Cadence Design (CDNS) Risk Analysis

We rely on hardware, software, digital infrastructure and computing networks for both internal and customer-facing operations that are critical to our business (collectively, "IT Systems"). We own and manage certain IT Systems but also rely on third parties for IT Systems and related products and services, including cloud computing. In addition, we and certain third-party providers collect, maintain and process data about our customers, employees, business partners and others, including personally identifiable information, as well as proprietary data such as trade secrets (collectively, "Confidential Information"). We face numerous, evolving cybersecurity risks that threaten the confidentiality, integrity and availability of our IT Systems, Confidential Information, products and services, including from diverse threat actors, such as state-sponsored organizations, opportunistic hackers and malicious insiders, as well as through diverse attack vectors, such as social engineering (including phishing), malware (including ransomware) and denial-of-service attacks, and due to human or technological error, such as misconfigurations, "bugs" or other vulnerabilities in software or hardware. Additionally, advances in technology, an increased level of sophistication and expertise of hackers, widespread access to generative AI, and new discoveries in the field of cryptography can result in a compromise or breach of our IT Systems or security measures implemented to protect our systems. We have experienced cyberattacks and other security incidents in the past and will continue to experience varying degrees of attacks and incidents in the future. Any such incidents could compromise our IT Systems, which could cause system disruptions or slowdowns and lead to the information stored on our networks being accessed, publicly disclosed, lost or stolen. Any actual or perceived unauthorized access or disclosure to our Confidential Information poses significant risk to our business as it could result in reputational and financial harm and further subject us to liability to our customers, suppliers, business partners and others. Cyberattacks are expected to accelerate on a global basis in frequency and magnitude as threat actors are becoming increasingly sophisticated in using techniques and tools – including AI – that circumvent security controls, evade detection and remove forensic evidence. A cyberattack on our IT Systems or IT Systems of one of our third-party providers or customers could result in any or all of the following: compromise to our Cadence Cloud portfolio, which includes both our managed and customer-managed environments, and our data centers and those of our customers and end users; corruption or stealing of Confidential Information such as proprietary information related to our (or our customers') business, products, services and infrastructure or personally identifiable information; manipulation or stealing of financial data and assets; and/or disruption of our systems and services and those of our customers and others. Because we make extensive use of third party suppliers and service providers, such as cloud services that support our internal and customer-facing operations, successful cyberattacks that disrupt or result in unauthorized access to third party providers' IT Systems can materially impact our operations and financial results. Moreover, breaches of our security measures and vulnerabilities in our or third-party providers' IT Systems or products or services may expose us to a risk of loss or misuse, loss of financial assets, business interruption, regulatory investigations, litigation and other potential liability. There can be no assurance that our cybersecurity risk management strategy, program, policies, processes and controls will be fully implemented, complied with or effective in protecting any systems or information. Techniques used to obtain unauthorized access or to sabotage information systems change frequently and include zero-day software vulnerabilities that are unknown until exploited by threat actors. As a result, we may be unable to promptly or effectively 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. Furthermore, we have acquired and continue to acquire companies with less sophisticated security measures, and it takes time to align their security practices to meet our information security policies, procedures and controls, which exposes us to increased cybersecurity, operational and financial risk. Furthermore, employees working from remote work environments can expose us to increased security risks and attacks. Moreover, hardware, software or applications we develop or procure from third parties or through open source solutions may contain defects in design or manufacture or other vulnerabilities and be susceptible to hacking or misappropriation. In addition, certain of our third-party vendors use cloud storage of information as part of their services and product offerings, creating risk of misappropriation of our Confidential Information by third parties. In the event of an actual or perceived breach of our security, or a vendor's security, the market perception of the effectiveness of our security measures could be harmed, legal or regulatory actions could be initiated against us and we could suffer damage to our reputation or our business, or lose existing customers and our ability to obtain new customers (including government customers), incur significant restoration, remediation and compliance costs, or suffer harm to our financial condition. The loss, misuse or theft of personal data collected, used, stored or transferred by us, vendors or other third parties in the course of running our business could result in business or financial harm, damage to our reputation and legal or regulatory proceedings. Also, 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.

