DZS (DZSI) Risk Factors

We produce highly complex products that incorporate leading-edge technology, including both hardware and software. Software often contains defects or programming flaws that can unexpectedly interfere with expected operations. In addition, our products are complex and are designed to be deployed in large quantities across complex networks. Because of the nature of these products, they can only be fully tested when completely deployed in large networks with high amounts of traffic, and there is no assurance that our pre-shipment testing programs will be adequate to detect all defects. As a result, our customers may discover errors or defects in our hardware or software, or our products may not operate as expected. If we are unable to cure a product defect, we could experience damage to our reputation, reduced customer satisfaction, loss of existing customers and failure to attract new customers, failure to achieve market acceptance, reduced sales opportunities, loss of revenue and market share, increased service and warranty costs, diversion of development resources, legal actions by our customers, and increased insurance costs. Defects, integration issues or other performance problems in our products could also result in damages to our customers, financial or otherwise. Our customers could seek damages for related losses from us, which could seriously harm our business, operations, financial condition and liquidity. A product liability claim brought against us, even if unsuccessful, would likely be time consuming and costly. The occurrence of any of these problems would seriously harm our business, operations, financial condition and liquidity.

The markets for our products are characterized by rapidly changing technology, evolving industry standards, changes in end-user requirements, frequent new product introductions and changes in communications offerings from network service provider customers. Our future success depends on our ability to anticipate or adapt to such changes and to offer, on a timely and cost-effective basis, products that meet changing customer demands and industry standards. We may not have sufficient resources to successfully and accurately anticipate customers' changing needs and technological trends, manage long development cycles or develop, introduce and market new products and enhancements. The process of developing new technology is complex and uncertain, and if we fail to develop new products or enhancements to existing products on a timely and cost-effective basis, or if our new products or enhancements fail to achieve market acceptance, our business, operations, financial condition and liquidity would be materially adversely affected.

We rely on hardware, software, technology infrastructure, data centers, digital networks and online sites and services for both internal and customer-facing operations that are critical to our business, or collectively, IT Systems. In addition, as part of our business operations, we collect, store, process, use and/or disclose information, including sensitive data relating to our business and personal information about individuals such as our employees and our customers' subscribers, or collectively, Confidential Information. We process Confidential Information to operate our business, including in connection with the provision of our cloud services and by relying on our and our providers' IT Systems and data centers, including third-party data centers. We also engage third-party providers to support various internal functions, such as human resources, finance, information technology and electronic communications, as well as the development and delivery of our customer-facing products and cloud services, which includes collecting, handling, processing and/or storage of data on our behalf. These internal and external functions involve an array of software and systems, including cloud-based, that enable us to conduct, monitor and/or protect our business, operations, systems and information technology assets. Our cloud-based solutions enable us to host our customers' subscriber data in third-party data centers. We face evolving cybersecurity risks that threaten the confidentiality, integrity and availability of our IT Systems and Confidential Information, including from diverse threat actors such as state-sponsored organizations, opportunistic hackers and hacktivists, as well as through diverse attack vectors such as social engineering/phishing, malware (including ransomware), malfeasance by insiders, human or technological error and, as a result of bugs, misconfigurations or exploited vulnerabilities in software or hardware. Threat actors could steal Confidential Information related to our business, products, employees, customers and our customers' subscribers; hold data ransom; and/or disrupt our systems and services or those of our supply chain partners, vendors, customers or others. We expect cybersecurity attacks and security breaches to accelerate in the future, including sophisticated supply chain attacks. As we and our third-party providers continue to increase our reliance on virtual environments and communications systems and cloud-based solutions to support our work-from-anywhere culture and overall business needs, our exposures to third-party vulnerabilities and security risks also increase. Because threat actors are increasingly sophisticated and aggressive, our efforts may be inadequate to prevent, detect or recover from future attacks due, for example, to the increased use by attackers of tools and techniques (including artificial intelligence) that are specifically designed to circumvent controls, to avoid detection, and to remove or obfuscate forensic evidence. We may also experience security breaches that may remain undetected for an extended period. We and certain of our third-party providers have been subject to cyberattacks and other security incidents, and we expect such attacks and incidents to continue in varying degrees. There can be no assurance that our cybersecurity risk management program and processes, including our policies, controls or procedures, will be fully implemented, complied with or effective in protecting our IT Systems and Confidential Information. Accordingly, while to date no cybersecurity incidents have had a material impact on our operations or financial results, we cannot guarantee that material incidents will not occur in the future. A cyberattack or incident that affects the confidentiality, integrity or availability of our IT Systems or Confidential Information could result in significant investigative, security and remediation costs, regulatory fines and penalties and/or litigation costs and other liability. Even if we and our third-party providers allocate, implement and manage reasonable security and data protection measures, we could still experience significant data loss, unauthorized data disclosure or a breach of our IT Systems, products or those of our third-party providers (for example, data centers) that materially impact our business. The continued growth of our cloud-based platform and managed services portfolio and increased reliance on third-party development partners and third-party software and cloud-based solutions increases the likely risks arising from security breaches or data loss. Any data loss or compromise of our systems that collect and process personal information (including personal information of our customers' subscribers), or third-party data centers where that personal information is stored, could result in loss of confidence in the security of our offerings and loss of customers or customer goodwill. Further, security incidents could subject us to obligations under privacy and data security laws and regulations around the world (including to notify governmental authorities, regulatory bodies and/or affected individuals), lead to liability given the increasing development of such strict laws and regulations, increase the risk of litigation and governmental or regulatory investigation, require us to notify our customers or other counterparties in relation to such incidents, damage our reputation and adversely affect our business, financial condition, operating results and cash flows. Although we maintain insurance that may apply to cybersecurity risks and liabilities, there can be no guarantee that any or all costs or losses incurred will be partially or fully insured or that we will be able to procure applicable insurance in the future on reasonable terms or at all.

