Super Micro Computer (SMCI) Risk Analysis

We have become increasingly dependent upon larger sales to grow our business. In recent years, we have completed larger sales to leading internet data center and cloud customers, large enterprise customers and OEMs. We had one customer account for 10% or more of our net sales in fiscal year 2024, while we had no single customer account for 10% or more of net sales in fiscal years 2023 or 2022. We anticipate we may continue to have customers account for 10% or more of net sales in the future, and the loss of such customers could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations. If customers buy our products in greater volumes and their business becomes a larger percentage of our net sales, we may grow increasingly dependent on those customers to maintain our growth. If our largest customers do not purchase our products, or we are unable to supply such customers with products, at the levels, in the timeframes or within the geographies that we expect, including as a result of a global economic downturn, excessive credit risk, or a belief by such customers of excessive dependency upon us as a supplier, our ability to maintain or grow our net sales will be adversely affected. Increased sales to larger customers may also cause fluctuations in the results of operations. Large orders are generally subject to intense competition and pricing pressure which can have an adverse impact on our margins and results of operations. Accordingly, a significant increase in revenue during the period in which we recognize the revenue from a large customer may be followed by a period during which the customer either does not purchase any products or only a small number of our products. Additionally, as we and our partners focus increasingly on selling to larger customers and attracting larger orders, we expect greater costs of sales. Our sales cycle may become longer, and more expensive, as larger customers typically spend more time negotiating contracts than smaller customers. Such larger orders may require greater commitments of working capital, which may require increased borrowings under our credit facilities to fund purchases of key components (such as CPUs, memory, SSDs and GPUs) necessary for such orders, which could adversely affect our cash flow and expose us to the risk of holding excess and obsolete inventory, if there are delays or cancellations. Furthermore, larger customers also often seek greater levels of support in the implementation and use of our server solutions. An actual or perceived inability to meet customer support demands may adversely affect our relationship with such customers, which may affect the likelihood of future purchases of our products. Larger customers may also request larger amounts of credit or longer payment terms, which, if granted, increases our risks in the event customers to do not pay or make timely payment, which risk is exacerbated in the event our payment terms with major suppliers of necessary components for such orders do not match the payment terms of our customers. As a result of the above factors, our quarter-to-quarter results of operations may be subject to greater fluctuation and our stock price may be adversely affected.

Negative publicity about our company or our products, even if inaccurate or untrue, could adversely affect our reputation and confidence in our products, which could harm our business and operating results. For example, on August 27, 2024, a news article was published by a short seller alleging evidence of accounting manipulation, sibling self-dealing and sanctions evasion (the "Report"). We indicated that such Report contained false or inaccurate statements about us, including misleading presentations of information we previously shared publicly. However, despite these statements related to the allegations in the Report, and the announcement of the results of Special Committee investigation, the publication of the Report and the circumstances discussed in the Explanatory Note in this Annual Report contributed to a substantial negative impact on the trading price of our common stock and our reputation, and may continue to have a negative impact in the future. Harm to our reputation can also arise from many other sources, including employee misconduct, which we have experienced in the past, and misconduct by our partners, consultants and outsourced service providers. Additionally, negative publicity with respect to our partners or service providers could also affect our business and operating results to the extent that we rely on these partners or if our customers or prospective customers associate our company with these partners.

We are subject to U.S. and other applicable trade control regulations that restrict with whom we may transact business, including the trade sanctions enforced by the U.S. Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control and the export controls enforced by the U.S. Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security. If we fail to comply with laws and regulations restricting dealings with sanctioned countries or companies and/or persons on restricted lists, we may be subject to civil or criminal penalties. Any future violations could have an adverse impact on our ability to sell our products to United States federal, state and local government and related entities. We have business relationships with companies in China and elsewhere in eastern Europe who have been, or may in the future be, added to a restricted party list. We take steps to minimize business disruption when these situations arise; however, we may be required to terminate or modify such relationships if our activities are prohibited by U.S. or other applicable laws. Further, our association with these parties could subject us to greater scrutiny or reputational harm among current or prospective customers, partners, suppliers, investors, other parties doing business with us or using our products, government enforcement agencies, or the general public. The United States and other countries continually update their lists of export-controlled items and technologies, and may impose new or more-restrictive export requirements on our products in the future. As a result of regulatory changes, we may be required to obtain licenses or other authorizations to continue supporting existing customers or to supply existing products to new customers in China, eastern Europe and elsewhere. Further escalations in trade restrictions or hostilities, particularly between the United States and China, could impede our ability to sell or support our products. Although we historically sold products into Russia before broad sanctions were imposed, we no longer sell products or provide services to Russia. We had last recorded revenue from Russia in February 2022. Moreover, the increasing focus on the risks and strategic importance of AI technologies has resulted in regulatory restrictions that target products and services capable of enabling or facilitating AI and may in the future result in additional restrictions impacting some or all of our product and service offerings. Concerns regarding third-party use of AI for purposes contrary to local governmental interests, including concerns relating to the misuse of AI applications, models, and solutions, has resulted in and could in the future result in unilateral or multilateral restrictions on products that can be used for training, modifying, tuning, and deploying large language models ("LLMs"). Such restrictions have limited and could in the future limit the ability of downstream customers and users worldwide to acquire, deploy and use systems that include our products, software, and services, and negatively impact our business and financial results. Such restrictions could include additional unilateral or multilateral export controls on certain products or technology, including but not limited to AI technologies and high-performance computing. As geopolitical tensions have increased, products containing semiconductors associated with AI, including GPUs and associated products, are increasingly the focus of export control restrictions proposed by stakeholders in the U.S. and its allies. The United States has imposed unilateral controls restricting GPUs and associated products, and it is likely that additional unilateral or multilateral controls will be adopted. Such controls have been and may again be very broad in scope and application, prohibit us from exporting our products to any or all customers in one or more markets, including but not limited to China, and could tangentially negatively impact our warehousing locations and options, or could impose other conditions that limit our ability to serve demand abroad and could negatively and materially impact our business, revenue and financial results. Export controls targeting products containing GPUs and semiconductors associated with AI, which have been imposed and are increasingly likely to be further tightened, would further restrict our ability to export our technology, products, or services even though competitors may not be subject to similar restrictions, creating a competitive disadvantage for us and negatively impacting our business and financial results. Export controls targeting products containing GPUs and semiconductors associated with AI have subjected and may in the future subject downstream users of our products to additional restrictions on the use, resale, repair, or transfer of our products, negatively impacting our business and financial results. Controls could negatively impact our cost and/or ability to provide services. Export controls could disrupt our supply chain and distribution channels, negatively impacting our ability to serve demand, including in markets outside China. Repeated changes in the export control rules are likely to impose compliance burdens on our business and our customers, negatively and materially impacting our business. Increasing use of economic sanctions and export controls has impacted and may in the future impact demand for our products or services, negatively impacting our business and financial results. Reduced demand due to export controls could also lead to excess inventory or cause us to incur related supply charges. Additional unilateral or multilateral controls are also likely to include deemed export control limitations that may also have negative impacts. Additional export restrictions may not only impact our ability to serve overseas markets, but also provoke responses from foreign governments, including China, that negatively impact our supply chain or our ability to provide our products and services to customers in all markets worldwide, which could also substantially reduce our revenue. In October 2022, U.S. export restrictions and export licensing requirements were imposed targeting China's semiconductor and supercomputing industries. These restrictions impact exports of software, hardware, equipment and technology used to develop, produce or manufacture certain chips in China (including Hong Kong). At the same time, export restrictions and export license requirements were also imposed on certain GPUs and advanced integrated circuits, as well as computing equipment containing such components, with a focus on China (including Hong Kong). These restrictions impacted certain of our products, including products that contain the NVIDIA A100 and H100 integrated circuits, among others. In November 2023, the export control restrictions on advanced integrated circuits, supercomputing and other end uses were revised and further expanded to cover additional countries where we sell our products, including in the Middle East, and additional parties based on the location of their headquarters, or the headquarters of their ultimate parent. Compliance with ever-changing regulations is complex and time consuming. We may experience delays in implementing procedures to address the changing regulatory requirements. In January 2025, the U.S. export control regulations targeting advanced integrated circuits and computing were further revised to include a worldwide authorization requirement for certain of our advanced computing products. New license exceptions were added to the regulations and allow us to export in some cases without the need for an export license, thus expanding upon previous authorizations. However, these new regulations will, depending on the country and ultimate consignee, also place new limits on the number of advanced computing products that we can export to each ultimate consignee per calendar