We use AI Technologies throughout our business and are making significant investments in AI initiatives, including expanding our generative AI platform and applications, to enable our customers to optimize their products' performance, increase the productivity of their design teams and workflows and develop AI solutions themselves. AI Technologies are complex and rapidly evolving, and we face significant competition from other companies. Such other companies may develop AI Technologies that are similar or superior to ours and/or are more cost-effective and/or quicker to develop, deploy and maintain. Any inability to develop, offer or deploy new AI Technologies as effectively, as quickly and/or as cost-efficiently as our competitors could have a materially adverse impact on our operating results, customer relationships and growth. We expect that increased investment will be required in the future to continuously improve our development and use of AI Technologies. Moreover, the long-term trajectory of this technological trend is unknown, and we may not be successful in our ongoing development and maintenance of AI Technologies in the face of novel and evolving technical, reputational and market factors. We may incur significant costs, resources, investments, delays and not achieve a return on investment or capitalize on opportunities presented by AI, and we could incur financial losses. Further, the introduction of AI Technologies into new or existing products may result in new or enhanced governmental or regulatory scrutiny, litigation, confidentiality or security risks, ethical concerns, or other complications that could adversely affect our business, reputation or financial results. The regulatory framework governing the use of AI Technologies is rapidly evolving. Existing laws and regulations, such as data privacy and antitrust regimes, may apply to us or our customers in new ways, and many U.S. federal, state and foreign government bodies and agencies have introduced or are currently considering additional laws and regulations. For example, in May 2024, the European Union approved the EU AI Act establishing a comprehensive, risk-based governance framework for AI in the EU market, the breach of which could result in fines of up to 7% of worldwide annual turnover. Additionally, existing laws and regulations may be interpreted in ways that would affect the operation of AI Technologies, or could be rescinded or amended as new administrations take differing approaches to evolving AI Technologies. As a result, implementation standards and enforcement practices are likely to remain uncertain for the foreseeable future, and we cannot yet determine the impact future laws, regulations, standards or market perception of their requirements may have on our business and may not always be able to anticipate how to respond to these laws or regulations. We cannot predict how newly instituted legislation and regulation, or the interpretation and application of existing laws and regulations, will impact our ability, or our customers' ability, to develop and offer products or services that leverage AI Technologies and the costs of doing so. We may need to expend resources to adjust our products or services in certain jurisdictions if the laws, regulations or decisions are not consistent across jurisdictions. Further, the cost to comply with such laws, regulations, decisions and/or guidance interpreting existing laws, could be significant and would increase our operating expenses (such as by imposing additional reporting obligations regarding our use of AI Technologies). Such an increase in operating expenses, as well as any actual or perceived failure to comply with such laws and regulations, could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Further, the IP ownership and license rights, including copyright, surrounding AI Technologies have not been fully addressed by U.S. courts or other federal or state laws or regulations, and the use or adoption of AI Technologies into our products and services may result in exposure to claims of copyright infringement or other IP misappropriation. The implementation of AI Technologies may accelerate or exacerbate potential risks related to technological developments. These risks include the possibility of AI Technologies malfunctioning, producing biased or inaccurate results or failing to meet performance expectations. The development and deployment of AI Technologies carries the risk of other unintended consequences, such as ethical concerns, privacy violations and negative public perception. The rapid evolution of AI Technologies requires the application of resources to help ensure that AI is implemented responsibly in order to minimize unintended, harmful impact. If the development or use of AI Technologies by us or our customers draws controversy due to perceived or actual impact on human rights, IP, privacy, security, employment or the environment or in other social contexts, we may experience brand or reputational harm, competitive harm or legal liability. For more information about laws and regulations governing the use of AI Technologies, see "Governmental Regulations-Artificial intelligence" under Item 1 of Part I of this Annual Report.

The industries in which we do business are highly competitive and require us to identify and develop or acquire innovative and cost-competitive products, integrate them into platforms and market them in a timely manner. Failure to compete successfully could seriously harm our business, operating results and financial condition. Factors that could affect our ability to compete successfully include: - the development by others of competitive products or platforms and services, possibly resulting in a shift of customer preferences away from our products and services and significantly decreased revenue;- aggressive pricing competition by our competitors, including through significant discounts, may cause us to reduce the prices of our products, offer terms that are unfavorable to us or lose our competitive position, any of which could result in lower revenue or profitability and could adversely impact our ability to realize the revenue and profitability forecasts for our products and could, over time, significantly constrain the prices that we can charge for our products;- the challenges of advanced-node design may lead some customers to work with more mature, less risky manufacturing processes that may reduce their need to upgrade or enhance their EDA solutions and design flows;- the challenges of developing (or acquiring) technology solutions that meet the rapidly evolving requirements of next-generation design challenges;- intense competition to attract acquisition targets, possibly making it more difficult for us to acquire companies or technologies at an acceptable price, or at all;- new entrants, including larger electronic systems companies, in our industry;- the combination of our competitors or collaboration among competitors and/or other companies (including through strategic alliances) to deliver more comprehensive or different offerings than they could individually;- our entry into new product categories or technology vertical sectors, including those in which success depends on absolute or relative scale;- decisions by customers to perform engineering services or IP development internally, rather than purchase these services from outside vendors due to budget constraints or excess engineering capacity;- actions by regulators to limit the contractual terms that either we or our customers can apply to product and service offerings; and - events or circumstances that damage the reputation of our company, leadership, products, services or technologies. For more information about our specific competitors, see "Competition" under Item 1 of Part I of this Annual Report.

