Axcelis Technologies (ACLS) Risk Analysis

Our business depends on our ability to attract and retain qualified, experienced employees. There is substantial competition for experienced engineering, technical, financial, sales and marketing personnel in our industry. In particular, we must attract and retain highly skilled design and process engineers. Competition for such personnel is intense, both in the Boston metropolitan area and in other locations around the world. If we are unable to retain our existing key personnel, or attract and retain additional qualified personnel, we may from time to time experience insufficient levels of staffing to fully develop, manufacture and market our products and perform services for our customers. As a result, our growth could be limited or we could fail to meet our delivery commitments or experience deterioration in service levels or decreased customer satisfaction, all of which could adversely affect our financial results.

Rapid technological changes in semiconductor chip manufacturing processes require us to respond quickly to changing customer requirements. Our future success will depend in part upon our ability to develop, manufacture and successfully introduce new systems and product lines with improved capabilities. This will depend upon a variety of factors, including new product selection, timely and efficient completion of product design and development as well as manufacturing and assembly processes, product performance in the field and effective sales and marketing. In particular: - We must continue to develop competitive technical specifications for new systems, or enhancements to our existing systems, and manufacture and ship these systems or enhancements in volume in a timely manner. - We will need to accurately predict the schedule on which our customers will be ready to transition to new products, in order to accurately forecast demand for new products while managing the transition from older products. - We will need to effectively manage product reliability or quality problems that often exist with new systems, in order to avoid higher manufacturing costs, delays in acceptance and payment and additional service and warranty expenses, and ultimately, a lack of repeat orders. - Our new products must be accepted in the marketplace. Our failure to meet any of these requirements will have a material adverse effect on our operating results and profitability.

From time to time, claims and proceedings may be asserted against us relative to patent validity or infringement matters. We typically agree to indemnify our customers from liability to third parties for intellectual property infringement arising from the use of our products in their intended manner. Therefore, we may receive notification from customers who believe that we owe them indemnification or other obligations related to infringement claims made against the customers by third parties. Our involvement in any patent dispute or other intellectual property dispute or action to protect trade secrets, even if the claims are without merit, could be very expensive and could divert the attention of our management. Adverse determinations in any litigation could subject us to significant liabilities to third parties, require us to remove certain features from our products or seek costly licenses from third parties or prevent us from manufacturing and selling our systems. In addition, infringement indemnification clauses in system sale agreements may require us to take other actions or require us to provide certain remedies to customers who are exposed to indemnified liabilities. Any of these situations could have a material adverse effect on our business results.

In the conduct of our business, Axcelis collects, uses, transmits, and stores data on information technology systems. This data includes confidential information belonging to Axcelis, our employees or our customers or other business partners, some of which is personally-identifiable information of individuals. As reported in the 2023 Verizon Data Breach Investigation Report, cyber-attacks in the manufacturing industries are almost entirely financially motivated. Axcelis has been and expects to continue to be subject to cybersecurity threats and incidents, including through employee error or misuse; individual attempts to gain unauthorized access to information systems; and sophisticated and targeted measures known as advanced persistent threats, none of which have had a material impact on the Company to date. Axcelis implements a "Layered Security Strategy" that aligns with National Institute of Standards and Technology Cybersecurity Framework. To do so, we devote significant resources to network security, data encryption, employee training and other measures to protect our systems and data from unauthorized access or misuse. This includes continuously monitoring and reacting to the cybersecurity environment, by implementing best-in-class solutions from a number of vendors. On an on-going basis, we engage a cybersecurity consultant to validate and advise on the Company's cyber landscape and to drive employee vigilance through employee cyber training and messaging. We continually replace less secure legacy systems to improve internal and external cyber defenses and maintain a cyber incident response plan including reporting and recovery processes. See Item IC "Cybersecurity" below. In addition, as discussed in our proxy statement, the Audit Committee and the full Board of Directors receive quarterly reports on cybersecurity risks and annual reports on management initiatives to promote cybersecurity. However, depending on their nature and scope, cybersecurity incidents could result in business disruption; the misappropriation, corruption or loss of confidential information and critical data (Axcelis' and that of third parties); reputational damage; unnecessary expense; litigation with third parties; diminution in the value of Axcelis' investment in research, development, and engineering; data privacy issues; and increased cybersecurity protection and remediation costs. These adverse outcomes could negatively impact our revenues, expenses, profitability, and asset values.

