Vuzix (VUZI) Risk Analysis

We rely on and will continue to rely on technologies (including micro-displays, mobile computing electronics and operating systems) that are developed and produced by other companies. The commercial success of certain of our planned future products will depend in part on advances in these and other technologies by other companies. We may, from time to time, contract with and support companies developing key technologies in order to accelerate the development of them for our specific uses. Such activities might not result in useful technologies or components for us. We are attempting to mitigate this risk by exploring ways to develop our own micro-display technologies using microLED and laser scanning displays, but there can be no assurance that we will be successful in doing so.

Our commercial success will depend substantially on our ability to obtain patents and other intellectual property rights and maintain adequate legal protection for our products in the United States and other countries. We will be able to protect our intellectual property from unauthorized use by third parties only to the extent that these assets are covered by valid and enforceable patents, trademarks, copyrights or other intellectual property rights, or are effectively maintained as trade secrets. As of the date of this filing, we have 194 issued U.S. and foreign patents and 178 pending U.S. and foreign patent applications. We apply for patents covering our products, services, technologies and designs, as we deem appropriate. We may fail to apply for patents on important products, services, technologies or designs in a timely fashion, or at all. We do not know whether any of our patent applications will result in the issuance of any patents. Even if patents are issued, they may not be sufficient to protect our products, services, technologies, or designs. Our existing and future patents may not be sufficiently broad to prevent others from developing competing products, services technologies, or designs. Intellectual property protection and patent rights outside of the United States are even less predictable. As a result, the validity and enforceability of patents cannot be predicted with certainty. We rely in part on unpatented proprietary technology, and others may independently develop the same or similar technology or otherwise obtain access to our unpatented technology. We require employees, contractors, consultants, financial advisors, suppliers and strategic partners to enter into confidentiality and intellectual property assignment agreements (as appropriate), but these agreements may not provide sufficient protection for our trade secrets, know-how or other proprietary information. Human Capital Resources As of December 31, 2023, our consolidated business employed just under 100 individuals. Our management and professional employees have significant prior experience in optical design, mechanical design, software, electronics, manufacturing, and other related technologies. Our employees are in the U.S., Europe and Japan and the laws regarding employee relationships are different by jurisdiction. Some non-US employees are full-time contractors. None of our employees are covered by a collective bargaining agreement. We have policies to prevent discrimination based on gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. We take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are hired, and that employees are treated during employment without regard to their race, ethnicity, religion, sex, or national origin. We also take affirmative action to employ and advance veterans in employment. We consider relations with our employees to be good. We have adopted a Code of Business Conduct and Ethics regarding the standards of conduct of our directors, officers and employees. The code is reviewed and updated periodically by our Board of Directors and is available on our website at www.vuzix.com. Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) Initiatives We strive to create and maintain a working environment that fosters honesty and hard work and rewards all of our employees' hard work. We endeavor to make Vuzix a place in which people are proud to be associated. With the growing awareness of environmental and social issues, we are in the process of creating a more formalized ESG strategy. Our initial process for the strategy creation includes soon forming a cross-functional ESG team of leaders representing operations, human resources, supply chain, finance, marketing, and facilities departments. We will also utilize third-party facility, environmental and legal consulting services, as necessary. These third-party consultants will be assisting us in creating an ESG materiality assessment from which we can develop a baseline assessment for monitoring our progress. Our progress in creating our ESG strategy and other related activities is reported to the Board of Directors. We provide recurring Company-wide communication of our formal values: Integrity Team CustomersUphold Ethical Standards in Our Performance Treat Everyone with Respect Quality Customer Service Through Collaborative Success?Keep Our Commitments ?Encourage Open Communication ?Provide Industry Leading Products?Protect Our Intellectual Property ?Promote Critical Thinking and Innovation ?Maintain Confidentiality and Protect Customer Intellectual Property For additional information, see "Item 1 – Business: Human Capital Resources" in this Form 10-K. We strive to create a workplace based on the following principles and goals: Care for Our People - We believe in upholding the principles of human rights, worker safety, and observing fair labor practices within our organization. - We respect different viewpoints and perspectives, and ultimately individual thoughts create innovation and achieve better results. We continually evaluate how we provide organizational training, formalize Company values, and revitalize recruitment strategy. - We are committed to employee safety. We have installed safety protocols and monitoring systems. We have periodic audits by third parties to test our systems and perform preventative maintenance. Our policies prohibit an employee from being alone in our production facilities or in unsupervised areas of our facilities. Environmental Responsibility - We are committed to protecting the natural environment and our community by complying with all applicable legal and regulatory requirements. We maintain an environmental management system and a specific framework for implementing relevant sustainable practices. - We ask our employees to help us contribute towards environmental sustainability by looking for opportunities to conserve energy, reduce consumption of natural resources, preserve air and water quality, manage waste properly, reuse and recycle, and reduce the use of toxic substances in our operations where possible, including, in particular, in our clean room and lab facilities. Our clean room facility emissions are less than permitting and reporting thresholds, and we track emissions monthly to verify compliance with the regulations. - We look for ways to reduce energy consumption in our facilities. - We make and sell products that are generally considered more environmentally friendly than alternative computing devices and in most of their actual use by customers reduce their travel needs, either locally or across the world with their remote presence capabilities, and consume significantly less power or raw materials to manufacture than are typically used or required for  laptop or tablet computers. Ethics & Corporate Responsibility - We are committed to ensuring ethical organizational governance and embracing diversity and inclusion in the board room and throughout the organization. - We are committed to observing fair, transparent, and accountable operating practices. - We seek to create and foster a healthy, balanced, and ethical work environment for everyone in our organization. To this end, we promote an ethical organizational culture and encourage all employees to raise questions or concerns about actual or potential ethical issues and Company policies and to offer suggestions about how we can make our organization better. We have a Whistleblower Ethics Hotline that includes global telephone access and online access. We have an independent third party periodically test the Whistleblower Ethics Hotline. Supply Chain Responsibility - We intend to request that our suppliers adhere to the RBA Code of Conduct or its equivalent by flowing this requirement through our commercial contracts.

