ViaSat (VSAT) Risk Analysis

Our deferred tax asset valuation allowances are the result of uncertainties regarding the future realization of our deferred tax assets (consisting primarily of U.S. net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards, reserves and accruals that are not currently deductible for tax, and foreign net operating loss carryforwards). Current evidence does not suggest we will realize sufficient taxable income of the appropriate character within the carryforward period to allow us to realize these deferred tax benefits. If we were to identify and implement tax planning strategies to recover these deferred tax assets or generate sufficient income of the appropriate character in these jurisdictions in the future, it could lead to the reversal of these valuation allowances and a reduction of income tax expense. For the remaining deferred tax assets without valuation allowances (consisting primarily of UK and other foreign interest carryforwards subject to annual interest deduction limitations), certain transactions or material changes to our global financing arrangements could limit our right to use the deferred tax assets and make netting against deferred tax liabilities inappropriate, resulting in an increase to our valuation allowance and income tax expense. Our ability to utilize our U.S. net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards to offset future taxable income and reduce future cash tax liabilities would be negatively impacted if we were to experience an "ownership change," as defined in Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the Code). In general terms, an "ownership change" can occur whenever the ownership of a company by one or more "5% shareholders" changes by more than 50 percentage points within a rolling three-year period. The determination of whether an ownership change has occurred for purposes of Section 382 of the Code is complex and requires significant judgment. Moreover, the number of shares of our common stock outstanding at any time for purposes of Section 382 of the Code may differ from the number of shares that we report as outstanding in our filings with the SEC. In the event that an ownership change occurs, our ability to utilize our net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards would be negatively impacted, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In recent years, there has been scrutiny by various stakeholders and policymakers regarding companies' management of climate change, human capital, and other environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters. Shareholder ESG expectations, physical and transition risks associated with climate change, ESG regulation, contractual requirements and policy requirements present risks to our business and financial condition. While we engage in various initiatives to manage such matters and address stakeholder expectations, such initiatives can be costly and may not have the desired effect. Our approach to such matters also evolves, and we cannot guarantee that our approach will align with the expectations or preferences of any particular stakeholder. Changes in environmental and climate change laws or regulations could lead to additional operational restrictions and compliance requirements. For example, various policymakers have adopted, or may in the future adopt, requirements for certain ESG disclosures or consideration of ESG matters in procurement decisions, among other things. Changes in government procurement laws that mandate or include climate change considerations, such as the contractor's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, lower emission products or other climate risks, in evaluating bids could result in costly changes to our operations or affect our competitiveness on future bids. Compliance with current and future environmental laws and regulations may require significant operating and capital costs. Environmental laws and regulations may institute substantial fines and criminal sanctions to address violations and may require the installation of costly pollution control equipment or operational changes to limit emissions or discharges. Our suppliers may face similar business interruptions and incur additional costs that may be passed on to us. Proponents and opponents of ESG matters are increasingly resorting to activism, including litigation, to advance their perspectives. Addressing stakeholder expectations or requirements entails costs and any failure to successfully navigate such expectations may result in reputational harm, loss of customers or contracts, regulatory or investor engagement, or other adverse impacts to our business. If our responses to legal and regulatory requirements or other sustainability concerns are unsuccessful or perceived as inadequate, we also may suffer damage to our reputation, which could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We rely heavily on computer systems, hardware, software, infrastructure and various connected sites and networks for both internal and external operations that are critical to our business (collectively, IT Systems). We own and manage some of these IT Systems but also rely on third parties for a range of IT Systems and related products and services, including but not limited to cloud computing services. In addition, in the ordinary course of our business, our IT Systems and those of our third-party business partners, including our distributors, business partners, supply chain and other vendors, store sensitive data, including information that is