There has been a trend toward customer consolidation in the semiconductor industry through business combinations, including mergers, asset acquisitions and strategic partnerships. As companies attempt to expand, strengthen or hold their market positions in an evolving industry, companies could be acquired or may be unable to continue operations. If this trend continues, it could make us more dependent on fewer customers who may be able to exert increased bargaining power in negotiations with us and could increase the portion of our total sales concentration for any single customer. Customer consolidation activity could also reduce the demand for our products and services if such customers streamline research and development or operations, reduce purchases or delay purchasing decisions. These outcomes could negatively impact our operating results and financial condition.

Purchases of our products and services are dependent upon the commencement of new design projects by semiconductor and electronics systems companies. The IC and electronics systems industries are cyclical and are characterized by constant and rapid technological change, rapid product obsolescence and price erosion, evolving standards, short product life cycles and wide fluctuations in product supply and demand. The semiconductor and electronics systems industries have also experienced significant downturns in connection with, or in anticipation of, maturing product cycles of both these industries' and their customers' products. The current outlook for the global economy is uncertain and may result in a decrease in spending on our products and services despite recent growth. Uncertainty caused by challenging global political and economic conditions, including inflation, interest rates, bank failures, U.S. deficit concerns, geopolitical conflicts and other adverse changes to international relationships among countries in which we or our customers operate or do business, protectionist measures or decline in corporate or consumer spending could negatively impact our customers' businesses, reducing the number of new chip designs and their overall research and development spending, including their spending on our products and services, and as a result decrease demand for our products and services. Adverse developments that affect financial institutions, transactional counterparties or other third parties, such as bank failures and failure by Congress to increase the U.S. federal debt ceiling on a timely basis, or concerns or speculation about any similar events or risks, have led and could lead to further credit downgrades and market-wide liquidity problems, which in turn may cause customers and other third parties to become unable to meet their obligations under various types of financial arrangements as well as general disruptions or instability in the financial markets. Public health emergencies and reactionary measures by governments and businesses have also had, and could in the future have, the effect of curtailing economic activity and causing substantial volatility and disruption in global markets. Decreased bookings for our products and services, customer bankruptcies, consolidation among our customers, or problems or delays with our hardware suppliers or with the supply or delivery of our hardware products could also adversely affect our ability to grow our business or adversely affect our future revenue and financial results. There is inherent risk, based on the complex relationships between certain countries and within regions, that political, diplomatic or military events could result in trade disruptions and other disruptions in the markets and industries we serve and our supply chain. A significant disruption in any area where we or our customers operate or do business could reduce customer demand, make our products and services more expensive or unavailable for customers, increase the cost of our products and services, have a negative impact on customer spending, make our products less competitive, or otherwise have a materially adverse impact on our future revenue and profits, our customers' and suppliers' businesses, and our results of operations. For example, the ongoing geopolitical and economic uncertainty between the United States and China, where we have derived a substantial percentage of our revenue, the unknown impact of current and future U.S. and Chinese trade regulations, and geopolitical risks with respect to Taiwan, which serves as a central hub for the technology industry supply chain, could, directly or indirectly, materially harm our business, financial condition and results of operations. Our future business and financial results, including demand for our products and services, are subject to considerable uncertainties that could impact our stock price. If economic conditions or international relationships among countries in which we do business deteriorate, or, in particular, if semiconductor or electronics systems industry revenues do not grow, the ability to export or import products or services by the semiconductor or electronics systems industry is adversely restricted, or our supplies of hardware components and products are subject to problems or delays, we may be adversely affected. Further, political or economic conflicts between various global actors, and responsive measures that have been or could be taken, have created and can further create significant global economic uncertainty that could prolong or expand such conflicts, which could have a lasting impact on regional and global economies and harm our business and operating results.

A significant amount of our revenue is derived from our international operations, a substantial majority of our employees are located outside of the United States, and we have offices throughout the world, including key research and development facilities outside of the United States. Our international operations are subject to a number of risks, including: - trade restrictions, sanctions or other trade barriers, which may lengthen sales cycles, restrict or prohibit the sale or licensing of certain products, or prevent foreign nationals employed by us from performing their roles;- limitations on repatriation of earnings and on the conversion of foreign currencies;- reduced protection of IP rights and heightened exposure to IP theft;- longer collection periods for receivables and greater difficulty in collecting accounts receivable;- difficulties in managing foreign operations;- political and economic conditions, such as economic downturns in the regions in which we do business, as well as macroeconomic policy and operational impacts of political instability and armed conflicts, including military service by our international employees;- changes in legal and regulatory requirements;- differing employment practices and labor issues or inability to continue to offer competitive compensation;- variations in costs or expenses associated with our international operations, including as a result of changes in foreign tax laws or changes in valuation of the U.S. dollar relative to other currencies; and - public health emergencies and related public health measures, including restrictions on travel between jurisdictions in which we and our customers and suppliers operate. Some of our research and development and other facilities are in parts of the world where there is a greater risk of business interruption as a result of political instability, terrorist acts or military conflicts than businesses located domestically. Damage to or disruptions at our research and development facilities could have a significant adverse effect on our ability to develop and improve products. We are not insured for losses or interruptions caused by acts of war, among other exclusions. Furthermore, our operations are dependent upon the connectivity of our operations throughout the world. Activities that interfere with our international connectivity or operations, such as cyber hacking, computer system viruses, natural disasters, public health emergencies, civil unrest or terrorism, could significantly harm our business operations. In addition, internal controls, policies and procedures and employee training and compliance programs that we have implemented to deter prohibited practices may not prevent our employees, contractors or agents from violating or circumventing our policies and the laws and regulations applicable to our worldwide operations.

Our corporate headquarters, including certain of our research and development operations and certain of our distribution facilities, and a significant portion of our employees are located in the Silicon Valley area of Northern California, a region known to experience seismic activity and wildfires. Our offices around the world may also be adversely impacted by natural disasters, including those intensified by climate change. Our offices, and those of our customers and suppliers, can be disrupted by droughts, extreme temperatures, fires, flooding and other climate change-related risks, as well as earthquakes, actions by utility providers and other catastrophic events such as an actual or threatened public health emergency. If a catastrophic event occurs at or near our offices or where our employees are located, or utility providers or public health officials take certain actions (e.g., shut off power to our facilities or impose travel restrictions), our operations may be interrupted, which could adversely impact our business and results of operations. If a catastrophic event impacts a significant number of customers, resulting in decreased demand for their and our products, or our ability to provide services and maintenance, our business and results of operations could be adversely impacted.

