Enovix (ENVX) Risk Factors

In the ordinary course of business, we collect, receive, store, process, generate, use, transfer, disclose, make accessible, protect, secure, dispose of, transmit, and share (collectively, process) personal data and other sensitive information, including proprietary and confidential business data, trade secrets, intellectual property, and sensitive third-party data. Our data processing activities may subject us to numerous data privacy and security obligations, such as various laws, regulations, guidance, industry standards, external and internal privacy and security policies, contractual requirements, and other obligations relating to data privacy and security. In the U.S., federal, state, and local governments have enacted numerous data privacy and security laws, including data breach notification laws, personal data privacy laws, consumer protection laws such as Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, and other similar laws such as wiretapping laws. In the past few years, numerous U.S. states-including California, Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, and Utah-have enacted comprehensive privacy laws that impose certain obligations on covered businesses, including providing specific disclosures in privacy notices and affording residents with certain rights concerning their personal data. As applicable, such rights may include the right to access, correct, or delete certain personal data, and to opt-out of certain data processing activities, such as targeted advertising, profiling, and automated decision-making. The exercise of these rights may impact our business and ability to provide our products and services. Certain states also impose stricter requirements for processing certain personal data, including sensitive information, such as conducting data privacy impact assessments. These state laws allow for statutory fines for noncompliance. For example, the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 ("CPRA") (collectively, "CCPA") applies to personal data of consumers, business representatives, and employees who are California residents, and requires businesses to provide specific disclosures in privacy notices and honor requests of such individuals to exercise certain privacy rights. The CCPA provides for fines of up to $7,500 per intentional violation and allows private litigants affected by certain data breaches to recover significant statutory damages. Similar laws are being considered in several other states, as well as at the federal and local levels, and we expect more states to pass similar laws in the future. These developments further complicate compliance efforts and increase legal risk and compliance costs for us and the third parties upon whom we rely. We may be subject to new laws governing the privacy of consumer health data. For example, Washington's My Health My Data Act broadly defines consumer health data, places restrictions on processing consumer health data (including imposing stringent requirements for consents), provides consumers certain rights with respect to their health data, and creates a private right of action to allow individuals to sue for violations of the law. Other states are considering and may adopt similar laws. Additionally, under various privacy laws and other obligations, we may be required to obtain certain consents to process personal data. For example, some of our data processing practices may be challenged under wiretapping laws, if we obtain consumer information from third parties through various methods, including chatbot and session replay providers, or via third-party marketing pixels. These practices may be subject to increased challenges by class action plaintiffs. Our inability or failure to obtain consent for these practices could result in adverse consequences, including class action litigation and mass arbitration demands. Outside the U.S., an increasing number of laws, regulations, and industry standards may govern data privacy and security, for example, the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation ("EU GDPR") and the United Kingdom's GDPR ("UK GDPR"). Under the GDPR, companies may face temporary or definitive bans on data processing and other corrective actions; fines of up to 20 million Euros the EU GDPR, 17.5 million pounds sterling under the UK GDPR, or, in each case, 4% of annual global revenue, whichever is greater; or private litigation related to processing of personal data brought by classes of data subjects or consumer protection organizations authorized at law to represent their interests. We also target process data in Asia and may be or become subject to new and emerging data privacy regimes in Asia, including India's new privacy legislation, the Digital Personal Data Protection Act. Our employees and personnel use generative AI and machine learning ("ML") technologies to perform their work, and the disclosure and use of personal data in generative AI technologies is subject to various privacy laws and other privacy obligations. Governments have passed and are likely to pass additional laws regulating generative AI. Our use of this technology could result in additional compliance costs, regulatory investigations and actions, and lawsuits. If we are unable to use generative AI, it could make our business less efficient and result in competitive disadvantages. We use AI/ML to assist us in making certain decisions, which is regulated by certain privacy laws. Due to inaccuracies or flaws in the inputs, outputs, or logic of the