Advanced Energy (AEIS) Risk Analysis

We are subject to federal, state, local and foreign regulations, including environmental regulations and regulations relating to the design and operation of our products and control systems and regulations governing the import, export and customs duties related to our products. We might incur significant costs as we seek to ensure that our products meet safety and emissions standards, many of which vary across the states and countries in which our products are used. In the past, we have invested significant resources to redesign our products to comply with these directives. In addition, through previous acquisitions, we expanded our presence in the medical market to include more highly regulated applications and added a medical-certified manufacturing center to our operating footprint. We may encounter increased costs to maintain compliance with the quality systems and other regulations and requirements that apply to the acquired business. Compliance with future regulations, directives, and standards could require us to modify or redesign some products, make capital expenditures, or incur substantial costs. Also, we may incur significant costs in complying with the numerous imports, exports, and customs regulations as we seek to sell our products internationally. If we do not comply with current or future regulations, directives, and standards: - we could be subject to fines and penalties;- our production or shipments could be suspended; and - we could be prohibited from offering particular products in specified markets. If we were unable to comply with current or future regulations, directives and standards, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

We may be involved in legal proceedings, litigation, enforcement actions, or claims arising from our business, including, but not limited to, those regarding product performance, product warranty, product certification, product liability, patent infringement, misappropriation of trade secrets, other intellectual property rights, antitrust, environmental regulations, securities, contracts, unfair competition, employment, workplace safety, and other matters. Legal proceedings, enforcement actions and claims, whether with or without merit, and associated internal investigations, may be time-consuming and expensive to prosecute, defend or conduct; divert management's attention and other resources; inhibit our ability to sell our products or services; prevent us from using our technology; result in adverse judgments for damages, injunctive relief, penalties, and fines; and adversely affect our business. We can provide no assurance of the outcome of these legal proceedings, enforcement actions, or claims or that the insurance we maintain will provide coverage or be adequate to cover them.

We are subject to income taxes in the U.S. (federal and state) and numerous foreign jurisdictions. Tax laws, regulations, and administrative practices in various jurisdictions by their nature are complex and may be subject to significant change due to economic, political, and other conditions, and significant judgment is required in evaluating and estimating our provision and accruals for these taxes. As both domestic and foreign governments contemplate or make changes in tax law, our results could be adversely affected. Further, there are many transactions that occur during the ordinary course of business for which the ultimate tax determination is uncertain. Our effective tax rates could be adversely affected by earnings being lower than anticipated in jurisdictions where we have lower statutory rates and earnings higher than anticipated in jurisdictions where we have higher statutory rates, losses incurred in jurisdictions for which we are not able to realize the related tax benefit, changes in foreign currency exchange rates, entry into new businesses and geographies and changes to our existing businesses, acquisitions (including integrations) and investments, changes in our deferred tax assets and liabilities and their valuation, and changes in the relevant tax, accounting, and other laws, regulations, administrative practices, principles, and interpretations, including fundamental changes to the tax laws applicable to corporate multinationals. Furthermore, due to shifting economic and political conditions, tax policies, laws, or rates in various jurisdictions may be subject to significant changes in ways that could harm our financial condition and operating results. For example, various jurisdictions around the world have enacted or are considering revenue-based taxes such as digital services taxes and other targeted taxes, which could lead to inconsistent and potentially overlapping international tax regimes. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development is coordinating negotiations with the goal of achieving consensus around substantial changes to international tax policies, including the implementation of a minimum global effective tax rate of 15%. These changes could increase our effective tax rate and cash tax payments could increase in future years, create additional compliance burdens, and/or require changes to our tax compliance processes.