Market turbulence and weak economic conditions, as well as concerns about energy costs, geopolitical issues, inflation, the availability and cost of credit, business and consumer confidence, and unemployment could impact our business in a number of ways, including: Potential deferment of purchases and orders by customers: Uncertainty about global economic conditions could cause consumers, businesses and governments to defer purchases in response to flat revenue budgets, tighter credit, decreased cash availability and weak consumer confidence. Accordingly, future demand for our products could differ materially from our current expectations. Customers' inability to obtain financing to make purchases and/or maintain their business: Some of our customers require substantial financing in order to finance their business operations, including capital expenditures on new equipment and equipment upgrades, and make purchases from us. The potential inability of these customers to access the capital needed to finance purchases of our products and meet their payment obligations to us could adversely impact our business, operations, financial condition, and liquidity. While we monitor these situations carefully and attempt to take appropriate measures to protect ourselves, including factoring credit arrangements to financial institutions, it is possible that we may have to defer revenue until cash is collected or write-down or write-off uncollectible accounts. Such write-downs or write-offs, if large, could have a material adverse effect on our business, operations, financial condition, and liquidity. If our customers become insolvent due to market and economic conditions or otherwise, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, operations, financial condition and liquidity. Negative impact from increased financial pressures on third-party dealers, distributors and retailers: We make sales in certain regions through third-party dealers, distributors and retailers. These third parties may be impacted, among other things, by a significant decrease in available credit. If credit pressures or other financial difficulties result in insolvency for these third parties and we are unable to successfully transition end customers to purchase our products from other third parties, or from us directly, it could adversely impact our business, operations, financial condition, and liquidity. Negative impact from increased financial pressures on key suppliers: Our ability to meet customers' demands depends, in part, on our ability to obtain timely and adequate delivery of quality materials, parts and components from our suppliers. Certain of our components are available only from a single source or limited sources. If certain key suppliers were to become capacity constrained or insolvent, it could result in a reduction or interruption in supplies or a significant increase in the price of supplies and adversely impact our financial condition and results of operations. In addition, credit constraints of key suppliers could result in accelerated payment of accounts payable by us, impacting our cash flow. We may experience material adverse impacts on our business, operations, financial condition, and liquidity as a result of weak or recessionary economic or market conditions in the United States, South Korea, Germany, or the rest of the world.

We currently have significant operations in Germany, Spain, Turkey, India and Canada (and, as of June 1, 2024, Australia), as well as sales and technical support teams in various locations around the world. We continue to consider opportunities to expand our international operations in the future. The successful management and expansion of our international operations requires significant human effort and the commitment of substantial financial resources. Further, our international operations may be subject to certain risks, disruptions and challenges that could materially harm our business, operations, financial condition, and liquidity, including: (i) unexpected changes in laws, policies and regulatory requirements, including but not limited to regulations related to import-export control; (ii) trade protection measures, tariffs, embargoes and other regulatory requirements which could affect our ability to import or export our products into or from various countries; (iii) political unrest or instability, acts of terrorism or war in countries where we or our suppliers or customers have operations, including the ongoing military conflicts between Russia and Ukraine and Israel and Hamas, and China-Taiwan tensions; (iv) political considerations that affect service provider and government spending patterns; (v) heightened political tensions between the U.S. and China regarding trade practices and intellectual property rights; (vi) differing technology standards or customer requirements; (vii) developing and customizing our products for foreign countries; (viii) fluctuations in currency exchange rates, foreign exchange controls and restrictions on cash repatriation; (ix) longer accounts receivable collection cycles and financial instability of customers; (x) requirements for additional liquidity to fund our international operations; (xi) pandemics, epidemics and other public health crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic; (xii) difficulties and excessive costs for staffing and managing foreign operations; (xiii) ineffective legal protection of our intellectual property rights in certain countries; (xiv) potentially adverse tax consequences; and (xv) changes in a country's or region's political and economic conditions. In addition, some of our customer purchase agreements are governed by foreign laws and regulations, which may differ significantly from the laws and regulations of the United States. We may be limited in our ability to enforce our rights under these agreements and to collect damages, if awarded. Any of these factors could harm our existing international operations and business or impair our ability to continue expanding into international markets.

Our global headquarters is located in Plano, Texas. We have development centers in the U.S., Turkey, Germany, India, Spain, and Canada (and, as of June 1, 2024, Australia) and third-party development partners in South Korea and Brazil. Our manufacturing partners are primarily located in the U.S., China and South Korea. These facilities are subject to disruption from natural causes beyond our control, including physical risks from tornados, severe storms, floods, other natural disaster or power shortages or outages that could disrupt operations or impair critical systems. Any of these disruptions or other events outside of our control could affect our business negatively, harming our operating results. In addition, in the event any of our facilities or the facilities of our suppliers, contract manufacturers, third-party service providers, or customers, is affected by natural disasters, such as hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, power shortages or outages, floods or monsoons, public health crises, such as pandemics and epidemics, political crises, such as terrorism, war, political instability or other conflict, or other events outside of our control, our business and operating results could suffer. Disasters occurring at our or our vendors' facilities also could impact our reputation. Any of the foregoing events may have the effect of disrupting our supply chain, which could harm our business, financial condition results of operations. Illness, travel restrictions, absenteeism, or other workforce disruptions could negatively affect our supply chain, manufacturing, distribution, or other business processes. We may face additional production disruptions in the future, which may place constraints on our ability to produce products in a timely manner or may increase our costs.