AI/ML, the model could be biased and could lead us to make decisions that could bias certain individuals, or classes of individuals, and adversely impact their rights, employment, and ability to obtain certain pricing, products, services, or benefits. In the ordinary course of business, we may transfer personal data from Europe and other jurisdictions to the U.S. or other countries. Europe and other jurisdictions have enacted laws requiring data to be localized or limiting the transfer of personal data to other countries. In particular, the European Economic Area ("EEA") and the United Kingdom ("UK") have significantly restricted the transfer of personal data to the U.S. and other countries whose privacy laws it believes are inadequate. Other jurisdictions may adopt similarly stringent interpretations of their data localization and cross-border data transfer laws. Although there are currently various mechanisms that may be used to transfer personal data from the EEA and UK to the U.S. in compliance with law, such as the EEA standard contractual clauses, , the UK's International Data Transfer Agreement/Addendum, and the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework and the UK extension thereto (which allows for transfers to relevant U.S.-based organizations who self-certify compliance and participate in the Framework), these mechanisms are subject to legal challenges, and there is no assurance that we can satisfy or rely on these measures to lawfully transfer personal data to the U.S. If there is no lawful manner for us to transfer personal data from the EEA, the UK or other jurisdictions to the U.S., or if the requirements for a legally-compliant transfer are too onerous, we could face significant adverse consequences, including the interruption or degradation of our operations, the need to relocate part of or all of our business or data processing activities to other jurisdictions at significant expense, increased exposure to regulatory actions, substantial fines and penalties, the inability to transfer data and work with partners, vendors and other third parties, and injunctions against our processing or transferring of personal data necessary to operate our business. Additionally, companies that transfer personal data out of the EEA and UK to other jurisdictions, particularly to the U.S., are subject to increased scrutiny from regulators, individual litigants, and activist groups. Some European regulators have ordered certain companies to suspend or permanently cease certain transfers out of Europe for allegedly violating the GDPR's cross-border data transfer limitations. We are also bound by contractual obligations related to data privacy and security, and our efforts to comply with such obligations may not be successful. For example, certain privacy laws, such as the GDPR and the CCPA, require our customers to impose specific contractual restrictions on their service providers. We publish privacy policies, marketing materials and other statements regarding data privacy and security. If these policies, materials or statements are found to be deficient, lacking in transparency, deceptive, unfair, or misrepresentative of our practices, we may be subject to investigation, enforcement actions by regulators or other adverse consequences. Obligations related to data privacy and security are quickly changing, becoming increasingly stringent, and creating regulatory uncertainty. Additionally, these obligations may be subject to differing applications and interpretations, which may be inconsistent or conflict among jurisdictions. Preparing for and complying with these obligations requires us to devote significant resources, which may necessitate changes to our services, information technologies, systems, and practices and to those of any third parties that process personal data on our behalf. In addition, these obligations may require us to change our business model. We may at times fail (or be perceived to have failed) in our efforts to comply with our data privacy and security obligations. Moreover, despite our efforts, our personnel or third parties on whom we rely may fail to comply with such obligations, which could negatively impact our business operations. If we or the third parties on which we rely fail, or are perceived to have failed, to address or comply with applicable data privacy and security obligations, we could face significant consequences, including but not limited to: government enforcement actions, including investigations, fines, penalties, audits, and inspections); litigation such as class-action claims; additional reporting requirements and/or oversight; bans on processing personal data; and orders to destroy or not use personal data. In particular, plaintiffs have become increasingly more active in bringing privacy-related claims against companies, including class claims and mass arbitration demands. Some of these claims allow for the recovery of statutory damages on a per violation basis, and, if viable, carry the potential for monumental statutory damages, depending on the volume of data and the number of violations. Any of these events could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business, or financial condition, including, but not limited to, loss of customers; inability to process personal data or to operate in certain jurisdictions; limited ability to develop or commercialize our products; expenditure of time and resources to defend any claim or inquiry; adverse publicity; or substantial changes to our business model or operations.