confidential, regulated, proprietary or otherwise sensitive in nature to our business. This information may include intellectual property and product information, personal information, financial information and other confidential business information relating to us and our employees, customers, suppliers and other business partners. We and our distributors, partners, vendors and customers face numerous and evolving cybersecurity threats to the confidentiality, integrity and availability of our respective IT Systems and information, including threats from a wide range of bad actors and malicious parties, such as computer programmers, hackers or sophisticated nation-state and nation-state supported actors, as well as incidents attributable to employee error or wrongful conduct, technological error, malfeasance (including by insiders), the exploitation of misconfigurations, "bugs" and other vulnerabilities in hardware or software that is integrated into our (or our suppliers' or service providers') IT systems, products, or services, or other disruptions caused by sophisticated social engineering/phishing and malware exploits (e.g., ransomware). Despite our security measures, and those of our third-party vendors, we and our third-party vendors have experienced cyberattacks, data breaches and other disruptive cybersecurity incidents, and we remain vulnerable to data breaches, and cybersecurity attacks, incidents and disruptions, in the future. For example, in fiscal year 2022, a cyberattack involving our KA-SAT network resulted in a partial interruption of consumer-oriented fixed broadband services in Europe and North Africa. While to date no incidents have had a material impact on our operations or financial results, we cannot guarantee that material incidents will not occur in the future. Because the techniques used to obtain unauthorized access, disable or degrade service, or sabotage IT Systems, change frequently and often are not recognized until launched against a target, we are unable to anticipate all threat actor techniques (such as those leveraging artificial intelligence), and are unable to implement absolute preventative measures, particularly given that attackers are increasingly using sophisticated techniques. Accordingly, we may be unable to detect, investigate, remediate, or recover from future attacks or incidents, or to avoid a material adverse impact to our IT systems, confidential information or business. Any integration of artificial intelligence in our or any third party's operations, products or services is expected to pose new or unknown cybersecurity risks and challenges. We have also acquired and expect to continue to acquire companies that have cybersecurity vulnerabilities and/or unsophisticated security measures, and we face challenges in integrating acquired entities with our cybersecurity program, controls and tools, all of which exposes us to significant cybersecurity, operational, and financial risks. Additionally, outside parties regularly engage in phishing and other social engineering attacks against our employees or other users of our IT Systems and data. Given the nature of complex systems, software and services like ours, and the scanning tools we deploy in our environment, we regularly identify and track security vulnerabilities. We are unable to comprehensively apply patches or mitigating measures to all such vulnerabilities, or guarantee that patches or mitigation will be in place before vulnerabilities are exploited by a threat actor. The rapid proliferation of artificial intelligence has also enabled threat actors to identify vulnerabilities at an accelerated pace, thereby increasing the frequency and severity of cyber threats facing us and others. There can also be no assurance that our cybersecurity risk management program and processes, including our policies, controls or procedures, will be fully implemented, complied with or effective in protecting our IT Systems and confidential information. We may be subject to legal claims or proceedings or regulatory investigations and enforcement actions that can result in significant liability, and suffer serious reputational and financial harm if a cyberattack or security incident materially disrupts our operations or materially compromises the availability, integrity or confidentiality of our IT Systems or our or our customers' critical information. If an attack or breach results in material losses of existing and/or prospective customers, it could adversely affect our business relationships, financial condition and results of operations. We could also suffer other negative consequences, including significant incident response, system restoration or remediation costs, future compliance costs, significantly increased cybersecurity protection costs, loss of material revenues, and the unauthorized use of proprietary information or the failure to retain or attract customers following an attack. Any or all of the foregoing could materially adversely affect our business, results of operations, and financial condition. We cannot guarantee that any costs and liabilities incurred in relation to an attack or incident will be covered by our existing insurance policies or that applicable insurance will be available to us in the future on economically reasonable terms or at all. Further, if we or our service providers are unable to comply with the security standards established by banks and the payment card industry, we may be subject to fines, restrictions, and expulsion from card acceptance programs, which could adversely affect our operations.

