Regulation S-t (§232.405 of this chapter)に基づき、登録者が過去12か月間(またはより短い期間であれば、登録者がそのようなファイルを提出する必要があった期間)に、提出が必要なすべてのインタラクティブデータファイルを電子提出したかどうかをチェックマークで示してください。はい☑いいえ ☐
We have foreign currency exchange rate risk associated with the remeasurement of monetary assets and liabilities on our Consolidated Balance Sheets that are denominated in currencies other than the functional currency. We performed a sensitivity analysis of our foreign currency exposure as of September 30, 2024 to assess the potential impact of fluctuations in exchange rates for all foreign denominated assets and liabilities. Assuming that all foreign currencies appreciated 10% against the U.S. dollar and taking into account our foreign currency forward contracts, our income before taxes for the nine months ended September 30, 2024 would have been approximately $18 million lower, due to the remeasurement of monetary assets and liabilities.
In addition, we have foreign currency exchange rate exposure on our results of operations. For the nine months ended September 30, 2024, approximately 90% of our net sales were denominated in U.S. dollars. Our remaining net sales were principally denominated in Japanese yen. For the nine months ended September 30, 2024, approximately 60% of
our cost of sales and operating expenses were denominated in U.S. dollars and were largely for raw materials and costs associated with property, plant and equipment. The remaining portion of our cost of sales and operating expenses was principally denominated in the Asian currencies where our production facilities are located and largely consisted of labor. To the extent that the U.S. dollar weakens against these Asian-based currencies, similar foreign currency denominated income and expenses in the future will result in higher sales, higher cost of sales and operating expenses, with cost of sales and operating expenses having the greater impact on our financial results. Similarly, our sales, cost of sales and operating expenses will decrease if the U.S. dollar strengthens against these foreign currencies. We performed a sensitivity analysis of our foreign currency exposure as of September 30, 2024 to assess the potential impact of fluctuations in exchange rates for all foreign denominated sales and operating expenses. Assuming that all foreign currencies appreciated 10% against the U.S. dollar, our operating income for the nine months ended September 30, 2024 would have been approximately $109 million lower.
There are inherent limitations in the sensitivity analysis presented, primarily the assumption that foreign exchange rate movements across multiple jurisdictions would change instantaneously in an equal fashion. As a result, the analysis is unable to reflect the potential effects of more complex market or other changes that could arise which may positively or negatively affect our results of operations.
Our Consolidated Financial Statements are impacted by changes in exchange rates at the entity where the local currency is the functional currency. To mitigate this impact, we started to hedge certain net investment positions in foreign subsidiaries by entering into foreign currency forward contracts that are designated as hedges of net investments beginning in April 2024. The effect of foreign exchange rate translation for these entities, inclusive of our foreign currency forward contracts, was a loss of $6.0 million and $14.8 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2024 and 2023, respectively, and was recognized as an adjustment to equity through other comprehensive income (loss).
Interest Rate Risk
We have interest rate risk with respect to our available-for-sale debt investments. Our investment portfolio consists of various security types and maturities, with our portfolio primarily having maturities of one year or less. Our primary objective with our investment portfolio is to invest available cash while preserving capital and meeting liquidity needs. These securities are subject to interest rate risk and will decrease in value if market interest rates increase. Due to the relatively short-term nature of our investment portfolio, we believe that an immediate increase in interest rates will not have a material impact on the fair value of our available-for-sale debt investments. For information regarding our available-for-sale debt investments, see Note 7 to our Consolidated Financial Statements in Part I, Item 1 of this Form 10-Q.
In addition, we have interest rate risk with respect to our debt. Our fixed and variable rate debt includes foreign borrowings, revolving credit facilities and senior notes. Changes in interest rates have different impacts on the fixed and variable rate portions of our debt portfolio. A change in interest rates on the fixed portion of the debt portfolio impacts the fair value of the debt instrument but has no impact on interest expense or cash flows. A change in interest rates on the variable portion of the debt portfolio impacts the interest incurred and cash flows but will not have a material impact on the fair value of the instrument.
