Amkor (AMKR) Risk Factors

Our packages are incorporated into a number of end products. If our packages fail, our business may be exposed to warranty claims, product return and liability risks, economic damage claims and negative publicity. We receive warranty claims from our customers from time to time in the ordinary course of our business. If we were to experience an unusually high incidence of warranty claims, we could incur significant costs and our business could be materially and adversely affected. In addition, we are exposed to the product and economic liability risks and the risk of negative publicity affecting our customers. Our sales may decline if any of our customers are sued on a product liability claim. We also may suffer a decline in sales from the negative publicity associated with such a lawsuit or with adverse public perceptions in general regarding our customers' products. Further, if our packages are delivered with defects, we could incur additional development, repair or replacement costs or suffer other economic losses, and our credibility and the market's acceptance of our packages could be harmed.

Our success depends to a significant extent upon the continued service of our key senior management, sales and technical personnel, any of whom may be difficult to replace. Competition for qualified employees is intensifying, accelerated by increasing competition in the semiconductor industry for talent to meet strong demand, and our business could be materially and adversely affected by the loss of the services of any of our existing key personnel, including senior management and technical talent, as a result of competition or for any other reason. Labor shortages could also result in higher wages that would increase our labor costs, which could reduce our profits. Although we have entered into agreements with our Chief Executive Officer and certain other executives that would prevent them from working for, or impose financial penalties for doing business with, our competitors in the event that those executives cease working for us, we cannot assure you that we will be successful in our efforts to retain or replace key employees or in hiring and properly training sufficient numbers of qualified personnel and in effectively managing our growth. Our inability to attract, retain, motivate and train qualified new personnel could have a material adverse effect on our business.

The outsourced semiconductor packaging and test services market is very competitive. We face substantial competition from established and emerging packaging and test service providers primarily located in Asia, including companies with significantly greater processing capacity, financial resources, local presence, research and development operations, marketing, technology and other capabilities. In addition, we may compete with electronics manufacturing service providers or contract electronics manufacturers that also provide advanced integrated device solutions. We also may face increased competition from domestic companies located in China, where there are government-supported efforts to promote and subsidize the development and growth of the local semiconductor industry. We may be at a disadvantage in attempting to compete with entities associated with such government-supported initiatives based on their lower cost of capital, access to government resources and incentives, preferential sourcing practices, stronger local relationships or otherwise. Our competitors may also have established relationships, or enter into new strategic relationships, with one or more of the large semiconductor companies that are our current or potential customers or key suppliers to these customers. Consolidation among our competitors could also strengthen their competitive position. Historically, we have also been dependent on the trend in outsourcing of packaging and test services by IDM and foundry customers. Our IDM and foundry customers continually evaluate the need for outsourced services against their own in-house packaging and test services. As a result, at any time and for a variety of reasons, IDMs and foundries may decide to shift some or all of their outsourced packaging and test services to internally sourced capacity. To the extent we limit capacity commitments for certain customers, these customers may increase their level of in-house packaging and test capabilities, which could make it more difficult for us to regain their business when we have available capacity. If we experience a significant loss of IDM or foundry business, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, liquidity, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows, especially during a prolonged industry downturn. We face competition from foundries, such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., which offer full turnkey services from silicon wafer fabrication through packaging and final test. These foundries, which are substantially larger than us and have greater financial resources than we do, have expanded their operations to include packaging and test services and may continue to expand these capabilities in the future. If a key customer decides to purchase wafers from a semiconductor foundry that provides packaging and test services, our business could be adversely affected if the customer also engages that foundry for related packaging and test services. We also face competition from contract manufacturers and electronic manufacturing service providers, many of which are larger than us, have lower cost structures, and may be willing or able to sell their services at lower margins than we do. These competitors have increased and could increase pricing and competitive pressures for us. We cannot assure you that we will be able to compete successfully in the future against our existing or potential competitors, that our customers will not rely on internal sources, foundries or contract manufacturers for packaging and test services or that our business, liquidity, results of operations, financial condition or cash flows will not be materially and adversely affected by such increased competition.

Prices for packaging and test services have generally declined over time, and sometimes prices can change significantly in relatively short periods of time. We expect downward pressure on average selling prices for our packaging and test services to continue in the future, and this pressure may intensify during downturns in business. If we experience declining average selling prices and are unable to offset such declines by developing and marketing new packages with higher prices, reducing our purchasing costs, recovering more of our material cost increases from our customers and reducing our manufacturing costs, our business, liquidity, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows could be materially and adversely affected.

