the right to terminate funding programs at any time in their sole discretion, or a project may be terminated by mutual agreement if the parties determine that the project's goals or milestones are not being achieved, so there is no assurance that these sources of external funding will continue to be available to us in the future. In addition, under the terms of these government grants, the applicable granting agency typically has the right to audit the costs that we incur, directly and indirectly, in connection with such programs. Any such audit could result in modifications to, or even termination of, the applicable government funding program. For example, if an audit were to identify any costs as being improperly allocated to the applicable program, those costs would not be reimbursed, and any such costs that had already been reimbursed would have to be refunded. We do not know the outcome of any future audits. Any adverse finding resulting from any such audit could lead to penalties (financial or otherwise), termination of funding programs, suspension of payments, fines and suspension or prohibition from receiving future government funding from the applicable government or government agency, any of which could adversely impact our operating results, financial condition and ability to operate our business.

Our success is dependent, in part, on our technology and other proprietary rights. We own various U.S. and international patents and have additional pending patent applications relating to some of our products and technologies. The process of seeking patent protection is lengthy and expensive, and we cannot be certain that pending or future applications will actually result in issued patents or that issued patents will be of sufficient scope or strength to provide meaningful protection or commercial advantage to us. Other companies and individuals, including our larger competitors, may develop technologies and obtain patents relating to our business that are similar or superior to our technology or may design around the patents we own, which may adversely affect our business. In addition, we at times engage in collaborative technology development efforts with our customers and suppliers, and these collaborations may constitute a key component of certain of our ongoing technology and product R&D projects. The termination of any such collaboration, or delays caused by disputes or other unanticipated challenges that may arise in connection with any such collaboration, could significantly impair our R&D efforts, which could have a material adverse impact on our business and operations. We also maintain trademarks on certain of our products and services and claim copyright protection for certain proprietary software and documentation. However, we can give no assurance that our trademarks and copyrights will be upheld or successfully deter infringement by third parties. While patent, copyright and trademark protection for our IP is important, we believe our future success in highly dynamic markets is most dependent upon the technical competence and creative skills of our personnel. We attempt to protect our trade secrets and other proprietary information through confidentiality and other agreements with our customers, suppliers, employees and consultants and through other security measures. We also maintain exclusive and non-exclusive licenses with third parties for strategic technology used in certain products. However, these employees, consultants and third parties may breach these agreements, and we may not have adequate remedies for wrongdoing. We also try to control access to and distribution of our technology and proprietary information. Despite our efforts, internal or external parties may attempt to copy, disclose, obtain or misappropriate our IP or technology. In addition, former employees may seek employment with our customers, suppliers or competitors and there can be no assurance that the confidential nature of our proprietary information will be maintained in the course of such future employment. In addition, the laws of certain territories in which we develop, manufacture or sell our products may not protect our IP rights to the same extent as the laws of the U.S. In any event, the extent to which we can protect our trade secrets through the use of confidentiality agreements is limited, and our success will depend to a significant extent on our ability to innovate ahead of our competitors.

We are increasingly incorporating AI capabilities into the development of technologies and our business operations, and into our products and services. AI technology is complex and rapidly evolving, and may subject us to significant competitive, legal, regulatory and other risks. We cannot predict the pace or trajectory of AI development or the extent to which AI-driven disruption will affect the semiconductor industry, and AI technologies may disrupt the broader semiconductor supply chain and ecosystem in ways that are difficult to predict. The implementation of AI can be costly and there is no guarantee that our use of AI will enhance our technologies, benefit our business operations or produce products and services that are preferred by our customers. Our competitors may be more successful in their AI strategy and develop superior products and services with the aid of AI. Additionally, AI algorithms or training methodologies may be flawed, and datasets may contain irrelevant, insufficient or biased information, which can cause errors in outputs. This may give rise to legal liability, damage our reputation and materially harm our business. Our employees, consultants, partners or third-party vendors may use AI tools without authorization or in a manner inconsistent with our policies, which could expose proprietary, confidential or regulated information to unauthorized recipients or create claims relating to privacy, open-source software, contractual obligations or other legal requirements. The use of AI in the development of our products and services, and our customers' use of AI in relation to our products and services could also cause loss of IP, as well as subject us to risks, including third-party claims, related to IP infringement or misappropriation, data privacy and cybersecurity. Additionally, concerns over the use of AI for purposes contrary to public interests could impair public acceptance of AI and impair demand for our products and services. Although we strive to use AI technologies responsibly and have implemented internal processes and controls designed to identify and mitigate ethical and legal concerns related to our use of AI technologies, such processes and controls may not be sufficient to identify, assess, and mitigate all AI-related risks, and we may not identify or resolve issues before they occur. Failure to effectively develop and manage our AI governance framework could result in legal liability, regulatory action, reputational harm, or other adverse consequences to our business. Furthermore, the regulatory framework for AI technologies is rapidly evolving, uncertain, and varies significantly by jurisdiction, with new laws and regulations being enacted or proposed in the United States, the European Union and elsewhere. Compliance with new or changing AI-related laws and regulations may impose significant operational costs, require additional investment in governance and controls, or necessitate changes to our offerings or business practices. Any failure or perceived failure by us to comply with such regulatory requirements could subject us to legal liabilities, damage our reputation, or otherwise have a material and adverse impact on our business.