The table below presents the interest rates, maturities and fair value of our fixed and variable rate debt as of September 30, 2024:
2024 - Remaining
2025
2026
2027
2028
Thereafter
Total
Fair Value
($ in thousands)
Fixed rate debt
$
29,834
$
129,649
$
114,471
$
621,230
$
74,368
$
—
$
969,552
$
962,361
Average interest rate
1.4
%
1.7
%
1.8
%
5.9
%
2.0
%
—
%
4.4
%
Variable rate debt
$
2,000
$
91,500
$
43,000
$
—
$
—
$
—
$
136,500
$
135,880
Average interest rate
5.8
%
5.6
%
6.6
%
—
%
—
%
—
%
5.9
%
Total debt maturities
$
31,834
$
221,149
$
157,471
$
621,230
$
74,368
$
—
$
1,106,052
$
1,098,241
For information regarding the fair value of our long-term debt, see Note 14 to our Consolidated Financial Statements in Part I, Item 1 of this Form 10-Q.
We maintain disclosure controls and procedures that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in our periodic reports to the SEC is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms and that such information is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, as appropriate, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure, based on the definition of “disclosure controls and procedures” in Rule 13a-15(e) and Rule 15d-15(e) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). In designing and evaluating the disclosure controls and procedures, management recognizes that any disclosure controls and procedures, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable assurance of achieving the desired control objectives, and management necessarily is required to apply its judgment in evaluating the cost-benefit relationship of possible disclosure controls and procedures.
We carried out an evaluation, under the supervision and with the participation of management, including our Chief Executive Officer and our Chief Financial Officer, of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures as of September 30, 2024 and concluded those disclosure controls and procedures were effective as of that date.
Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
We carried out an evaluation, under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, of changes to our internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) of the Exchange Act) that occurred during the quarter ended September 30, 2024. There have been no changes in our internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the three months ended September 30, 2024 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.
Information about legal proceedings is set forth in Note 15 to our Consolidated Financial Statements in Part I, Item 1 of this Form 10-Q and in Note 17 to the 2023 Form 10-K.
Item 1A. Risk Factors
The factors discussed below are cautionary statements that identify important factors and risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by the forward-looking statements contained in this Form 10-Q. For more information, see the Forward-Looking Statements within this Form 10-Q. You should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described below, together with all of the other information included in this Form 10-Q, in considering our business and prospects. The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones facing Amkor. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial may also adversely affect our business operations. The occurrence of any of the risks and uncertainties described below could materially and adversely affect our business, liquidity, results of operations, financial condition or cash flows.
Summary of Risk Factors
An investment in our common stock involves various risks, and you are urged to carefully consider all of the matters discussed in Part II, Item 1A of this Form 10-Q under the caption “Risk Factors” (in addition to those discussed under this “Summary of Risk Factors” section) in considering our business and prospects. The following is a list of some of these risks:
Risks Related to Our Business, Operations and Industry
•dependence on the cyclical and volatile semiconductor industry and vulnerability to industry downturns and declines in global economic and financial conditions;
•changes in costs, quality, availability and delivery times of raw materials, components and equipment;
•fluctuations in operating results and cash flows;
•competition with established competitors in the packaging and test business, the internal capabilities of integrated device manufacturers (“IDMs”), and new competitors, including foundries and contract manufacturers;
•our substantial investments in equipment and facilities to support the demand of our customers;
•difficulty achieving the relatively high-capacity utilization rates necessary to realize satisfactory gross margins given our high percentage of fixed costs;
•our absence of backlog and the short-term nature of our customers’ commitments;
•the historical downward pressure on the prices of our packaging and test services;
•fluctuations in our manufacturing yields;
•a downturn or lower sales to customers in the automotive industry;
•dependence on key customers or concentration of customers in certain end markets, such as mobile communications and automotive;
Risks Related to Our International Sales and Operations
•dependence on international factories and operations, and risks relating to trade restrictions and regional conflict; and
•significant severance plan obligations associated with our manufacturing operations in Korea.
Risks Related to Cybersecurity, Data Privacy and Intellectual Property
•our ability to develop new proprietary technology, protect our proprietary technology, operate without infringing the proprietary rights of others, and implement new technologies; and
•our continuing development and implementation of changes to, and maintenance and security of, our information technology systems.