Semiconductor packaging and test services are complex processes that require significant technological and process expertise, and in line with industry practice, customers usually require us to pass a lengthy and rigorous qualification process that may take several months. Once qualified and in production, defective packages primarily result from one or more of the following: - contaminants in the manufacturing environment;- human error;- equipment malfunction;- changing processes to address environmental requirements;- defective raw materials; or - defective plating services. Test is also complex and involves sophisticated equipment and software. Similar to many software programs, these software programs are complex and may contain programming errors or "bugs." The test equipment is also subject to malfunction, and the test process is subject to operator error. These and other factors have, from time to time, contributed to lower production yields. They may also do so in the future, particularly as we adjust our capacity, change our processing steps or ramp new technologies. In addition, we must continue to develop and implement new packaging and test technologies and expand our offering of packages to be competitive. Our production yields on new packages, particularly those packages which are based on new technologies, typically are significantly lower than our production yields on our more established packages. Our failure to qualify new processes, maintain quality standards or acceptable production yields, if significant and prolonged, could result in the loss of customers, increased costs of production, delays, substantial amounts of returned goods and claims by customers relating thereto. Any of these problems could have a material adverse effect on our business, liquidity, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

Our business is impacted by market conditions in the semiconductor industry, which is cyclical by nature and impacted by broad economic factors, such as worldwide gross domestic product and consumer spending. We believe the general semiconductor market is currently going through a cyclical correction. The semiconductor industry has experienced significant and sometimes sudden and prolonged downturns in the past. If the industry or markets in which we compete experience slower, or even negative growth, our business and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected. Since our business is, and will continue to be, dependent on the requirements of semiconductor companies for outsourced packaging and test services, any downturn in the semiconductor industry or any other industry that uses a significant number of semiconductor devices, such as communications, automotive and industrial, computing or consumer electronics, could have a material adverse effect on our business and operating results. During downturns, we have experienced, among other things, reduced demand, excess capacity and reduced sales. For example, the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted demand in the automotive and industrial end market in 2020, and during 2019, there was weakness in the general market and an inventory correction in the smartphone market.

We provide packaging and test services through our factories and other operations located in China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Portugal, Singapore and Taiwan and began delivering packaging and test services from the Vietnam Facility. Substantially all of our property, plant and equipment is located outside of the United States, and many of our customers and the vendors in our supply chain are also located outside the United States.  The following are some of the risks we face in doing business internationally: - restrictive trade barriers considered or adopted by U.S. and foreign governments applicable to the semiconductor supply chain, including laws, rules, regulations and policies in areas such as national security, licensing requirements for exports, tariffs, customs and duties, including the export rules and regulations applicable to U.S. companies that sell certain semiconductor and chipmaking equipment products to customers in China;- laws, rules, regulations and policies within China and other countries that may favor domestic companies over non-domestic companies, including customer- or government-supported efforts to promote the development and growth of local competitors;- health and safety concerns, including widespread outbreak of infectious diseases, such as Covid-19, and governmental responses thereto;- changes in consumer demand resulting from current or expected inflation or other variations in local economies;- laws, rules, regulations and policies imposed by U.S. or foreign governments in areas such as data privacy, cybersecurity, antitrust and competition, tax, currency and banking, labor, environmental, and health and safety;- the payment of dividends and other payments by non-U.S. subsidiaries may be subject to prohibitions, limitations or taxes in local jurisdictions;- fluctuations in currency exchange rates, particularly the U.S. dollar to Japanese yen exchange rate for our operations in Japan;- political and social conditions, and the potential for civil unrest, terrorism or other hostilities (such as the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Israel);- disruptions or delays in shipments caused by customs brokers or government agencies;- difficulties in attracting and retaining qualified personnel and managing foreign operations, including foreign labor disruptions;- difficulty in enforcing contractual rights and protecting our intellectual property rights;- potentially adverse tax consequences resulting from tax laws in the United States and in other jurisdictions; and - local business and cultural factors that differ from our normal standards and practices, including business practices that we are prohibited from engaging in by the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and other anti-corruption laws and regulations. Many of these factors and risks are present and may be heightened within our business operations in China. For example, changes in U.S.-China relations, the political environment or international trade policies could result in further revisions to laws or regulations or their interpretation and enforcement, increased taxation, trade sanctions, the imposition of import or export duties and tariffs, restrictions on imports or exports, currency revaluations or retaliatory actions, which have had and may continue to have an adverse effect on our business plans and operating results. Additionally, the BIS Regulations place limitations on the ability of companies to export certain advanced computing semiconductor chips, as well as chipmaking equipment, by requiring companies to obtain licenses to export such products and equipment into China or other designated countries. These expanded export restrictions limit our ability to sell to certain Chinese companies and to third parties that do business with those companies. Certain of the Company's competitors may be exempt from the BIS Regulations by virtue of being non-U.S. manufacturers. To the extent required, Amkor would evaluate pursuing export licenses and authorizations, but there can be no assurances that Amkor would obtain such licenses or authorizations on a timely or cost-effective basis or at all, or that our customers will not reroute business that would have otherwise been given to Amkor to one or more of our competitors as a result of the BIS Regulations, particularly if our competitors have, or are not required to have, required licenses or authorizations that we have not obtained. It is also possible that government agencies in China or in other countries may adopt retaliatory export control rules in response to the BIS Regulations, which could further impact our business, liquidity, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows. These restrictions have created, and these and similar restrictions may continue to create, uncertainty and caution with our current or prospective customers and may cause them to amass large inventories of our products, replace our products with products from another supplier that is not subject to the export restrictions or focus on building indigenous semiconductor capacity to reduce reliance on U.S. suppliers. Furthermore, if these export restrictions cause our current or potential customers to view U.S. companies as unreliable, we could suffer reputational damage or lose business to foreign competitors who are not subject to such export restrictions, and our business could be materially harmed. We are continuing to evaluate the impact of these restrictions on our business, but these actions may have direct and indirect material adverse impacts on our revenues and results of operations in China and elsewhere. In addition, our success in the Chinese markets may be adversely affected by China's evolving policies, laws and regulations, including those relating to antitrust, cybersecurity, data protection and data privacy, the environment, indigenous innovation and the promotion of a domestic semiconductor industry and intellectual property rights and enforcement and protection of those rights. We also have significant facilities and other investments in Korea, and there have been heightened security concerns in recent years stemming from North Korea's nuclear weapon and long-range missile programs as well as its military actions in the region. Furthermore, there has been a history of conflict and tension within and among other countries in the region. The Covid-19 pandemic impacted our operations and the operations of our customers and suppliers as a result of illness, quarantines, facility closures and travel and logistics restrictions in connection with the outbreak. National, regional, and local governments implemented, and may implement in the future, public health measures to mitigate the spread of Covid-19, the emergence of new variants or the re-emergence of Covid-19 in jurisdictions in which we, our customers and our suppliers operate, and such restrictions may materially and adversely impact our operations and the operations of our customers and suppliers. Such restrictions may also affect end-user demand in each geography where our customers sell their products and services, which may materially and adversely affect demand for our services, our operating results and our financial condition.