While we take reasonable measures intended to protect the security, integrity and confidentiality of the personal information and other sensitive information we collect, store or transmit, we cannot guarantee that inadvertent or unauthorized use or disclosure will not occur, or that third parties will not gain unauthorized access to this information. While our privacy policies currently prohibit such activities, our third-party service providers or partners may engage in such activity without our knowledge or consent. If we or our third-party service providers were to experience a breach, disruption or failure of systems compromising our customers' data, or if one of our third-party service providers or partners were to access our customers' personal data without our authorization, our brand and reputation could be adversely affected, use of our products could decrease and we could be exposed to a risk of loss, litigation and regulatory proceedings.

If additional significant tariffs or other restrictions are placed on Chinese imports or any related counter-measures are taken by China, our revenue and results of operations may be materially harmed. Since July 2018, the US Administration introduced a list of thousands of categories of goods that began facing tariffs of up to 25%, inclusive of many components and services we have sourced or have performed for us in China by suppliers there. These tariffs currently affect most of our products and we may be required to raise our prices on those products due to the tariffs, which may result in a loss of customers and harm our operating performance. If the existing tariffs are expanded or interpreted by a court or governmental agency to apply to any of our other products, we may be required to raise our prices on those products also, which may further result in a loss of customers and harm our operating performance. It is possible further tariffs will be imposed on imports of our products, or that our business will be impacted by retaliatory trade measures taken by China or other countries in response to existing or future tariffs, causing us to raise prices or make changes to our operations, any of which could materially harm our revenue or operating results.

As a public company, we are subject to requirements under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, or the Dodd-Frank Act, that require us to determine, disclose and report whether or not our products contain conflict minerals. These requirements could adversely affect the sourcing, availability and pricing of the materials used in the manufacture of components used in our products. In addition, we have and will continue to incur additional costs to comply with the disclosure requirements, including costs related to conducting diligence procedures to determine the sources of conflict minerals that may be used in, or necessary for the production of, our products and, if applicable, potential changes to products, processes or sources of supply as a consequence of such verification activities. We also may face reputational harm if we determine that certain of our products contain minerals not determined to be conflict free or if we are unable to alter our products, processes or sources of supply to avoid such materials.