We may be involved in legal proceedings and commercial or contractual disputes that, from time to time, are significant. These are typically claims that arise in the normal course of business including, without limitation, commercial or contractual disputes, including warranty claims and other disputes with potential customers and suppliers, intellectual property matters, personal injury claims, environmental issues, tax matters and employment matters. For example, on January 21, 2022, two former machine operator employees filed a putative wage and hour class action lawsuit against Enovix and co-defendant Legendary Staffing, Inc. in the Superior Court of California, County of Alameda. The case is captioned Sopheak Prak & Ricardo Pimentel v Enovix Corporation and Legendary Staffing, Inc., 22CV005846. The Prak complaint alleges, among other things, on a putative class-wide basis, that the defendants failed to pay all overtime wages and committed meal period, rest period and wage statement violations under the California Labor Code and applicable Wage Orders. In September 2022, we began the mediation process and the court approved a settlement in this matter in June 2024. It is difficult to predict the outcome, duration or ultimate financial exposure, if any, represented by these matters, and there can be no assurance that any such exposure will not be material. Such contractual disputes and claims may also divert management's attention away from our business operations and negatively affect our reputation.

Under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, (the "Code"), a corporation is generally allowed a deduction for net operating losses ("NOLs") carried over from a prior taxable year. Under the Code, we can carryforward our NOLs to offset our future taxable income, if any, until such NOLs are used or expire. The same is true of other unused tax attributes, such as tax credits. Under current U.S. federal income tax law, U.S. federal NOLs generated in taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017, may be carried forward indefinitely, but the deductibility of such U.S. federal NOLs is limited to 80 percent of taxable income. It is uncertain if and to what extent various states will conform to current U.S. federal income tax law, and there may be periods during which states suspend or otherwise limit the use of NOLs for state income tax purposes. In addition, under Sections 382 and 383 of the Code and corresponding provisions under state law, a corporation that undergoes an "ownership change" is subject to limitations on its ability to use its pre-change NOL carryforwards and other pre-change tax attributes to offset future taxable income and taxes. The limitations apply if a corporation undergoes an "ownership change," which is generally defined as a greater than 50 percentage point change (by value) in its equity ownership by certain stockholders over a three-year period. We have experienced ownership changes and are subject to limitations on our ability to utilize a portion of our NOLs and other tax attributes to offset taxable income or tax liability. In addition, future changes in our stock ownership, which may be outside of our control, may trigger additional ownership changes and further limitations. Similar provisions of state tax law may also apply to suspend or otherwise limit our use of accumulated state tax attributes. As a result, even if we earn net taxable income in the future, our ability to use our or Legacy Enovix's NOL carryforwards and other tax attributes to offset such taxable income or tax liability may be subject to limitations, which could potentially result in increased future income tax liability to us.

In May 2024, we initiated a restructuring plan to relocate our Fab1 manufacturing operations in Fremont, California to Malaysia and accelerate manufacturing operations at Fab2 in Malaysia. In the second quarter of 2024, we completed site acceptance testing ("SAT") and began production of batteries on our Agility Line, and completed factory acceptance testing ("FAT") for our High-Volume Line in Malaysia. However, our profitability targets rely on our ability to aggressively reduce the capital costs of our production lines and implement productivity improvements. If such efficiency gains are unsuccessful, we may be unable to achieve our target margin and profitability goals. We expect that our current manufacturing lines will be sufficient to produce batteries in commercial scale, but not in high enough volumes to meet our expected customer demand. Therefore, we anticipate bringing additional facilities online at Fab2. If we are unable to successfully build and manage such additional manufacturing lines, our business will be negatively impacted and could fail. Even if we overcome the manufacturing challenges and achieve volume production of our lithium-ion battery, if the cost, performance characteristics or other specifications of the battery fall short of our or our customers' expectations and targets, our sales, product pricing and margins would likely be adversely affected. Our long-term target economics at scale assume we are able to obtain certain pricing levels for our batteries. If these assumptions are incorrect and/or customer demand is lower than expected, we may fail to achieve our target revenue and profitability goals.