Environmental, health and safety laws and regulations in places we do business impose various controls on the use, storage, handling, discharge and disposal of chemicals used or generated in, or emitted by, our production processes, on the factories we occupy and on the materials contained in semiconductor products. For example, at our foreign facilities we produce liquid waste when semiconductor wafers are diced into chips with the aid of diamond saws, then cooled with running water. In addition, semiconductor packages have historically utilized metallic alloys containing lead within the interconnect terminals typically referred to as leads, pins or balls. The European Union's Restriction of Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment directive and similar laws in other jurisdictions, including China, impose strict restrictions on the placement into the market of electrical and electronic equipment containing lead and certain other hazardous substances. We may become liable under these and other environmental, health and safety laws and regulations, including for the cost of compliance and cleanup of any disposal or release of hazardous materials arising out of our former or current operations, or otherwise as a result of the emission of greenhouse gases ("GHGs") or other chemicals, the existence of hazardous materials on our properties or the existence of hazardous substances in the products for which we perform our services. We could also be held liable for damages, including fines, penalties and the cost of investigations and remedial actions, and we could be subject to revocation of permits, which may materially and adversely affect our ability to maintain or expand our operations. Additionally, if Amkor is unable to align its environmental, health and safety practices with shifting customer preferences, we could suffer reputational harm, which could have a material and adverse effect on our business, results of operations, liquidity and cash flows. There has also been an increase in regulatory and public attention and industry and customer focus on the materials contained in semiconductor products, the environmental impact of semiconductor operations and the risk of chemical releases from such operations, climate change, sustainability and related environmental concerns. Increased regulation of and restriction on the use of hazardous substances may impact our supply chain due to decreased availability, necessitate changes in our packaging processes, require us to seek substitutes that may not be readily available in the marketplace or eliminate the use of such hazardous substances although there may not be a technically feasible alternative. This increased focus on sustainability and the environmental impact of semiconductor operations and products has caused industry groups and customers to impose additional requirements on us and our suppliers, sometimes exceeding regulatory standards. These industry and customer requirements include increased tracking and reporting of GHG emissions, reductions in waste and wastewater from operations, additional reporting on the materials and components used in the products for which we perform our services, and the use of renewable energy sources in our factory operations. In addition, recent and ongoing changes to climate change regulation could increase our compliance costs, including as a result of carbon pricing impacts on electrical utilities as well as increased indirect costs resulting from our customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders incurring additional compliance costs that are passed on to us. We have started to incur compliance costs within our existing manufacturing infrastructure, and such costs may increase as we expand our manufacturing capacity. To comply with these additional requirements, we may need to procure additional, or increase the use of, renewable energy, procure additional equipment or make factory or process changes, which could result in increased operating costs.