We are substantially dependent on sales of our products and services to customers outside the United States. International sales, including export sales from our U.S. manufacturing facilities to non-U.S. customers and sales by our non-U.S. subsidiaries, accounted for 84.1% of total revenue in 2023. Customers based in Asia dominate our international sales. Ion implanter system shipments to customers in Asia represented 74.2% of total system revenue in 2023. We anticipate that international sales will continue to account for a significant portion of our revenue. In particular, we expect that sales to Chinese customers (both global and domestic Chinese chip manufacturers) will continue to represent a significant portion of our total sales, creating both risk and opportunity. U.S. export controls on shipments to Chinese customers have been notably increasing since 2020. Since the placement of SMIC on the U.S. Entity List in 2020, we are required to obtain export control licenses to ship to mature process SMIC fabs, which to date, we have been able to obtain. Other chipmakers have been placed on the Entity List, without a similar policy allowing licensed shipments. A new export controls regulatory framework issued by the U.S. in October 2022 and supplemented in October 2023, prohibits all semiconductor equipment shipments to Chinese customers (other than certain multi-nationals) who are producing or developing logic, DRAM and NAND chips meeting specific advanced parameters. While these regulations have further excluded exports to certain Chinese customers, we currently are able to continue to ship to the majority of our Chinese customers. In general, however, continuing revenue from Chinese customers is at higher risk than continuing revenue form customers in some other international locations because of trade tensions between the United States government and the Chinese government, and other challenges reflecting China's stage of development and rapid growth. Increased U.S. export controls and other political and trade tensions exacerbate the risk that Chinese customers will change suppliers to non-U.S. vendors, such as Advanced Ion Beam Technology, Inc., Nissin Ion Equipment Co., Ltd. and Sumitomo Heavy Industries Ion Technology Co., Ltd. In addition, a Chinese entity, known as CETC Electronics Equipment Group Co., Ltd., is developing ion implanters for the Chinese domestic market. The loss of a significant customer or any reduction or delays in our ability to ship to any significant customer will adversely affect us. We source a substantial portion of our materials from outside of the United States. Because of our dependence upon international sales and our global supply chain, our results and prospects may be adversely affected by a number of factors, including: - changes in laws or regulations resulting in more burdensome governmental controls, tariffs, restrictions, embargoes or export license requirements;- volatility in currency exchange rates;- political and economic instability;- global health emergencies, such as pandemics, which have the potential to disrupt our manufacturing operations and those of our supply chain, as well as cause our customers to delay or cancel shipments;- difficulties in accounts receivable collections;- extended payment terms beyond those customarily offered in the United States;- difficulties in managing suppliers, service providers or representatives outside of the United States;- difficulties in staffing and managing foreign subsidiary operations; and - potential adverse tax consequences.

Global pandemics, such as COVID-19, have in the past and may again in the future cause disruptions and restrictions on our operations and ability to travel, and similar disruptions and restrictions impacting our suppliers or customers could adversely affect our sales and operating results. Axcelis' products rely on an extensive global supply chain, and shortages of certain parts could impact our ability to meet customers' shipment expectations, negatively affecting our revenues. Such pandemics may drive changes in the demand for certain of our customers' products, resulting in their delay or cancelation of purchases from us. The extent to which pandemics may impact our results will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted.

Substantially all of our system sales are billed in U.S. dollars. We also pay almost all non-U.S. vendors providing materials, components, and subassemblies to our U.S. factory in U.S. dollars. Aftermarket revenues of our non-U.S. subsidiaries are denominated in both local currency and U.S. dollars. The majority of operating expenses of these non-U.S. subsidiaries, are received and incurred in local currencies. The establishment of the Axcelis Asia Operations Center in South Korea has increased the volume of our transactions in non-U.S. dollar currencies and increased the impact of foreign exchange gain / loss on the Company's financial results. The Company experiences translation adjustments when local currency accounts payable on non-U.S. subsidiary books are re-measured for consolidated financial reporting. Similarly, the translation of long-term asset and liability values to U.S. dollars are recorded in stockholders' equity as an element of accumulated other comprehensive income (loss). The value of the asset or liability in U.S. dollars will increase or decrease relative to the local currency based on changes in the exchange rate between the two currencies over the period. As a result, any unplanned non-cash gains or losses are recorded in the Company's consolidated financial statements. Accordingly, fluctuations in exchange rates can impact reported revenues, expense, and profitability and asset values in our Consolidated Financial Statements. During the year ended December 31, 2023, approximately 5.8% of our revenue was derived in local currencies from foreign operations with this inherent risk. In addition, at December 31, 2023, our operations outside of the United States accounted for approximately 9.4% of our total assets, the majority of which was denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar.