ITEM 2. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
This management discussion and analysis should be read in conjunction with our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, which was filed with the SEC on February 24, 2021.
Special Note on Forward-Looking Statements
The following discussion contains, in addition to historical information, forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Statements in this report that are not historical information are forward-looking statements. For example, statements relating to our beliefs, expectations and plans are forward-looking statements, as are statements that certain actions, conditions, or circumstances will continue. The inclusion of words such as "anticipate," "expect," "estimate," "can," "may," "might," "continue," "enables," "plan," "intend," "should," "could," "would," "likely," "potential," or "believe," as well as statements that events or circumstances "will" occur or continue, indicate forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond our control. Therefore, actual results could differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. Neither we nor any other person assumes responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of such forward-looking statements and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.
For additional information regarding factors that may affect our actual financial condition, results of operations and accuracy of our forward-looking statements, see the information under the caption "Risk Factors" in Part II, Item 1A of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and, in Part I, Item 1A in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020. We undertake no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements for any reason.
BUSINESS AND MARKET OVERVIEW
Advanced Energy provides highly engineered, mission-critical, precision power conversion, measurement, and control solutions to our global customers. We design, manufacture, sell and support precision power products that transform, refine, and modify the raw electrical power from the utility and convert it into various types of highly-controllable, usable power that is predictable, repeatable, and customizable. Our power solutions enable innovation in complex semiconductor and thin film plasma processes such as dry etch, strip, chemical and physical deposition, high and low voltage applications such as process control, data center computing, networking, telecommunication, analytical instrumentation, medical equipment, industrial technology and temperature-critical thermal applications such as material and chemical processing. We also supply related instrumentation products for advanced temperature measurement and control, electrostatic instrumentation products for test and measurement applications, and gas sensing and monitoring solutions for multiple industrial markets. Our network of global service support centers provides a recurring revenue opportunity as we offer repair services, conversions, upgrades, refurbishments, and used equipment to companies using our products.
Our products are sold into the Semiconductor Equipment, Industrial and Medical, Data Center Computing, and Telecom and Networking markets, and we provide market revenue data to enable tracking of trends. Advanced Energy is organized on a global, functional basis and operates in a single segment structure for power electronics conversion products.
During the first three months of 2020 we saw the spread of COVID-19 which grew into a global pandemic. Our focus on providing a healthy and safe working environment for our employees led to intermittent shutdowns of our manufacturing facilities to implement new health and safety protocols and additional investments to comply with government guidelines. During 2020 and the first nine months of 2021 there were periods when some of our manufacturing facilities were not operating or were operating at reduced capacity due to government mandates to restrict travel, maintain social distancing, and implement health and safety procedures. Additionally, ongoing restrictions related to COVID-19 and disruptions in an already challenged global supply chain limited the availability of certain materials, parts, subcomponents, and subassemblies needed for production during the first nine months of 2021, impacting our ability to ship product to meet customer demand. The shortage of critical components was caused in part by the