Keysight Technologies (KEYS) Risk Factors

We are subject to legal proceedings, lawsuits and other claims in the normal course of business and could become subject to additional claims in the future, some of which could be material. On January 1, 2022, Centripetal Networks filed a lawsuit in Federal District Court in Virginia, alleging that certain Keysight products infringe certain of Centripetal's patents. In addition, in February 2022, Centripetal filed complaints in Germany alleging infringement of certain of Centripetal's German patents, and in April 2022, Centripetal filed a complaint with the International Trade Commission ("ITC") requesting that they investigate whether Keysight violated Section 377 of the Tariff Act and should be enjoined from importing certain products that are manufactured outside of the U.S. and alleged to infringe Centripetal patents. On December 5, 2023, the ITC issued its Notice of Determination that Keysight did not unfairly import products in violation of Section 337 and the investigation was terminated. Centripetal has appealed this determination. On August 21, 2024, Keysight was served in Germany with a complaint filed in the Unified Patent Court alleging that certain Keysight products sold in Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands infringe a European Centripetal patent. Although we deny the allegations and are aggressively defending each case, the outcome of existing proceedings, lawsuits and claims may differ from our expectations because the outcomes of litigation are often difficult to reliably predict. Various factors or developments can lead us to change current estimates of liabilities and related insurance receivables where applicable, or permit us to make such estimates for matters previously not susceptible to reasonable estimates, such as a significant judicial ruling or judgment, a significant settlement, significant regulatory developments or changes in applicable law. A future adverse ruling, settlement or unfavorable development could result in charges that could adversely affect our business, operating results or financial condition.

Because we operate our businesses and sell our solutions worldwide, our businesses are subject to risks associated with doing business internationally. We anticipate that revenue from international operations will continue to represent a majority of our total revenue. However, there can be no assurances that our international sales will continue at existing levels or grow in accordance with our effort to increase foreign market penetration. In addition, many of our employees, contract manufacturers, suppliers and manufacturing facilities are located outside the United States. Accordingly, our future results could be harmed by a variety of factors, including, but not limited to: - inability to conduct business in certain countries or regions or with certain customers due to U.S. sanctions or trade restrictions;- inability to sell certain products, technologies, or services to countries, regions, facilities, or customers due to sanctions or trade restrictions;- changes in a specific country's or region's political, economic or other conditions, including but not limited to changes that favor national interests and economic volatility;- negative consequences from changes in tax laws;- difficulty in protecting intellectual property;- injunctions or exclusion orders related to intellectual property disputes;- interruptions to transportation flows for delivery of parts to us and finished goods to our customers;- changes in foreign currency exchange rates;- difficulty in staffing and managing foreign operations;- local competition;- differing labor regulations;- unexpected changes in regulatory requirements;- conflicting regulatory requirements within the jurisdictions in which we operate;- inadequate local infrastructure;- potential incidences of corruption and fraudulent business practices; and - volatile geopolitical turmoil, including popular uprisings, regional conflicts, terrorism, and war. We centralize most of our accounting processes at two locations: India and Malaysia. If conditions change in those countries, it may adversely affect operations, including impairing our ability to pay our suppliers. Our results of operations, as well as our liquidity, may be adversely affected and possible delays may occur in reporting financial results. Further, even if we are able to successfully manage the risks of international operations, our business may be adversely affected if our business partners are not able to successfully manage similar risks.

Our factories, facilities and distribution system are vulnerable to catastrophic loss due to natural or man-made disasters. Volatile changes in weather conditions, including extreme heat or cold, could increase the risk of wildfires, floods, blizzards, hurricanes and other weather-related disasters, which can cause power outages and network disruptions that may impact operations and our ability to manufacture and ship products, which may negatively impact revenue. In addition, several of our facilities could be subject to a catastrophic loss caused by earthquake or other natural disasters due to their locations. For example, our production facilities, headquarters and laboratories in California and our production facilities in Japan are all located in areas with above-average seismic activity. If any of these facilities were to experience a catastrophic loss, it could disrupt our operations, delay production, shipments and revenue and result in large expenses to repair or replace the facility. Since we have consolidated our manufacturing facilities, we are more likely to experience an interruption to our operations in the event of a catastrophe in any one location. Although we carry insurance for property damage and business interruption, we do not carry insurance or financial reserves for interruptions or potential losses arising from earthquakes or terrorism. Even where insured, there is a risk that an insurer may deny or limit coverage or may become financially incapable of covering claims. Also, our third-party insurance coverage will vary from time to time in both type and amount depending on availability, cost and our decisions with respect to risk retention. Economic conditions and uncertainties in global markets may adversely affect the cost and other terms upon which we are able to obtain third-party insurance. If our third-party insurance coverage is adversely affected, or to the extent we have elected to self-insure, we may be at a greater risk that our operations will be harmed by a catastrophic loss.

We rely on several centralized IT systems as well as cloud-based service providers to provide solutions and services, maintain financial records, retain sensitive data such as intellectual property, proprietary business information, and data related to customers, suppliers, and business partners, process orders, manage inventory, process shipments to customers and operate other critical functions. The ongoing maintenance and security of this information is pertinent to the success of our business operations and our strategic goals. Despite the implementation of network security measures by us and our third-party service providers, our network and our data may be vulnerable to cybersecurity attacks, computer viruses, break-ins and similar disruptions. Our network security measures include, but are not limited to, the implementation of firewalls, antivirus protection, patches, log monitors, routine backups, offsite storage, network audits, employee training and routine updates and modifications. Despite our efforts and those of our service providers to create these security barriers, as new threats emerge it is virtually impossible to entirely eliminate this risk. Cybersecurity attacks are evolving and include, but are not limited to, ransomware attacks, malicious software, attempts to gain unauthorized access to data, and other electronic security breaches that could lead to disruptions in systems, unauthorized release of confidential or otherwise protected information and corruption of data. Any such event could have a material adverse effect on our business, reputation, operating results and financial condition, and no assurance can be given that efforts to reduce the risk of such attacks will be successful. Our products may contain vulnerabilities that could be exploited by cybersecurity attackers, allowing them to introduce malicious code into our products to gain access to customer networks. Such attacks could lead to disruptions to our customers' operations or processes, system downtime, financial loss, loss of their intellectual property, business information and proprietary data, or corruption of data, which could impact Keysight's reputation, and result in loss of confidence in our products, loss of orders, and loss in revenue, which could materially impact our financial results. We proactively scan for vulnerabilities in our product lines. When vulnerabilities are discovered, we respond with a predefined Product Security Response Process to address the vulnerability, but we cannot eliminate the possibility of a successful cybersecurity attack or exploitation of undiscovered vulnerabilities. In an effort to improve information security, governments may enact rules, regulations, standards and attestation requirements. These requirements may be unclear, onerous, and compliance may be burdensome and costly. Additionally, the requirements may vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and may include differing or conflicting requirements. Compliance with the requirements could impact both the order availability of existing products as well as the introduction timing of new products, which could cause customers to stop purchasing our solutions and could impact our revenue and profits. The failure to comply with such requirements, once enacted, may result in lost orders, reduced revenue, fines, penalties and damage to our reputation. In addition, our IT systems and those of our service providers may be susceptible to damage, disruptions, instability, or shutdowns due to power outages, hardware failures, telecommunication failures, user errors, implementation of new operational systems or software or upgrades to existing systems and software, catastrophes, or other unforeseen events. Such events could result in the disruption of business processes, network degradation and system downtime, along with the potential that a third party will exploit our critical assets, such as intellectual property, proprietary business information and data related to our customers, suppliers and business partners. Further, such events could result in loss of revenue, loss of or reduction in purchase orders, inability to report financial information, litigation, regulatory fines and penalties, and other damage that could have a material impact on our business operations. To the extent that such disruptions occur, our customers and partners may lose confidence in our solutions, and we may lose business or brand reputation, resulting in a material and adverse effect on our business operating results and financial condition.