In July 2023, we entered into a 10-year manufacturing agreement (the "Agreement") with YBS International Berhad ("YBS"), a Malaysia-based investment holding company with operational segments including electronic manufacturing and assembly, high-precision engineering, precision machining and stamping, among others. If we are able to overcome the challenges in designing and refining our manufacturing process, YBS will have multiple lines to produce commercial volumes of our lithium-ion batteries to meet our expected customer demands. On October 29, 2024, we entered into an amendment (the "Amendment") to the Agreement with YBS, which modified certain payment terms and responsibilities of the parties relating to, among other things, responsibility for equipment and facilities costs. Under the original Agreement, YBS and Enovix agreed to share the investment costs for the equipment for the Gen2 Line 1 and facilitation costs. Under the Amendment, we are responsible for the full $100 million initial investment for the Gen2 Line 1 equipment and facilities costs, and YBS is responsible for obtaining and managing its working capital requirements needed to provide manufacturing services under the Agreement. Pricing under the Agreement is set on a cost-plus basis and we are subject to a minimum commitment under the Agreement, including as modified by the Amendment. Accordingly, regardless of the level of manufacturing services YBS provides to us under the Agreement, we are obligated to pay a certain threshold amount each month during the term of the Agreement. There initial ten-year term of the Agreement expires in July 2033, subject to customary termination provisions. Our manufacturing arrangement with YBS creates risks because we will rely on YBS for manufacturing facilities, procurement, and personnel, among others. Further, manufacturing in Malaysia is subject to possible disruptions due to power outages, equipment malfunction and failures, and supply chain disruptions relating to raw materials or components, among others. Our manufacturing operations may also be adversely affected by natural disasters and climate change. Other events, including political or public health crises, may affect our production capabilities or that of our suppliers, including as a result of quarantines, closures of production facilities, lack of supplies, or delays caused by restrictions on travel or shipping. As a result, in addition to disruptions to operations, our insurance premiums may increase, or we may not be able to fully recover any sustained losses through insurance. If this manufacturing arrangement does not perform as expected, it may materially and adversely affect our results of operations, financial condition and prospects. In addition, our Agreement with YBS exposes us to significant risks and limits our control and oversight over the management of manufacturing processes, capacity constraints, delivery timetables, product quality assurance and costs. If we fail to effectively manage our relationship with YBS, or if YBS is unable to meet our manufacturing requirements in a timely manner, or if we experience delays, disruptions or quality control problems, it may materially and adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.

Our roadmap to improve our energy density, cycle life, fast charging, capacity roll off and gassing metrics requires us to implement higher energy density materials for both cathodes and anodes. To successfully use these materials, we will have to optimize our cell designs including, but not limited to formulations, thicknesses, geometries, materials, chemistries and manufacturing tolerances and techniques. It could take us longer than we anticipate to incorporate these new materials, or we might not be able to achieve certain cell performance specifications required by customers. Further, we will need to make improvements in packaging technology to achieve our energy density, cycle life, fast charge, capacity roll off and gassing metrics improvement roadmap. These improvements may not be possible, or could take longer, or be more difficult than forecasted. If we are unable to improve our packaging technology, this could reduce the performance of our products and delay the availability of products to customers, which would negatively impact our competitive potential.

It is difficult to predict our future revenue and therefore appropriately budget for our expenses, and we may have limited insight into trends that may emerge and affect our business. We anticipate being required to provide forecasts of our demand to our current and future suppliers prior to the scheduled delivery of products to potential customers. Currently, there is no historical basis for making judgments on the demand for our batteries or our ability to develop, manufacture and deliver batteries, or our profitability in the future. If we overestimate our requirements, our suppliers may have excess inventory, which would indirectly increase our costs. If we underestimate our requirements, our suppliers may have inadequate inventory, which could interrupt manufacturing of our products and result in delayed shipments and revenue. Factors outside our control may also affect the demand for our batteries. For example, many of the expected end products for our batteries are manufactured in China. If the political situation between China and the U.S. were to deteriorate, it could prevent our customers from purchasing our batteries. Lead times for materials and components that our suppliers order may vary significantly and depend on factors such as the specific supplier, contract terms and demand for each component at a given time. If we fail to order sufficient quantities of product components in a timely manner, the delivery of batteries to our potential customers could be delayed, which would harm our business, financial condition and operating results.

Our customers' products are typically on yearly or longer refresh cycles. Due to the lengthy sales cycles, if we miss qualification timing by even a small amount, the impact to our production schedule, revenue and profits could be large. While we intend to meet all qualification criteria, some field reliability risks remain such as cycle life, long-term high-temperature storage capacity and swelling, among others. Batteries are known in the market to have historically faced risks associated with safety, and therefore customers can be reluctant to take risks on new battery technologies. Since new battery technologies have not been widely adopted by customers in the battery market, it may be difficult for us to overcome customer risk objections. If unanticipated product safety problems arise, it may raise warranty costs and adversely affect revenue and profit. Our sales to military customers often involve standard form contracts, which may not be subject to negotiation. In particular, certain of these contracts involve unlimited damages provisions that could result in large-scale liabilities. In addition, one of our customers has exclusive rights to purchase our batteries for use in the augmented reality and virtual reality space through 2024, which could limit our ability to sell batteries to other customers and grow our business in such space through 2024.