We are subject to environmental, health, and safety regulations in connection with our global business operations, such as regulations related to the development, manufacture, sale, shipping, and use of our products; handling, discharge, recycling and disposal of hazardous materials used in our products or in producing our products; restrictions on the presence of certain substances in our products; the operation of our facilities; and the use of our real property. The failure or inability to comply with existing or future environmental, health and safety regulations, including with respect to energy consumption and climate change, could result in significant remediation or other legal liabilities; the imposition of penalties and fines; restrictions on the development, manufacture, sale, shipping, or use of certain of our products; limitations on the operation of our facilities or ability to use our real property; and a decrease in the value of our real property. We could also be required to alter our manufacturing, operations, and product design, and incur substantial expenses to comply with environmental, health and safety regulations. Any failure to comply with these regulations could subject us to significant costs and liabilities that could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Our manufacturing facilities are located globally, and the majority of our products are manufactured in a select few key facilities. Most facilities are under operating leases, and interruptions in operations could be caused by early termination of existing leases by landlords or failure by landlords to renew existing leases upon expiration, including the possibility that suitable operating locations may not be available in proximity to existing facilities, which could result in labor or supply chain risks. Additionally, we are currently restructuring to optimize and consolidate our manufacturing operations and improve operating efficiencies, and we continue to evaluate our manufacturing facilities and may decide to conduct additional optimization and consolidation initiatives. These plans and any future initiatives may or may not be successful in achieving our intended results. If the expected costs and charges are greater than anticipated, the estimated cost savings are lower than anticipated, or we experience a loss of continuity or inefficiency during transitional periods, our business and results of operations may be adversely affected.

A significant portion of our operations and supply chain outside the United States are located in the Asia Pacific region, including China, which exposes us to risks, such as exchange controls and currency restrictions, changes in local economic conditions, changes in customs regulations and tariffs, changes in tax policies, changes in local laws and regulations, possible retaliatory government actions, potential inability to enforce intellectual property protection or contracts terms, and changes in U.S. policy regarding overseas manufacturing and export controls. The U.S. and China regularly have significant disagreements over geopolitical, trade, and economic issues. Any escalating political controversies between the U.S. and China, whether or not directly related to our business, could have a material adverse effect on our operations, business, results of operations, and financial condition. Additionally, the Chinese government exercises substantial control over the Chinese economy, and our operations and supply chain in China may be subject to various government and regulatory interference. Policy changes, preferential treatment of local companies, or the imposition of new, stricter regulations or interpretations of existing regulations could require changes to our operating activities, increase our costs, or limit our ability to sell products in China. We continuously evaluate the risk of operations in China, including manufacturing and supply chain, and the potential financial impact to our operations.

We place orders with many of our suppliers based on our expectations as to demand for our products and our customers' forecasts. As the quarter and the year progress, such demand and product mix can change rapidly or we may realize that our customers' expectations were overly optimistic or pessimistic, especially when industry or general economic conditions change. Our sales are primarily made on a purchase order basis or are pulled from "just in time" bins or hubs by our customers, and we generally do not have long-term purchase commitments from our customers. As a result, we are limited in our ability to predict the level of future revenue or commitments from our current customers, which may diminish our ability to allocate labor, materials, and equipment in the manufacturing process effectively. In addition, we may purchase inventory in anticipation of sales that do not materialize, resulting in excess and obsolete inventory write-offs. Customers may delay delivery of products or cancel orders prior to shipment and may not be subject to cancellation penalties. Delays in delivery schedules and/or customer changes to backlog orders during any particular period could cause a decrease in revenue and have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations. Orders with our suppliers cannot always be amended in response to changing demand conditions. In addition, to assure availability of certain components or obtain priority pricing, we have entered into contracts with some of our suppliers that require us to purchase a specified number of components and subassemblies each quarter, even if we are not able to use such components or subassemblies. Moreover, we have obligations to some of our customers to hold a minimum amount of finished goods in inventory to fulfill just in time orders, regardless of whether the customers expect to place such orders. We currently have firm purchase commitments and agreements with various suppliers to ensure the availability of components. If demand for our products does not meet expected levels, we might not be able to use all of the components that we are required to purchase under these commitments and agreements, and our cost of revenue may increase, which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations. If demand for our products exceeds our customers' and our forecasts, we may not be able to timely obtain enough raw materials, parts, components, or subassemblies, on favorable terms or at all, to fulfill the excess demand. Furthermore, some of our products have lengthy lifecycles and are subject to supplier parts obsolescence, and sole-sourced parts can create challenges in terms of purchasing parts on reasonable terms and lead-times. These situations may lead to customers cancelling orders prior to shipment causing a decrease in revenue, which may have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations. In recent years, there was a shortage of critical components caused by a variety of factors, including increased demand for electronic components used in a wide variety of industries, the pandemic-driven rise in consumer demand for technology goods, logistics-related disruptions in shipping, capacity limitations at some suppliers, and labor shortages. These supply constraints led to longer lead times in procuring materials and subcomponents and, in some cases, meaningfully higher costs for the subcomponents. Our revenues, earnings, and cash flow may be adversely impacted if these conditions reoccur.