year, and the number of advanced computing products that the Commerce Department will license per-country over a given period to all exporters in the aggregate. These new limitations create a competitive process for obtaining the product allocation associated with these new government authorizations and therefore could disadvantage us against certain of our competitors. The limitations could also prevent us from selling our advanced computing products to the full extent of customer demand in certain countries that have not historically been subject to these limitations. In some cases, we rely on channel partners and third parties to distribute and resell our products globally. If channel partners, or their customers, do not adhere to the applicable trade compliance requirements, this can subject us to greater scrutiny or reputational harm among current or prospective customers, partners, suppliers, investors, other parties doing business with us or using our products, government enforcement agencies, or the general public. In the event export controls require us to transition some operations out of certain geographies, such transitions could be costly and time consuming, and adversely affect our operations during any such transition period. To the extent that a customer requires products covered by the licensing requirements, we may seek a license for the customer. However, the licensing process is time-consuming. We have no assurance that any such license will be granted or that the license application will be acted upon in a timely manner or at all. Even if a license is offered, it may impose burdensome conditions that we or our customer or end users cannot or decide not to accept. The process to obtain licenses required under recently adopted export control regulations is complicated and time consuming in the event we determine to pursue them, and there are no assurances they may be granted at all. Our competitive position and future results may be harmed, over the long-term, if there are further changes in export controls, including further expansion of the geographic, customer, end use, deemed export, or product scope of the controls, if customers purchase product from competitors, if customers develop their own internal solution, if we are unable to provide contractual warranty or other extended service obligations, if licenses are not granted in a timely manner or denied to significant customers or if we incur significant transition costs. Even if requested licenses are granted, the licenses may be temporary or impose burdensome conditions that we or our customers or end users cannot or choose not to fulfill. The licensing requirements may benefit certain of our competitors, as the licensing process will make our technical support efforts more cumbersome and less certain and encourage customers to pursue alternatives to our products. Given the increasing strategic importance of AI and rising geopolitical tensions, the export control rules may change again at any time and further subject a wider range of our products to export restrictions and licensing requirements, negatively impacting our business and financial results. In the event of such change, we may be unable to sell our inventory of such products and may be unable to develop replacement products not subject to the licensing requirements, effectively excluding us from markets subject to such restrictions, as well as other impacted markets. Any new control that impacts a wider range of our products would likely have a disproportionate impact on us and may disadvantage us against certain of our competitors that sell products that are outside the scope of such control. Finally, our business depends on our ability to receive consistent and reliable supplies from our overseas partners, especially in Taiwan. Any new restrictions that negatively impact our ability to receive supply of components, parts, or services from Taiwan, would negatively impact our business and financial results. Although we attempt to ensure that we, our suppliers, resellers, and partners comply with the applicable import, export, and sanctions laws, we cannot guarantee full compliance by all. Actions of our suppliers, resellers and partners are not within our complete control, and our products could be re-exported to sanctioned persons or countries or provided by our retailers to third persons in contravention of our requirements or instructions or the laws. In addition, there are inherent limitations to the effectiveness of any policies, procedures, and internal controls relating to such compliance, and there can be no assurance that such procedures or internal controls will work effectively at all times or protect us against liability under anti-corruption, sanctions or other laws for actions taken by us, our resellers or partners. Any such potential violation by us, our suppliers, resellers, or our partners could have negative consequences, including government inquiries, investigations, enforcement actions, monetary fines, or civil and/or criminal penalties, and our reputation, brand, and revenue may be harmed.

We receive significant tax benefits from sales to our non-U.S. customers. These benefits are contingent upon existing tax laws and regulations in the U.S. and in the countries in which our international operations are located. Future changes in domestic or international tax laws and regulations or a change in how we manage our international operations could adversely affect our ability to continue realizing these tax benefits. In recent years, numerous legislative, judicial, and administrative changes have been made to tax laws applicable to us and similar companies. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (the "OECD") has introduced a framework to implement a global minimum corporate tax of 15% applicable to large multinational corporations, referred to as Pillar Two or the minimum tax directive. Many countries, including countries in which we operate, have enacted or are in the process of enacting laws based on the Pillar Two proposal that will start to become effective for our fiscal year ending June 30, 2025 ("fiscal year 2025"). While we do not currently expect the minimum tax directive to have a material impact on our effective tax rate, our analysis is ongoing as the OECD continues to release additional guidance and countries implement legislation. To the extent additional changes take place in the countries in which we operate, it is possible that these legislative changes and efforts may increase uncertainty and have an adverse impact on our effective tax rates or operations. Our future effective tax rate may also be affected by a variety of factors, including changes in our business or statutory rates, our mix of earnings in countries with differing statutory tax rates, available tax incentives, credits and deductions, the expiration of statutes of limitations, changes in accounting principles, adjustments to income taxes upon finalization of tax returns, increases in expenses not deductible for tax purposes, the estimates of our deferred tax assets and liabilities and deferred tax asset valuation allowances, changing interpretation of existing laws or regulations, the impact of accounting for business combinations, as well as changes in the domestic or international organization of our business and structure. Furthermore, the tax effects of accounting for stock-based compensation and volatility in our stock price may significantly impact our effective tax rate in the period in which they occur. An increase in our stock price may result in increased future tax benefits from stock-based compensation, decrease our effective tax rate and positively affect our financial results. Conversely, a decline in our stock price may result in reduced future tax benefits from stock-based compensation, increase our effective tax rate and adversely affect our financial results.