We use artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies (collectively, AI Technologies) in our business, and continue to invest in this area. As with many technological innovations, there are significant risks involved in developing, maintaining and deploying these technologies and there can be no assurance that our usage of or investments in such technologies will enhance our products or services or be beneficial to our business. In particular, if the models underlying our AI Technologies are: incorrectly designed or implemented; trained or reliant on incomplete, inadequate, inaccurate, biased or otherwise poor quality data, or on data to which we do not have the sufficient rights or in relation to which we and/or the providers of such data have not implemented sufficient legal compliance measures; used without sufficient oversight and governance to ensure their responsible use; and/or adversely impacted by unforeseen defects, technical challenges, cybersecurity threats, data privacy concerns, or material performance issues, the performance of our products, services and business, as well as our reputation, could suffer or we could incur liability resulting from the violation of laws or contracts to which we are a party or civil claims. We are in varying stages of development in relation to our products and services, as well as our internal processes and procedures involving AI Technologies, and we may not be successful in our ongoing development, maintenance and operation of our AI Technologies in the face of unforeseen difficulties, including material performance problems, undetected defects, or errors, as well as other novel and evolving technical, reputational and market factors. We also use AI Technologies licensed from third parties and if any such AI Technologies become incompatible with our solutions or unavailable for use, or if the providers of such models unfavorably change the terms on which their AI Technologies are offered or terminate their relationship with us, we may be unable to continue to use such technologies at the scale we need, our products or services may become less appealing to our customers, we may not be able to meet customer demands, and our business or reputation may be harmed. As we use AI Technologies to develop or assist in the development of our own software code, if the AI Technologies we use generate code that is too similar to other proprietary code, to software processes that are protected by patent, or to open source code, we could be subject to intellectual property infringement claims or risk losing protection of our own proprietary code that is commingled with such code, which could adversely affect our business. Our ability to continue to develop or use AI Technologies may be dependent on access to specific third-party software, services and infrastructure, and we cannot control the availability or pricing of such third-party software and infrastructure, especially in a highly competitive environment. The regulatory framework for AI Technologies is rapidly evolving as many federal, state and foreign government bodies and agencies have enacted or are currently considering laws and regulations governing AI. Such regulations may impact our ability to develop, use, procure and commercialize AI Technologies in the future. Additionally, existing laws and regulations, including competition, antitrust, data privacy and consumer protection laws, may be interpreted or enforced in ways that would limit our ability to use AI Technologies for our business, or require us to change the way we use AI Technologies in a manner that negatively affects our use, development, or the operation of our AI Technologies. As a result, implementation standards and enforcement practices are likely to remain uncertain for the foreseeable future, and we cannot predict the impact future laws, regulations, or standards, or the market perception of their requirements, may have on our business or how we will respond to these laws or regulations. In addition, if we fail or are perceived to fail to comply with these laws and regulations, we may face lawsuits, investigations, enforcement actions, negative reputational impacts, and other penalties that materially impact our business.

We depend on a limited number of key technical, marketing and management personnel with a longstanding knowledge of Viasat's business to manage and operate our business. In particular, we believe our success depends to a significant degree on our ability to attract and retain highly skilled personnel, including our Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, Mark Dankberg, and those highly skilled design, process and test engineers involved in the manufacture of existing products and the development of new products and processes. The competition for these types of personnel is intense, and the loss of key employees could materially harm our business and impair the value of our common stock. To the extent that the demand for qualified personnel exceeds supply, we could experience higher labor, recruiting or training costs to attract and retain such employees, or experience difficulties in performing under our contracts if our needs for such employees were unmet.

We expect our internal manufacturing capacity to be limited to supporting new product development activities, building customized products that need to be manufactured in strict accordance with a customer's specifications or delivery schedules, and building proprietary, highly sensitive Viasat-designed products and components for use in our proprietary technology platform. Therefore, our internal manufacturing capacity has been, and is expected to continue to be, very limited and we intend to continue to rely on contract manufacturers to produce the majority of our products. In addition, some components, subassemblies and services necessary for the manufacture of our products are obtained from a sole source supplier or a limited group of suppliers. Our reliance on contract manufacturers and on sole source suppliers or a limited group of suppliers involves several risks. We may not be able to obtain an adequate supply of required components, and our control over the price, timely delivery, reliability and quality of finished products may be reduced. We have in the past experienced and may in the future experience delays in the delivery of and quality problems with products and components and subassemblies from vendors. Some of the suppliers we rely upon have relatively limited financial and other resources. Significant events such as a pandemic, natural disasters, extreme weather events, acts of terrorism, civil unrest, cyberattacks, labor market instability, changes to trade policy, including tariff and customs regulations or global shortages of components or materials, may cause temporary or long-term disruptions in our supply chain and distribution systems and/or delays in the delivery of inventory. If we are not able to obtain timely deliveries of components and subassemblies of acceptable quality or if we are otherwise required to seek alternative sources of supply or substitutes, or to manufacture our products or components and subassemblies internally, our ability to satisfactorily and timely complete our customer obligations could be negatively impacted which could result in reduced sales, termination of contracts and damage to our reputation and relationships with our customers. This failure could also result in a customer terminating our contract for default, which could expose us to liability and have a material adverse effect on our ability to compete for future contracts and orders. We also rely on third parties to provide network infrastructure and satellite bandwidth that we use to serve our mobility, defense and other customers. If that network infrastructure or satellite bandwidth becomes temporarily or permanently unavailable, we may not be able to pursue new business opportunities or satisfy existing customer obligations, which could result in reduced sales, termination of contracts and damage to our reputation. Such an occurrence could materially harm our business, financial condition and results of operations, and impair the value of our common stock.

