● license technology from the third-party claiming infringement, which license may not be available on commercially reasonable terms, or at all;
● cross-license our technology to a competitor to resolve an infringement claim, which could weaken our ability to compete with that competitor; or
● pay substantial damages to our customers to discontinue their use of or to replace infringing technology sold to them with non-infringing technology, if available.
Any of the foregoing results could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations. Furthermore, our exposure to the foregoing risks may also be increased if we acquire other companies or technologies. For example, we may have a lower level of visibility into the development process with respect to intellectual property or the care taken to safeguard against infringement risks with respect to the acquired company or technology. In addition, third parties may make infringement and similar or related claims after we have acquired technology that had not been asserted prior to the acquisition.
We make significant investments in new technologies and products that may not achieve technological feasibility or profitability or that may limit our revenue growth.
We have made and will continue to make significant investments in research and development of new technologies and products, including new and more technically advanced versions of our MRAM technology.
Investments in new technologies are speculative and technological feasibility may not be achieved. Commercial success depends on many factors including demand for innovative technology, availability of materials and equipment, selling price the market is willing to bear, competition and effective licensing or product sales. We may not achieve significant revenue from new product investments for a number of years, if at all. Moreover, new technologies and products may not be profitable, and even if they are profitable, operating margins for new products and businesses may not be as high as the margins we have experienced historically or originally anticipated. Our inability to capitalize on or realize substantial revenue from our significant investments in research and development could harm our operating results and distract management, harming our business.
Interruptions in or other compromises of our information technology systems or data or that of third parties upon whom we rely could adversely affect our business.
We rely on the efficient, uninterrupted and uncompromised operation of complex information technology systems and networks (and those of third parties) to operate our business. Any significant disruption to or other compromise of our systems, networks or data (or those of third parties upon whom we rely), including, but not limited to, due to new system implementations, computer viruses, social-engineering attacks, personnel (including former personnel) misconduct or error, supply-chain attacks, ransomware attacks, software bugs, software or hardware failure, security breaches, facility issues, natural disasters, terrorism, war, telecommunication failures, energy blackouts, loss, theft or similar threats, could have a material adverse impact on our operations, sales, and financial results. Such disruption or other compromise could result in a loss of our intellectual property or the release of sensitive competitive information or supplier, customer, personnel or other relevant stakeholder’s personal data. Additionally, future or past business transactions (such as acquisitions or integrations) could expose us to additional cybersecurity risks and vulnerabilities, as our systems could be negatively affected by vulnerabilities present in acquired or integrated entities’ systems and technologies. Furthermore, we may discover security issues that were not found during due diligence of such acquired or integrated entities, and it may be difficult to integrate companies into our information technology environment and security program. Any loss of such information could harm our competitive position, result in a loss of customer confidence, result in breaches of applicable obligations (such as laws and contracts) and cause us to incur significant costs to remedy the damages caused by any such disruptions or security breaches. Additionally, any failure to properly manage the collection, handling, transfer, or disposal of personal data of employees and customers may result in regulatory penalties, bans on processing personal data or orders not to use or destroy data, enforcement actions, remediation obligations, litigation, fines, and other actions.
We may experience attacks on our data and/or information systems, attempts to breach our security and attempts to introduce malicious software into our IT systems. Such threats are prevalent and continue to rise, are increasingly difficult to detect, and come from a variety of sources. During times of war and other major conflicts, we and the third