We must comply with the import and export restrictions and regulations and economic sanctions laws of the United States and of certain other countries in selling, providing or shipping our products and transferring our technology outside the United States, to foreign nationals (including foreign nationals within the United States) or across borders. Changes in our products or services, or changes in and continued expansion of these laws and regulations, including new or increased tariffs, trade protection measures, sanctions, trade embargoes and other trade barriers, may create delays in the introduction of our products or services into international markets, prevent our customers from deploying our products or services or, in some cases, prevent the export or import of our products or services to certain countries, governments or persons altogether or result in increased costs for us, which could reduce our competitiveness, or for our customers, which could affect their purchasing behaviors. Any decreased use of our products or services or limitation on our ability to export to or sell our products or services in international markets would likely harm our business, operating results and financial condition. For example, BIS maintains and frequently adds entities to the "Entity List," which limits our ability to deliver products and services to these entities, some of which are our customers. When customers are on the Entity List or are subject to new or expanded trade restrictions, it has a negative effect on our ability to sell products and provide services to these customers. In addition, the issuance of new or expanded trade restrictions, such as the continued expansion of the military end-user and military end-use rule, the foreign-direct product rules, or any other rule that prevents a class of commodities, software or technology from export to any specific country or countries without a license, could increase our costs or expenses. Anticipated or actual changes in trade restrictions could also affect customer purchasing behaviors. Entity List restrictions and other trade restrictions may also encourage customers to seek substitute products from our competitors, including a growing class of foreign competitors and open source alternatives, that are not subject to these restrictions or to develop their own solutions, thereby decreasing our long-term competitiveness. In particular, China's stated national policy to be a global leader in all segments of the semiconductor industry by 2030 has resulted in and may continue to cause increased competitive capability in China. In addition, although customers on the Entity List are not prohibited from paying (and we are not restricted from collecting) for products we previously delivered to them (in compliance with applicable law), the credit risks associated with outstanding receivables from customers on the Entity List – including receivables from anti-piracy enforcement efforts and litigation settlements – and other trade restrictions could increase. We cannot predict whether or when any changes will be made that eliminate or decrease these limitations on our ability to sell products and provide services to these Entity List customers or other customers impacted by other trade restrictions. We are unable to predict the duration of the export restrictions imposed with respect to any particular customer, technology, country or region or the long-term effects on our business or our customers' businesses. In addition, there may be indirect impacts to our business which we cannot reasonably quantify, including that certain restrictions, even if not directly applicable to us, may impact our customers' products which may have an adverse effect on demand for our products, or that a country-specific export control may limit or prevent our employees who are nationals of the restricted country from performing their duties unless a license can be obtained. Additionally, our business may also be impacted by other trade restrictions that may be imposed by the United States, China or other countries. For example, the United States and other global actors have imposed economic sanctions on Russia and other entities and individuals as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and conflicts in the Middle East. New or increased tariffs and other changes in U.S. trade policy, including new sanctions, could trigger retaliatory actions by affected countries. Failure to obtain import, export or re-export licenses or permits when required or restrictions on trade imposed by the United States or other countries could harm our business by rendering us unable to sell or ship products and transfer our technology outside of the United States or across borders. In addition, if our customers sell our products to any entity on the Entity List without our knowledge or authorization, we may be held liable for such sales. Although we have implemented risk-based policies and procedures that are reasonably designed to comply with all applicable trade restrictions, we and governmental authorities have had and may in the future have reason to inquire into particular sales. Specifically, in February 2021, we received an administrative subpoena from BIS requesting the production of records in connection with certain sales to our customers in China. In November 2023, we received a related subpoena from the U.S. Department of Justice ("DOJ") that also requested information regarding our business activity in China. In December 2024, we began discussions with BIS and DOJ regarding preliminary findings of their investigations and a potential resolution of this matter. We have been and will continue cooperating with BIS and DOJ in responding to the subpoenas and their ongoing investigations. These matters are subject to uncertainties and the outcomes of these and other proceedings that may occur are difficult to predict. If any governmental fines, penalties, restrictions or compliance requirements are imposed on us, or if we do not prevail in any possible civil or criminal litigation, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected. In addition, political, media or other scrutiny surrounding governmental investigations or their outcome could cause significant expense and reputational harm and distract senior executives from managing normal day-to-day operations. The laws and policies of the United States and other countries in this area are evolving and changing, and we have experienced and may continue to experience challenges in complying with new rules as they become effective. The application and interpretation of these laws and policies can also be uncertain and change over time, and we may need to adjust our policies and procedures accordingly. Any failure or alleged failure to comply with these laws and policies could have negative consequences, including significant legal costs, government investigations, penalties, denial of export privileges and debarment from participation in U.S. government contracts, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our operations, reputation and financial condition. In addition to export control laws, our global operations are subject to numerous U.S. and foreign laws and regulations, including those related to anti-corruption, anti-bribery, tax, corporate governance, financial and other disclosures, competition, antitrust, data privacy, data protection and employment. These laws and regulations are complex and may have differing or conflicting legal standards, making compliance difficult and costly, and changes to these laws, or their interpretations, may require us to make significant changes to our business operations that may adversely affect our business overall. The policies and procedures we have implemented to assist our compliance with these laws and regulations do not provide complete assurance that our employees, contractors, agents or partners will not violate such laws and regulations. Any violation individually or in the aggregate could have a material adverse effect on our operations, reputation and financial condition. For more information about the import and export restrictions and regulations that we may be subject to, see "Governmental Regulations-Trade" under Item 1 of Part I of this Annual Report.