The growth and development of our operations will depend on the successful commercialization and market acceptance of our products and our ability to manufacture products at scale while timely meeting customers' demands. We are in the early stages of commercialization and certain aspects of our technology have not been fully field tested. For example, there is no certainty that, once shipped, our products will operate as expected, and we may not be able to generate sufficient customer confidence in our latest designs and ongoing product improvements. There are inherent uncertainties in our ability to predict future demand for our products and, as a consequence, we may have inadequate production capacity to meet demand, or alternatively, have excess available capacity. Our inability to predict the extent of customer adoption of our proprietary technologies makes it difficult to evaluate our future prospects. We have made limited numbers of commercial shipments of lithium batteries to certain customers since the second quarter of 2022. Our customer base has been expanded through our Routejade Acquisition. If we experience significant delays or order cancellations from these customers, or if we fail to develop our products in accordance with contract specifications, then our operating results and financial condition will be adversely affected. In addition, there is no assurance that if we alter or change our products in the future, that the demand for these new products will develop, which could adversely affect our business and any possible revenue. If our products are not deemed desirable and suitable for purchase and we are unable to establish a customer base, we may not be able to generate revenue or attain profitability. In addition, if we are unable to deliver our engineering services on a timely basis, we may be unable to attract and engage new or existing customers for engineering service contracts and we may not be able to generate revenue or attain profitability.

Our patent applications may not result in issued patents, which may have a material adverse effect on our ability to prevent others from commercially exploiting products similar to ours. The status of patents involves complex legal and factual questions and the breadth of claims allowed is uncertain. As a result, we cannot be certain that the patent applications that we file will result in patents being issued or that our patents and any patents that may be issued to us will afford protection against competitors with similar technology. Numerous patents and pending patent applications owned by others exist in the fields in which we have developed and are developing our technology. In addition to those who may claim priority, any of our existing or pending patents may also be challenged by others on the basis that they are otherwise invalid or unenforceable. Furthermore, patent applications filed in foreign countries are subject to laws, rules and procedures that differ from those in the U.S., and thus we cannot be certain that foreign patent applications related to issued U.S. patents will be issued. Even if our patent applications succeed and we are issued patents in accordance with them, it is still uncertain whether these patents will be contested, circumvented, invalidated or limited in scope in the future. The rights granted under any issued patents may not provide us with meaningful protection or competitive advantages, and some foreign countries provide significantly less effective patent enforcement than in the U.S. In addition, the claims under any patents that issue from our patent applications may not be broad enough to prevent others from developing technologies that are similar or that achieve results similar to ours. The intellectual property rights of others could also bar us from licensing and exploiting any patents that issue from our pending applications. In addition, patents issued to us may be infringed upon or designed around by others, and others may obtain patents that we need to license or design around, either of which would increase costs and may adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.

Recent global conflicts, such as the Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Israel-Hamas war, and the war in Yemen, have led the U.S. and certain other countries to impose significant sanctions and trade actions or have slowed down shipping options, and the U.S. and certain other countries could impose further sanctions, trade restrictions and other retaliatory actions, and affect shipment of products. It is not possible to predict the broader consequences of the conflicts, including related geopolitical tensions, and the measures and retaliatory actions taken by the U.S. and other countries in respect thereof, as well as any counter measures or retaliatory actions taken in response, have caused and are likely to continue to cause regional instability and geopolitical shifts. Further, such conflicts have in the past, and will likely continue to, materially adversely affected global trade, currency exchange rates, regional economies and the global economy. While it is difficult to anticipate the impact of any of the foregoing on the Company, such conflicts, and any similar future conflicts, including as a result of rising tensions between China and Taiwan, and actions taken in response to the conflict, could increase our costs, disrupt our supply chain, reduce our sales and earnings, impair our ability to raise additional capital when needed on acceptable terms, if at all, or otherwise adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.