Our ability to meet customer demand depends, in part, on our ability to obtain timely and adequate delivery of components for our products. All of the components that go into the manufacturing of our smart glasses products and accessories, other than waveguide optics, are sourced from third-party suppliers. The availability of certain of the components that we require to produce our AR Smart Glasses and other near-eye display products may decrease. Some of the key components used to manufacture our products come from a limited or single source of supply, or by a supplier that could potentially become a competitor. Our contract manufacturers generally purchase these components on our behalf from approved suppliers. We are subject to the risk of shortages and long lead times in the supply of these components and the risk that our suppliers discontinue or modify components used in our products. In addition, the lead times associated with certain components are lengthy and preclude rapid changes in quantities and delivery schedules. Further, the electronic components we utilize can go end-of-life due to technological changes, which can require us to invest in implementation costs of alternatives and the potential for the forced obsolescence of other related items. We have in the past experienced end-of-life issues and expect to see more shortages in the future. As such, the availability of these components may be unpredictable. We do not currently own or operate any manufacturing facilities for any types of micro-displays, one of the key components in our products. Certain other components and services necessary for the manufacture of our products are available from only a limited number of sources, and other components and services are only available from a single source. Our relationship with these source companies generally is on a purchase order basis and these firms do not have a contractual obligation to provide adequate supply or acceptable pricing to us on a long-term basis. These firms could discontinue sourcing components for us at any time. If any of these firms were to discontinue their relationship with us, or discontinue providing specific products to us, and we are unable to contract with a new supplier that can meet our requirements, or if they or such other supplier were to suffer a disruption in their production, we could experience disruption of our inventory flow, a decrease in sales and the possible need to re-design our products. Any such event could disrupt our operations and have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Several new LCOS, alternative OLED, as well as microLED suppliers have begun offering micro-displays suitable for use in our products. With new tooling and electronics, any one of these alternative displays could be incorporated into our products but our costs of production could be higher, they may offer less performance, and, as a result, may make our products too costly and less desirable.

In addition to competing with direct view displays, we also compete with micro-display-based personal display technologies that have been developed by many other companies. Numerous other start-up companies have announced their intentions to offer smart glasses and AR products and developer kits in the near future. Most of our competitors have greater financial, marketing, distribution and technical resources than we do. Moreover, our competitors may succeed in developing new micro-display-based personal display technologies and near-eye display products that are more affordable or have more desirable features than our technology. If our products are unable to capture a reasonable portion of the smart wearable display market, our business strategy may fail.

All of our customers issue purchase orders solely at their own discretion, often shortly before the requested date of shipment. Our customers are generally able to cancel orders (without penalty) or delay the delivery of products on relatively short notice. In addition, our current customers may decide not to purchase products from us for any reason. If those customers do not continue to purchase our products, our sales volume could decline rapidly with little or no warning. We cannot currently rely on long-term purchase orders or commitments to protect us from the negative financial effects of a decline in demand for our products. We typically plan our production and inventory levels based on internal forecasts of customer demand, which are highly unpredictable and can fluctuate substantially. The uncertainty of product orders makes it difficult for us to forecast our sales and allocate our resources in a manner consistent with our actual sales. Moreover, our expense levels and the amounts we invest in capital equipment and new product development costs are based in part on our expectations of future sales and, if our expectations regarding future sales are inaccurate, we may be unable to reduce costs in a timely manner to adjust for sales shortfalls. As a result of these and other factors, investors should not rely on our revenues and our operating results for any one quarter or year as an indication of our future revenues or operating results.

A majority of our sales and cost of components are denominated in U.S. dollars. As our business grows, both our sales and production costs may increasingly be denominated in other currencies. Where such sales or production costs are denominated in other currencies, they are converted to U.S. dollars for the purpose of calculating any sales or costs to us. Our sales may decrease as a result of any appreciation of the U.S. dollar against these other currencies. The majority of our current expenditures are incurred in U.S. dollars and many of our components come from countries that currently peg their currency against the U.S. dollar. If the pegged exchange rates change adversely or are allowed to float up, additional U.S. dollars will be required to fund our purchases of these components. Although we do not currently enter into currency option contracts or engage in other hedging activities, we may do so in the future. There is no assurance that we will undertake any such hedging activities or that, if we do so, they will be successful in reducing the risks to us of our exposure to foreign currency fluctuations.