From time to time, we or our products or technologies are involved in or subject to disputes and legal proceedings that arise in the ordinary course of business. These include disputes and legal proceedings related to IP, indemnification, mergers and acquisitions, licensing, contracts, customers, products, distribution and other commercial arrangements and employee relations matters. Governments and regulatory agencies in the jurisdictions in which we operate also open or initiate inquiries, investigations or regulatory proceedings from time to time. For information regarding legal proceedings in which we are currently engaged, please refer to the discussion under Note 18 in the notes to consolidated financial statements. The final outcome of these legal proceedings or any other proceedings that may arise in the future could have an adverse effect on our business, reputation, operating results, financial condition and cash flows. Legal proceedings can be time consuming, expensive and divert management's time and attention from our business, which could adversely affect our revenue and operating results.

Tax laws, regulations, and administrative practices in various jurisdictions are evolving and may be subject to significant changes due to economic, political and other conditions. Governments, including the United States, are increasingly focused on ways to increase tax revenues, particularly from multinational corporations, which have led to changes in tax laws, an increase in audit activity and harsher positions taken by tax authorities. We are currently subject to tax audits, administrative appeals and litigation in various jurisdictions and these jurisdictions have assessed, or may assess, additional tax liabilities against us. Our operations are subject to income and transaction taxes in the United States and in multiple foreign jurisdictions, with a significant amount of our foreign earnings generated by our subsidiaries organized in Ireland and Hungary. Any significant change in our future effective tax rates could adversely impact our results of operations, cash flows and financial position. Our future effective tax rates could be adversely affected by factors that include, but are not limited to, changes in tax laws or the interpretation of such tax laws in jurisdictions in which we have business activity, earnings being lower than anticipated in jurisdictions with low statutory tax rates, changes in tax benefits from stock-based compensation, changes in the valuation of our deferred tax assets and liabilities, changes in our recognition or measurement of a tax position taken in a prior period, increases to interest or penalty expenses, new accounting standards or interpretations of such standards, or results of examinations by the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS"), state, and foreign tax or other governmental authorities. For example, our fiscal 2022 and fiscal 2023 effective tax rates and cash tax payments increased significantly as compared to fiscal 2021, which primarily resulted from a requirement that we capitalize and amortize R&D costs beginning from fiscal 2022, rather than expense these costs as incurred for U.S. corporate income tax purposes. The IRS and other tax authorities regularly examine our income tax returns and other non-income tax returns, such as payroll, sales, use, value-added, net worth or franchise, property, goods and services, consumption, import, stamp and excise taxes, in both the United States and foreign jurisdictions. The calculation of our provision for income taxes and our accruals for other taxes requires us to use significant judgment and involves dealing with uncertainties in the application of complex tax laws and regulations. In determining the adequacy of our provision for income taxes, we regularly assess the potential settlement outcomes resulting from income tax examinations. However, the final outcome of tax examinations cannot be estimated with certainty and could be materially different from the amount that is reflected in our historical income tax provisions and accruals for other taxes. Should the IRS or other tax authorities assess additional taxes, penalties or interest as a result of a current or future examination, we may be required to record charges to operations in future periods that could have a material impact on our results of operations, financial position and cash flows in the applicable period or periods. In August 2022, the United States enacted the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which included a new minimum tax on certain large corporations, an excise tax on stock buybacks and significant funding for IRS enforcement efforts. In October 2021, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ("OECD") announced an agreement among more than 130 countries to adopt new rules including Pillar Two Model Rules which call for the taxation of large multinational corporations, such as Cadence, at a minimum rate of 15%. Subsequently multiple sets of administrative guidance have been issued. Many non-U.S. tax jurisdictions have either recently enacted legislation to adopt certain components of the Pillar Two Model Rules (including the European Union Member States) with the adoption of additional components in later years or announced their plans to enact legislation in future years. Furthermore, many countries have enacted or proposed new laws to tax digital transactions. These and future developments in tax laws and regulations, and related compliance, could have a material adverse effect on our operating results, financial position and cash flows. Forecasts of our annual effective tax rate do not include the anticipation of future tax law changes and are complex and subject to uncertainty because our income tax position for each year combines the effects of estimating the amount and composition of our annual income or loss in jurisdictions with varying income tax rates, as well as benefits from available deferred tax assets, the impact of various accounting rules, our interpretations of changes in tax laws and results of tax audits. In addition, we account for certain tax benefits from stock-based compensation in the period the stock compensation vests or is settled, which may cause increased variability in our quarterly effective tax rates. If there were a material difference between forecasted and actual tax rates, it could have a material impact on our results of operations.

We are subject to changing rules and regulations promulgated by a number of governmental and self-regulatory organizations, including the SEC, Nasdaq and the FASB, as well as evolving investor, customer, employee and other stakeholder expectations around corporate governance, executive compensation and environmental and social practices and related disclosures. These rules, regulations and expectations continue to evolve in scope and complexity, and many new requirements have been created in response to laws enacted by U.S. and foreign governments, making compliance more difficult and uncertain. For example, in January 2025, President Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to take steps to target diversity, equity and inclusion practices in the private sector, including directing each agency to identify up to nine opportune civil compliance investigations of publicly traded corporations, and requiring agencies to include terms within federal contracts for contractors to certify that they do not operate such programs that violate any applicable federal anti-discrimination laws, among others. We may be subject to increased litigation and regulatory scrutiny regarding these practices. The increase in costs to comply with such evolving expectations, rules and regulations, as well as any risk of noncompliance, could adversely impact us. We expect that rapidly changing laws, regulations, policies, interpretations and expectations related to corporate governance, environmental and social matters, as well as increased enforcement actions by various governmental and regulatory agencies, will continue to increase the cost of our compliance and internal risk management programs, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. Moreover, some stakeholders may disagree with our environmental, social and governance targets and practices and the focus of stakeholders may change and evolve over time. Stakeholders may have different views on where corporate governance, environmental and social focus should be placed. Any disagreement with our targets or strategies could adversely affect our business, reputation, results of operations and financial condition. We have established environmental, social and governance targets and strategies, including relating to greenhouse gas emissions reduction. If our ESG practices, reporting or disclosure controls do not meet evolving investor, customer, employee or other stakeholder expectations and regulatory standards, or if we are unable to make progress on or achieve our goals and objectives, including our net zero target, then our reputation and our attractiveness as an employer, investment or business partner could be negatively impacted, which could adversely affect our operating results. Our disclosures and public positions or commitments on these matters may change from time to time, as may corresponding internal controls and external reporting standards, which can expose us to reputational, financial, legal, and other risks, including as a result of a failure or perceived failure to achieve aspirations, targets, or goals, such as our greenhouse gas emissions reduction target, or a failure to report accurately. Statements about our ESG initiatives and goals, and progress against those goals, may be based on standards for measuring progress that are still developing, internal controls and processes that continue to evolve, and assumptions that are subject to change. In addition, we could face scrutiny from certain stakeholders for the scope or nature of such initiatives, targets or goals, or for any revisions to these initiatives, targets or goals.

Our customers use our products and services in designing and developing products that involve a high degree of technological complexity, each of which has its own specifications. Because of the complexity of the systems and products with which we work, including the interoperation of our products with third party products in a customer's environment, some of our products and designs can be adequately tested only when put to full use in the marketplace. As a result, from time to time, our customers or their end users discover errors or defects in our software or the systems we design, or the products or systems incorporating our design and IP may not operate as expected. Errors, defects or issues arising from interoperability with third party products, whether or not our products are the source of such problems, could result in reputational damage, failure to attract new or retain existing customers or market share and acceptance, diversion of development resources to resolve the problem, loss of or delay in revenue or payments and increased service costs and liability. Although we generally have limitation of liability provisions in our standard terms and conditions of sale, in some circumstances, we may be required to indemnify a customer in full, without limitation, for certain liabilities. Although we do not control what our products are used for and our standard terms and conditions generally disclaim liability for our customers' products, the sale and support of our products also entail the risk of product liability claims. We maintain insurance to protect against certain claims associated with the use of our products, but our insurance coverage may not apply or may not fully cover claims asserted against us. In addition, even claims that ultimately are unsuccessful could result in our expenditure of funds in litigation, divert management's time and other resources or cause reputational damage.

Our reliance on single or a limited number of suppliers and contract manufacturers for certain hardware components and contract manufacturers for production of our hardware products has resulted in, and could continue to result in, some product delivery delays and reduced control over contractual terms and quality. In some cases, it may not be practical or feasible to have multiple sources to procure certain key components. We have suffered from, and may continue to suffer from, delays and other disruptions in the supply of certain hardware components and the delivery of products by our contract manufacturers. Such delays and disruptions may be due to a variety of factors, including bankruptcy, shutdown or upstream supply chain issues, and may prevent us from delivering completed hardware products to customers or from supplying new evaluation units to customers, which could have a negative impact on our revenue and operating results.