Gentherm (THRM) Risk Analysis

We are involved in various legal and regulatory proceedings and claims that, from time to time, are significant. These are typically claims that arise in the normal course of business including, without limitation, commercial or contractual disputes, including disputes with our customers, suppliers or competitors, intellectual property matters, personal injury claims, environmental matters, tax matters and employment matters. Such legal and regulatory proceedings could result in an adverse outcome for the Company that would adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

We are subject to income and other taxes in the U.S. and internationally. We are also subject to regular reviews, examinations, and audits by the Internal Revenue Service and other taxing authorities with respect to our taxes. Although we believe our tax estimates are reasonable, if a taxing authority disagrees with the positions we have taken, we could face additional tax liability, including interest and penalties. There can be no assurance that payment of such additional amounts upon final adjudication of any disputes will not have a material impact on our results of operations and financial position. We also need to comply with new, evolving or revised tax laws and regulations. The enactment of other changes in the application or interpretation of tax legislation and other initiatives may have an adverse effect on our business or on our results of operations.

Our products contain a significant number of components that we source globally from suppliers who, in turn, source components from their global suppliers. The availability of raw materials and product components fluctuates due to factors outside of our control, including supply and demand imbalances, geopolitical and macroeconomic factors, labor disruptions or shortages, trade laws and tariffs, natural disasters, and global pandemics, which has and we expect will continue to impact the ability of our supply chain to meet our production requirements and therefore our ability to meet the production demands of our customers. In some instances, we purchase components, raw materials and parts that are ultimately derived from a single source and may be at an increased risk for supply disruptions and cost pressures. If our supply chain fails to deliver products to us in sufficient quality and quantity on a timely basis, we will be challenged to meet our production schedules and fulfill our orders due to the "just-in-time" manufacturing process that is broadly utilized in our industry, which would decrease sales and profits and could damage our commercial reputation and customer relationships. Furthermore, sudden changes in the production schedules of OEMs and Tier 1s caused by raw material and component shortages also have resulted and may continue to result in operating inefficiencies, which could adversely affect our profitability and results of operations. Additionally, if we are the primary cause for a customer being forced to halt production, the customer may seek to recoup all of its losses and expenses from the Company. Similarly, OEMs and Tier 1s to whom we supply our products are dependent on an ever-greater number of global suppliers to manufacture and sell their products to consumers, which drives sales of our products.

Downward pricing pressure is customarily applied by automotive manufacturers to the automotive supply chain. Our customer contracts generally provide for annual price reductions over the production life of the vehicle, while requiring us to assume significant responsibility for the design, development and engineering of our products, as well as the costs incurred through our supply chain. Prices may also be adjusted on an ongoing basis to reflect changes in product content/costs and other commercial factors. Our inability to achieve product cost reductions that offset customer-imposed price reductions has and could continue to adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

We manage our business based upon projected future sales volumes, which are based upon many factors, including awarded business and assumptions of conversion rates thereof, customers' forecasts and general macroeconomic and industry market data. Our industry broadly utilizes a "just-in-time" manufacturing process, and our production volumes established in a new business award frequently change in amount and timing based on updated production schedules from the OEMs and Tier 1s. Our product revenues generally are based upon purchase orders issued by our customers, which occur close to production and delivery of our products, and our customers generally do not guarantee sales volumes. As such, we typically do not have a backlog of firm orders at any point in time. In addition, awarded business may include arrangements under which our customers have the right to terminate without penalty at any time. Further, our customers' forecasts are subject to numerous assumptions, and such forecasts often are changed rapidly with limited notice. Therefore, our actual sales volumes and the resulting amount of revenue are not committed. We also must incur costs and make commitments well in advance of the receipt of orders and resulting revenues from customers. If actual production orders from our customers are not consistent with our projected future sales volumes, especially for our higher-margin products, we could realize substantially less revenue and incur greater expenses over the life of vehicle programs. In recent years, we have been awarded record new business awards, which has enhanced the foregoing risks. The receipt of orders and resulting revenues from customers is significantly affected by global automotive production levels. Recent macroeconomic, geopolitical and industry factors noted above have made it particularly challenging for us to project future sales volumes and manage our business.

We own important intellectual property, including patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets. Our intellectual property plays an important role in maintaining our competitive position in many of the markets that we serve. We cannot guarantee, however, that we will be able to secure all desired protection, nor that the steps we have taken to protect our intellectual property will be adequate, to prevent infringement of our rights or misappropriation or theft of our technology, trade secrets or know-how. For example, effective patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret protection may be unavailable or limited in some of the countries in which we operate. Foreign governments may adopt regulations, and foreign governments or courts may render decisions, requiring compulsory licensing of intellectual property rights, or foreign governments may require products to meet standards that serve to favor local companies or provide reduced protection relative to other countries. In addition, while we generally enter into confidentiality agreements with our employees and third parties to protect our trade secrets, know-how, business strategy and other proprietary information, such confidentiality agreements could be breached or otherwise may not provide meaningful protection. Further, adequate litigation and other remedies may be costly or otherwise not be available in the event of an unauthorized theft, use or disclosure. Finally, for those products in our portfolio that rely on patent protection, once a patent has expired, the product is generally open to competition. If we fail to successfully enforce our intellectual property rights, our competitive position and the value of our intangible assets could suffer, which could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Further, our competitors may develop technologies that are similar or superior to our proprietary technologies or design around the patents we own or license.

We rely on our information technology, communication networks, enterprise applications, accounting and financial reporting platforms and related systems in connection with many of our business activities. Some of these networks and systems are managed by third-party service providers and are not under our direct control. Our operations routinely involve receiving, storing, processing and transmitting sensitive information pertaining to our business, customers, suppliers, employees and other sensitive matters. We rely upon the capacity, reliability and security of our IT and data security infrastructure, as well as our ability to expand and continually update this infrastructure in response to the changing needs of our business. If we experience a problem with the functioning of an important IT system or a security breach of our IT systems, due to failure to timely upgrade systems or during system upgrades and/or new system implementations, or resulting from failures of our third-party service providers, the resulting disruptions could have an adverse effect on our business. As with most companies, we have experienced cybersecurity incidents, attempts to breach our systems and other similar incidents, none of which were material in 2025. Any future cybersecurity incidents could, however: materially disrupt operational systems; result in loss of trade secrets or other proprietary or competitively sensitive information; compromise personally identifiable information regarding customers or employees; delay our ability to deliver products to customers; and jeopardize the security of our facilities. A cybersecurity incident could be caused by malicious outsiders (including state-sponsored espionage or cyberwarfare, which has become commonplace) or insiders using sophisticated methods to circumvent firewalls, encryption and other security defenses. Because techniques used to obtain unauthorized access or to sabotage systems change frequently and generally are not recognized until they are launched against a target, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques or to implement adequate preventative measures. Information technology security threats, including security breaches, computer malware, "ransomware" and other cybersecurity incidents, are increasing in frequency, uniqueness and sophistication to evade detection and remove forensic evidence of the incident, including due to emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, which may cause cybersecurity incidents to be more difficult to detect for periods of time or at all. Many victims of ransomware are forced to pay significant ransoms to regain access to their critical business data, and we may not be permitted under various regulations and laws to make such payments. We have implemented and maintain various information security processes designed to identify, assess and manage material risks from cybersecurity threats to our critical systems and our proprietary, strategic or competitive data, which we review for quality and effectiveness on a regular basis. Our IT systems, like those of other companies, are vulnerable to intrusion or damages from computer viruses or worms, natural disasters (which may become more frequent due to climate change), unauthorized access, cybersecurity incidents, breaches due to errors, negligence or malfeasance by employees, contractors or others who have access to these systems and other similar disruptions. Any system failure, accident or security breach could result in disruptions to our operations and include the theft of our intellectual property, trade secrets, customer information, human resources information or other confidential information. The foregoing matters could cause significant damage to our reputation, affect our relationships with our customers, lead to claims against us, fines and other penalties assessed upon us by governmental authorities, and ultimately harm our business and financial performance. In addition, we may be required to incur significant costs to remediate and protect against damage caused by these disruptions or security breaches in the future.

The U.S. has established free trade laws and regulations that set certain duties and tariffs for qualifying imports and exports, subject to compliance with the applicable classification and other requirements. Changes in laws or policies governing the terms of foreign trade, and in particular increased trade restrictions, tariffs or taxes on imports from countries where we manufacture products, such as China and Mexico, could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial results. In recent years, the U.S. and Chinese governments have imposed a series of significant incremental retaliatory tariffs to certain imported products. Most notably with respect to the automotive industry, the U.S. imposed tariffs on imports of certain steel, aluminum and automotive components, and China imposed retaliatory tariffs on imports of U.S. vehicles and certain automotive components. The U.S. administration recently has periodically enacted additional or enhanced tariffs in various jurisdictions relevant to our business. Implementation of tariffs or other restrictive trade measures by the United States and potentially reciprocally by other countries subject to such to tariffs remains highly uncertain. Due to the global nature of our business, specifically in the jurisdictions impacted by the recent tariffs announcements, if the actual and potential tariffs and reciprocal tariffs are implemented as currently proposed, our results of operations could be materially negatively impacted, both directly and indirectly through negative effects to our supply chain, as a result of increased costs, decreased demand and other adverse economic impacts, and we may not be able to successfully mitigate or offset such impacts. Depending upon their implementation and duration, as well as our ability to mitigate their impact, these tariffs and any other future regulatory actions implemented on a broader range of products or raw materials could materially affect our business, including increased cost of our products, reduction of sales, disruption of our supply chain and may impair our ability to effectively operate and compete in the countries where we do business. In addition, various countries regulate cross-border transactions of certain products through import permitting and licensing requirements. The exportation, re-exportation, transfers within foreign countries and importation of our products, including by our suppliers and vendors, must comply with these laws and regulations, and any violations may result in reputational harm, government investigations and penalties, and a denial or curtailment of importing or exporting activities. Complying with U.S. export, sanctions and import laws, including ongoing and rapidly changing sanctions against certain countries, regions, governments and related persons and entities, may be time consuming, may increase our costs, and may result in the delay or loss of sales opportunities. If we are found to be in violation of U.S. export, sanctions or import laws, or similar laws in other jurisdictions, we and the individuals working for us could incur substantial fines and penalties. Changes in export, sanctions or import laws or regulations may delay the introduction and sale of our products in the U.S. and international markets, require us to spend resources to seek necessary government authorizations or to develop different versions of our products, or, in some cases, prevent the export or import of our products to certain countries, regions, governments, persons or entities, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

A significant portion of our global transactions is conducted in currencies other than the U.S. dollar, including the Euro, Mexican Peso, Hungarian Forint, North Macedonian Denar, Ukrainian Hryvnia, Japanese Yen, Chinese Renminbi, Korean Won, Czech Koruna, Vietnamese Dong and Moroccan Dirham. While we sometimes employ financial instruments to hedge some of our transactional foreign exchange exposure, developing an effective and economical foreign currency risk strategy is complex and expensive and no strategy can completely insulate us from those exposures. Exchange rates can be volatile and could adversely affect our financial results and comparability of results from period to period. Such exchange rate volatility could also increase the costs of raw materials or components from foreign suppliers, and as a result, our profitability could be adversely affected.