We outsource a number of services, including our transportation, information systems management and logistics management of spare parts and certain accounting and procurement functions, among others, to domestic and overseas third-party service providers. While outsourcing arrangements may lower our cost of operations, they also reduce our direct control over the services rendered. It is uncertain what effect such diminished control will have on the quality or quantity of products delivered or services rendered, on our ability to quickly respond to changing market conditions, or on our ability to ensure compliance with all applicable domestic and foreign laws and regulations. In addition, many of these outsourced service providers, including certain hosted software applications that we use for confidential data storage, may employ cloud computing technology and other systems. These providers are susceptible to "cyber incidents," such as software vulnerabilities, cyber-attacks aimed at theft of sensitive data, inadvertent cyber-security compromises, attacks aimed at operational disruption at the target or third-party service providers, all of which are outside of our control. If we do not effectively develop and manage our outsourcing strategies, if required export and other governmental approvals are not timely obtained, if our third-party service providers pass on the cost of inflation to us or do not perform as anticipated, or do not adequately maintain operational resilience or fail to protect our data from cyber-related security breaches, or if there are delays or difficulties in enhancing business processes, we may experience operational difficulties (such as limitations on our ability to ship products), increased costs, manufacturing or service interruptions or delays, loss of IP rights or other sensitive data, quality and compliance issues, and challenges in managing our product inventory or recording and reporting financial and management information, any of which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our customer base, particularly in the semiconductor industry, historically has been highly concentrated due to corporate consolidation, acquisitions and business closures. In this environment, orders from a relatively limited number of manufacturers have accounted for, and are expected to continue to account for, a substantial portion of our sales. This increasing concentration exposes our business, financial condition and operating results to a number of risks, including the following: - The mix and type of customers, and sales to any single customer, may vary significantly from quarter to quarter and from year to year, which expose our business and operating results to increased volatility tied to individual customers;- New orders from our foundry/logic customers in the past several years have constituted a significant portion of our total orders. This concentration increases the impact that future business or technology changes within the foundry/logic industry may have on our business, financial condition and operating results;- In a highly concentrated business environment, if a particular customer does not place an order, or if they delay or cancel orders, we may not be able to replace the business. Furthermore, because our process control and yield management products are configured to each customer's specifications, any changes, delays or cancellations of orders may result in significant, non-recoverable costs;- As a result of this consolidation, the customers that survive the consolidation represent a greater portion of our sales and, consequently, have greater commercial negotiating leverage. Many of our large customers have more aggressive policies regarding engaging alternative, second-source suppliers for the products we offer and, in addition, may seek and, on occasion, receive pricing, payment, IP-related or other commercial terms that may have an adverse impact on our business and we may not be able to pass on the cost of inflation to our customers. Any of these changes could negatively impact our prices, customer orders, revenues and gross margins;- Certain customers have undergone significant ownership changes, created alliances with other companies, experienced management changes or have outsourced manufacturing activities, any of which may result in additional complexities in managing customer relationships and transactions. Any future change in ownership or management of our existing customers may result in similar challenges, including the possibility of the successor entity or new management deciding to select a competitor's products;- The highly concentrated business environment also increases our exposure to risks related to the financial condition of each of our customers. For example, as a result of the challenging economic environment during fiscal year 2009, we were (and, in some cases, continue to be) exposed to additional risks related to the continued financial viability of certain of our customers. To the extent our customers experience liquidity issues in the future, we may be required to incur additional credit losses with respect to receivables owed to us by those customers. In addition, customers with liquidity issues may be forced to reduce purchases of our equipment, delay deliveries of our products, discontinue operations or may be acquired by one of our customers, and, in either case, such event would have the effect of further consolidating our customer base;- Semiconductor manufacturers generally must commit significant resources to qualify, install and integrate process control and yield management equipment into a semiconductor production line. We believe that once a semiconductor manufacturer selects a particular supplier's process control and yield management equipment, the manufacturer generally relies upon that equipment for that specific production line application for an extended period of time. Accordingly, we expect it to be more difficult to sell our products to a given customer for that specific production line application and other similar production line applications if that customer initially selects a competitor's equipment; and - Prices differ among the products we offer for different applications due to differences in features offered or manufacturing costs. If there is a shift in demand by our customers from our higher-priced to lower-priced products, our gross margin and revenues would decrease. In addition, when products are initially introduced, they tend to have higher costs because of initial development costs and lower production volumes relative to the previous product generation, which can impact gross margin. Any of these factors could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.

We enter into factoring arrangements with financial institutions to sell certain of our trade receivables and promissory notes from customers without recourse. In addition, we maintain cash and cash equivalents with several domestic and foreign financial institutions, in excess of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation insurance limit. If we were to stop entering into these factoring arrangements, our operating results, financial condition and cash flows could be adversely impacted by delays or failures in collecting trade receivables. However, by engaging these financial institutions for factoring arrangements and for banking services, we are exposed to additional risks that any of such financial institutions may prove to be not financially viable. If any of these financial institutions experiences financial difficulties or is otherwise unable to honor the terms of our factoring or deposit arrangements, we may experience material financial losses due to the failure of such arrangements or a lack of access to our funds, any of which could have an adverse impact upon our operating results, financial condition and cash flows.

We have some exposure to fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, primarily the Japanese Yen, the euro, the pound sterling and the new Israeli shekel. We have international subsidiaries that operate and sell our products globally. In addition, an increasing proportion of our manufacturing activities are conducted outside of the U.S., and many of the costs associated with such activities are denominated in foreign currencies. We routinely hedge our exposures to certain foreign currencies with certain financial institutions in an effort to minimize the impact of certain currency exchange rate fluctuations, but these hedges may be inadequate to protect us from currency exchange rate fluctuations. To the extent that these hedges are inadequate, or if there are significant currency exchange rate fluctuations in currencies for which we do not have hedges in place, our reported financial results or the way we conduct our business could be adversely affected. Furthermore, if a financial counterparty to our hedges experiences financial difficulties or is otherwise unable to honor the terms of the foreign currency hedge, we may experience material financial losses.