Our ability to prevent competitors from gaining access to our technology is essential to our success. If we fail to protect our intellectual property rights adequately, we may lose an important advantage in the markets in which we compete. Trademark, patent, copyright and trade secret laws in the United States and other jurisdictions as well as our internal confidentiality procedures and contractual provisions are the core of our efforts to protect our proprietary technology and our brand. Our patents and other intellectual property rights may be challenged by others or invalidated through administrative process or litigation, and we may initiate claims or litigation against third parties for infringement of our proprietary rights. Such administrative proceedings and litigation are inherently uncertain and divert resources that could be put towards other business priorities. We may not be able to obtain a favorable outcome and may spend considerable resources in our efforts to defend and protect our intellectual property. Furthermore, legal standards relating to the validity, enforceability and scope of protection of intellectual property rights are uncertain. Effective patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret protection may not be available to us in every country in which our products are available. The laws of some foreign countries may not be as protective of intellectual property rights as those in the United States, and mechanisms for enforcement of intellectual property rights may be inadequate. Accordingly, despite our efforts, we may be unable to prevent third parties from infringing upon or misappropriating our intellectual property and using our technology for their competitive advantage. Any such infringement or misappropriation could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Malicious computer programmers, malicious insiders, criminals, hackers and sophisticated organizations (including nation states) may be able to penetrate our network and misappropriate or compromise our confidential information or that of third parties, create system disruptions or cause shutdowns that could have a material adverse effect on our business, operations, or products. Such computer programmers, hackers, and organizations also may be able to develop and deploy ransomware, network intrusions, exploitation of zero-day vulnerabilities, distributed denial of service, man-in-the-middle, phishing, vishing, domain name system spoofing, password spraying, viruses, worms and other malicious software programs that attack our products or otherwise exploit any security vulnerabilities of our products that could likewise have a material adverse effect on our business. There have been increases in the frequency and sophistication of such attacks, and we expect that these activities will continue. We may also face cybersecurity threats due to error or intentional misconduct by employees, contractors or other third-party service providers. Certain aspects of effective cybersecurity are dependent upon our employees, contractors and/or other third-party service providers safeguarding our sensitive information and adhering to our security policies and access control mechanisms. While we employ a number of protective measures, including firewalls, anti-virus and endpoint detection and response technologies, regular annual training of employees with respect to cybersecurity, and testing employee competence with anti-phishing policies followed up by additional remedial training as needed, these measures may fail to prevent or detect significant attacks on our systems. Additionally, the costs associated with cybersecurity tools and infrastructure and fierce competition for scarce cybersecurity and IT talent have at times limited, and may in the future limit, our ability to efficiently identify, eliminate, or remediate cyber or other security vulnerabilities or problems or enact changes to minimize the attack surface of our network. While there have been unauthorized intrusions into our network in the past, none of these intrusions, individually or in the aggregate, had a material adverse effect on our business, operations, or products. We have taken steps to enhance the security of our network and computer systems and we provide regular updates to our Board at our quarterly meetings with respect to cybersecurity matters. Despite these efforts, we may experience future intrusions, which could materially and adversely affect our business, operations, or products. In addition, our hardware and software or third-party components and software that we utilize in our products may contain defects in design or manufacture, including "bugs" and other problems that could unexpectedly interfere with the operation or security of the products, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, operations, or products. The costs to us to eliminate or mitigate cyber or other security problems, bugs, viruses, worms, malicious software programs and security vulnerabilities could be significant and, if our efforts to address these problems are not successful, could result in material interruptions, delays, cessation of service and loss of existing or potential customers that may impede our sales, manufacturing, distribution or other critical functions. Any claim that our products or systems are subject to cybersecurity risk, whether valid or not, could damage our reputation and materially and adversely impact our revenues and results of operations. We manage and store various proprietary information and sensitive or confidential data relating to our business as well as information from our suppliers and customers. Breaches of our or any of our third party suppliers' security measures or the accidental loss, inadvertent disclosure or unapproved dissemination of proprietary information or sensitive or confidential data about us or our customers or suppliers, including the potential loss or disclosure of such information or data as a result of fraud, trickery or other forms of deception, could expose us or our customers or suppliers to a material risk of loss or misuse of this information, result in litigation and potential material liability for us, materially damage our brand and reputation or otherwise materially harm our business. To the extent we experience cyber-security incidents in the future, our relationships with our customers and suppliers may be materially impacted, our brand and reputation may be materially harmed and we could incur substantial costs in responding to and remediating the incidents and in resolving any investigations or disputes that may arise with respect to them, any of which would cause our business, operations, or products to be materially and adversely affected. In addition, the cost and operational consequences of implementing and adding further data protection measures could be significant.