Because we cannot immediately adapt our production capacity and related cost structures to rapidly changing market conditions, when demand is lower than our expectations, our manufacturing capacity will likely exceed our production requirements. During a general market upturn or an upturn in our business, if we cannot increase our manufacturing capacity to meet product demand, we will not be able to fulfill orders in a timely manner, which could lead to order cancellations, contract breaches or indemnification obligations. This inability could materially and adversely limit our ability to improve our income, margins and operating results. By contrast, if, during an economic downturn, we had excess manufacturing capacity, then our fixed costs associated with excess manufacturing capacity would adversely affect our income, margins and operating results.

As part of our efforts to streamline operations and to cut costs, we outsource aspects of our manufacturing processes and other functions and continue to evaluate additional outsourcing. If our contract manufacturers or other outsourcers fail to perform their obligations in a timely manner or at satisfactory quality levels, our ability to bring solutions to market and our reputation could suffer. For example, during a market upturn, our contract manufacturers may be unable to meet our demand requirements, which may preclude us from fulfilling our customers' orders on a timely basis. The ability of these manufacturers to perform is largely outside of our control. Additionally, changing or replacing our contract manufacturers or other outsourced vendors could cause disruptions or delays. We outsource significant portions of our information technology ("IT") and other administrative functions. Since IT is critical to our operations, any failure of our IT providers to perform could impair our ability to operate effectively. Problems with manufacturing or IT outsourcing could result in lower revenues and unrealized efficiencies and could impact our results of operations and stock price. Much of our outsourcing takes place in developing countries and, as a result, may be subject to heightened geopolitical uncertainty.

There is potential for industry consolidation in our markets. 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. Companies that are strategic alliance partners in some areas of our business may acquire or form alliances with our competitors, thereby reducing their business with us. Industry consolidation may result in stronger competitors and could lead to more variability in our operating results and could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, and financial condition. Furthermore, particularly in the communications market, rapid consolidation would lead to fewer customers, with the effect that loss of a major customer could have a material impact on results not anticipated in a customer marketplace composed of more numerous participants. Additionally, if there is consolidation among our customer base, our customers may be able to command increased leverage in negotiating prices and other terms of sale, which could adversely affect our profitability. If, as a result of increased leverage, customer pressures require us to reduce our pricing such that our gross margins are diminished, we could decide not to sell our solutions under such less favorable terms, which would decrease our revenue. Consolidation among our customer base may also lead to reduced demand for our solutions, replacement of our products by the combined entity with those of our competitors and cancellations of orders, each of which could harm our operating results.

As a global company, we have key customers all over the world, although no one customer makes up more than 10 percent of our revenue. Sales to those customers could be reduced or eliminated as a result of failure to respond to customer needs, reduced customer demand, increased sales to our competitors, inability to manufacture or ship products and solutions, supply chain constraints, trade restrictions, sanctions and embargoes. We have experienced forced reductions in sales and been prevented from selling large orders to certain key customers due to trade restrictions, which we have been able to mitigate with the addition of new customers and new business. If we have future reductions in sales or lose key customers, there is no guarantee that we will be able to mitigate the impact of such reductions or losses, which could negatively impact our income, operating results and financial condition. Certain key customers have substantial purchasing power and leverage in negotiating contractual arrangements with us. These customers may demand contract terms that differ considerably from our standard terms and conditions. Large orders may also include severe contractual liabilities if we fail to provide the quantity and quality of product at the required delivery times or fail to meet other obligations. While we attempt to contractually limit our potential liability, we may agree to some or all of these provisions to secure these orders and grow our business. Such actions expose us to significant additional risks, which could result in a material adverse impact on our operating results and financial condition.