We may not be able to obtain or renew pre-launch, launch or in-orbit insurance for our satellites on reasonable economic terms or at all. A failure to obtain or renew our satellite insurance may also result in a default under our debt instruments. In addition, the occurrence of anomalies on other satellites, or failures of a satellite using similar components or failures of a similar launch vehicle to any launch vehicle we intend to use, may materially adversely affect our ability to insure our satellites at commercially reasonable premiums or terms, if at all. The policies covering our insured satellites will not cover the full cost of constructing and launching or replacing a satellite nor fully cover our losses in the event of a satellite failure or significant degradation. Moreover, such policies do not cover lost profits, business interruptions, fixed operating expenses, loss of business or similar losses, including contractual payments that we may be required to make under our agreements with our customers for interruptions or degradations in service. Our insurance contains customary exclusions, material change and other conditions that could limit recovery under those policies, and may contain exclusions for past satellite anomalies. Further, any insurance proceeds may not be received on a timely basis in order to launch a replacement satellite or take other remedial measures. In addition, the policies are subject to limitations involving uninsured losses, large satellite performance deductibles and policy limits.

Our business and operating results are affected by the global business environment and economic conditions, including changes in tariffs, interest rates, consumer credit conditions, consumer debt levels, consumer confidence, rates of inflation, unemployment rates, energy costs, geopolitical issues and other macro-economic factors. For example, high unemployment levels or energy costs may impact our residential customers in our communication services segment by reducing consumers' discretionary income, and affecting their ability to subscribe for fixed broadband services. Our business and operating results similarly depend on the economic health and willingness of our customers and potential customers to make and adhere to capital and financial commitments to purchase our products and services. During periods of slowing global economic growth or recession, our customers or key suppliers may experience deterioration of their businesses, cash flow shortages and difficulty obtaining financing or insolvency. Existing or potential customers may reduce or postpone spending in response to tighter credit, reduced consumer demand, negative financial news or declines in income or asset values, which could have a material negative effect on the demand for our products and services. In addition, supply chain and labor market challenges and inflationary pressures have negatively affected and may in the future continue to negatively affect our performance as well as the performance of our suppliers and customers. Moreover, natural disasters (including those resulting from climate change), political instability, international trade policies, civil unrest, terrorist activity, acts of war, and public health issues could disrupt supplies and raise prices globally which, in turn, may have adverse effects on the world and U.S. economies. Any of these factors could result in reduced demand for, and pricing pressure on, our products and services, which could reduce our revenues and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, uncertainty or volatility in U.S. credit and capital markets may negatively impact our ability to access additional debt or equity financing or to refinance existing indebtedness in the future on favorable terms or at all. Any of these risks could impair our ability to fund our operations or limit our ability to expand our business, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. There remains significant geopolitical tensions across the world which have impacts on the global business environment which in turn can have an impact on our own business performance.

Approximately 32% of our total revenues in fiscal year 2026 were derived from international sales. Conducting business internationally involves additional risks, including unexpected changes in laws, policies and regulatory requirements (including regulations related to import-export control and tariffs); increased cost of localizing systems in foreign countries; increased sales and marketing and R&D expenses; timing and availability of export licenses; political and economic instability, wars, insurrections and other conflicts; issues related to the political relationship between the United States and other countries; fluctuations in currency exchange rates (including their effect on sales denominated in foreign currencies), foreign exchange controls and restrictions on cash repatriation; compliance with international laws and U.S. laws affecting the activities of U.S. companies abroad, including existing and future privacy and cyber-related laws; challenges in staffing and managing foreign operations; difficulties in managing distributors; requirements for additional liquidity to fund our international operations; availability of suitable export financing; ineffective legal protection of our intellectual property rights in certain countries; potentially adverse tax consequences; potential difficulty in making adequate payment arrangements; potential difficulty in collecting accounts receivable; and imposition of taxes, tariffs (including recent U.S. tariffs imposed or threatened to be imposed on other countries and retaliatory actions taken by such countries), embargoes, sanctions and other trade barriers. In addition, some of our customer purchase agreements are governed by foreign laws, which may differ significantly from U.S. laws and we may be limited in our ability to enforce our rights under these agreements and to collect damages, if awarded. If we are unable to address any of the risks described above, it could materially harm our business and impair the value of our common stock. Due to the global nature of our operations, we are subject to the complex and varying tax laws and rules of many countries and have material tax-related contingent liabilities that are difficult to predict or quantify. We are also subject to tax audits, including with respect to transfer pricing, in the United States and other jurisdictions and our tax positions may be challenged by tax authorities. There can be no assurance that our current tax provisions will be settled for the amounts accrued, that additional tax exposures will not be identified in the future or that additional tax reserves will not be necessary for any such exposures. Any increase in the amount of taxation incurred as a result of challenges to our tax filing positions could result in a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Satellites utilize highly complex technology, operate in the harsh environment of space and are subject to significant operational risks while in orbit. These risks include malfunctions (commonly referred to as anomalies), such as malfunctions in the deployment of subsystems or components, interference from electrostatic storms, and collisions with meteoroids or other space debris. Anomalies can occur as a result of various factors, including satellite manufacturer error, problems with the power or control sub-system of a satellite or general failures caused by the harsh space environment. Our satellites have experienced various anomalies in the past and we will likely experience anomalies in the future on the satellites we own or use. Any single anomaly or other operational failure or degradation could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Anomalies may also cause temporary outage of service or reduce the expected useful life of a satellite, resulting in a need for replacement or backup capacity, which may not be available on reasonable economic terms, a reasonable schedule or at all. In addition, anomalies or satellite failures or degradations may cause a reduction of the revenues generated by the applicable satellite or the recognition of an impairment loss, and could lead to claims from third parties for damages. Each satellite has a finite useful life, which may be shorter than its mission life. A number of factors affect the useful life of a satellite, including the quality of design and construction, durability of component parts and back-up units, the ability to continue to maintain proper orbit and control over the satellite's functions, the efficiency of the launch vehicle used, consumption of on-board fuel, degradation and durability of solar panels, the actual space environment experienced and the occurrence of anomalies or other in-orbit risks affecting the satellite. Finally, anomalies may adversely affect our ability to insure our satellites at commercially reasonable premiums or terms, if at all. While some anomalies are covered by insurance policies, others may not be covered or may be subject to large deductibles. Although our satellites have redundant or backup systems and components these are subject to risk of failure similar to those experienced by the primary systems and components. Moreover, in third-party satellites which we use to provide services we may not have control over the presence and implementation of redundant or backup systems and components. The occurrence of a failure of any of these redundant or backup systems and components could materially impair the useful life, capacity, coverage or operational capabilities of the satellite.

The markets in which we compete are highly competitive and competition is increasing. In addition, because the markets in which we operate are constantly evolving and characterized by rapid technological change, it is difficult for us to predict whether, when and by whom new competing technologies, products or services may be introduced into our markets. We face substantial competition in each of our segments. See "Business–Competition" in Part I, Item 1 of this report for a discussion of the competitive environment in each of our segments. Many of our competitors are larger and have significant competitive advantages, including more extensive engineering or marketing capabilities, strong customer relationships, greater financial and management resources and access to technologies not available to us. As a result, these competitors may be able to adapt more quickly to changing technology or market conditions or may be able to devote greater resources to the development, promotion and sale of their products. Additionally, we may be subject to competitive disadvantages to the extent that our competitors are able to secure business or advantageous regulatory treatment through connections with or influence over government officials. Our ability to compete in each of our segments may also be adversely affected by limits on our capital resources and our ability to invest in maintaining and expanding our market share.