Our business is subject to risks generally associated with doing business abroad, such as U.S. and foreign governmental regulation in the countries in which we operate and the countries in which our contract manufacturers, component suppliers, and other business partners are located. Our operations and performance depend significantly on global, regional, and U.S. economic and geopolitical conditions. For example, tensions between the United States and China have led to the United States' imposition of a series of tariffs, sanctions, and other restrictions on imports from China and sourcing from certain Chinese persons or entities, as well as other business restrictions. Additionally, President Trump has indicated that his administration would potentially impose greater restrictions on trade with China through significant increases in tariffs on goods imported into the U.S., which could increase tensions and create greater uncertainty in our business dealings. Several countries are considering or have implemented tariffs or other trade barriers or restrictions, as well as other measures affecting cross-border commerce and the flow of information, which could have broad economic consequences, impact global supply chains and negatively affect our business, customers and partners. Global events may present challenges and risks to us. For example, the crises in eastern Europe and the Middle East continues to pose challenges to global companies, including us, which have customers in the impacted regions. The U.S. and other global governments have placed restrictions on how companies may transact with businesses in these regions, particularly Russia, Belarus and restricted areas in Ukraine. Because of these restrictions and the growing logistical and other challenges, we have paused sales to Russia, Belarus and the restricted areas in Ukraine. This decision, which is in line with the approach of other global technology companies, helps us comply with our obligations under the various requirements in the U.S. and around the world. While it is difficult to estimate the impact on our business and financial position of both (i) our pause in sales to Russia, Belarus and the restricted areas in Ukraine and the current or future sanctions and (ii) tensions in the Taiwan strait, our pause in sales and these sanctions and continuing rising tensions could have adverse impacts on us in future periods, although they have not been material to date. For example, with respect to Russia, Belarus and the restricted areas in Ukraine, we did not, prior to the imposition of restrictions, make a material portion of our sales or acquire a material portion of our parts or components directly from impacted regions; however, our suppliers and their suppliers may acquire raw materials for parts or components from the impacted regions. Supply disruptions may make it harder for them to find favorable pricing and reliable sources for materials they need, which may put further upward pressure on their costs and increasing the risks that our costs may increase and that it may be more difficult, or we may be unable, to acquire materials needed. In addition, the crises may further exacerbate inflationary pressures that have indirect impacts on our business, such as further increasing our logistics costs from rising fuel prices and/or continuing to increase our compensation expenses. In addition, no assurances can be given that additional developments in the impacted regions, and responses thereto from the U.S. and other global governments, would not have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. Our business depends on the overall demand for accelerated compute platforms. Global financial developments and downturns seemingly unrelated to us or our industry may harm us. If economic conditions, including inflation, increased interest rates, economic output and currency exchange rates, in these markets and other key potential markets for our Total IT Solutions remain uncertain or deteriorate, including as a result of a downturn in the global economy, regional conflicts, trade restrictions, or other reasons, customers may delay or reduce their spending. General economic weakness may also lead to longer collection cycles for payments due from our customers, an increase in customer bad debt, and impairment of investments. Furthermore, weakness and uncertainty in worldwide credit markets may harm our customers' available budgetary spending, which could lead to cancellations or delays in planned purchases of our Total IT Solutions. If our customers or potential customers experience economic hardship, this could reduce the demand for our Total IT Solutions, delay and lengthen sales cycles, increase requests for customer credit which may increase our risks in the event customers do not pay or make timely payment, lower prices for our Total IT Solutions, and lead to slower growth or even a decline in our revenues, operating results and cash flows. While recently moderating, inflation in the U.S. had increased at a rate not seen in several decades. A recurrence of high inflation may result in decreased demand for our Total IT Solutions, increases in our operating costs including our labor costs, constrained credit and liquidity, reduced spending and volatility in financial markets. In response to inflation, the Federal Reserve had significantly raised, and may again raise, interest rates, which may increase our own borrowing costs and/or reduce our clients' access to debt financing, reduce technology expenditures and demand for our Total IT Solutions. These and other geopolitical tensions, political or economic uncertainty can disrupt supply chains and increase the cost of our and our partners' products, and have a negative impact on consumer confidence, which could impair our future growth and adversely affect our international operations, business, financial condition, and results of operations.