Risks Related to Our Indebtedness
•restrictive covenants in the indentures and agreements governing our current and future indebtedness;
•our substantial indebtedness; and
•fluctuations in interest rates and changes in credit risk.
Risks Related to Our Common Stock
•the ability of certain of our stockholders to effectively determine or substantially influence the outcome of matters requiring stockholder approval; and
•the possibility that we may decrease or suspend our quarterly dividend.
Risks Related to Human Capital and Management
•difficulty attracting, retaining or replacing qualified personnel.
Risks Related to Regulatory, Legal and Tax Challenges
•warranty claims, product return and liability risks, and the risk of negative publicity if our products fail, as well as the risk of litigation incident to our business;
•maintaining an effective system of internal controls;
•any changes in tax laws, taxing authorities not agreeing with our interpretation of applicable tax laws, including whether we continue to qualify for conditional reduced tax rates, or any requirements to establish or adjust valuation allowances on deferred tax assets;
•environmental, health and safety liabilities and expenditures; and
•conditions and obligations in connection with the receipt of government incentives.
General Risk Factors
•health conditions or pandemics, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, impacting labor availability and operating capacity, capital availability, the supply chain and consumer demand for our customers’ products and services; and
•natural disasters and other calamities, health conditions or pandemics, political instability, hostilities or other disruptions.
Risks Related to Our Business, Operations and Industry
Our packaging and test services are used in volatile industries, and industry downturns and declines in global economic and financial conditions could harm our performance.
Our business is impacted by market conditions in the semiconductor industry, which is cyclical by nature and impacted by broad economic factors, such as worldwide gross domestic product and consumer spending. We believe the general semiconductor market is currently going through a cyclical correction. The semiconductor industry has experienced significant and sometimes sudden and prolonged downturns in the past. If the industry or markets in which we compete experience slower, or even negative growth, our business and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.
Since our business is, and will continue to be, dependent on the requirements of semiconductor companies for outsourced packaging and test services, any downturn in the semiconductor industry or any other industry that uses a significant number of semiconductor devices, such as communications, automotive and industrial, computing or consumer electronics, could have a material adverse effect on our business and operating results. During downturns, we have experienced, among other things, reduced demand, excess capacity and reduced sales. For example, the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted demand in the automotive and industrial end market in 2020, and during 2019, there was weakness in the general market and an inventory correction in the smartphone market.
Our business may suffer if the cost, quality or supply of materials or equipment changes adversely.
We obtain the materials and equipment required for the packaging and test services performed by our factories from various vendors. We source most of our materials, including critical materials such as leadframes, laminate substrates and gold wire, from a limited group of suppliers. A disruption to the operations of one or more of our suppliers could extend lead times for materials and equipment and have a negative impact on our business. For example, the Covid-19 pandemic and resulting supply chain disruptions and economic turbulence created extended lead times for some materials and equipment, and furthermore, fire, severe weather, earthquakes, flooding and tsunamis in the past have impacted the supply of specialty chemicals, substrates, silicon wafers, equipment and other supplies to the electronics industry.
In addition, we purchase the majority of our materials on a purchase order basis. Our business may be harmed if we cannot obtain materials and other supplies from our vendors in a timely manner, in sufficient quantities, at acceptable quality or at competitive prices or are unable to increase our prices sufficiently to recover inflationary price increases in materials or supplies. Some of our customers are also dependent on a limited number of suppliers for certain materials and silicon wafers. Shortages or disruptions in our customers’ supply channels, including any disruptions arising out of the conflicts in Ukraine and Israel or other future conflicts, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
SEC rules and related industry initiatives require diligence and disclosure regarding the use of certain minerals originating from the conflict zones of the Democratic Republic of Congo and adjoining countries. Many of our customers’ initiatives require us to certify that the covered materials we use in our packages do not come from the conflict areas. We incur costs associated with complying with these requirements and customer initiatives, and we may be required to increase our efforts in the future to cover additional materials and geographic areas. These requirements and customer initiatives could affect the pricing, sourcing and availability of materials used in the manufacture of semiconductor devices, and we cannot assure you that we will be able to obtain conflict-free materials or other materials covered by customer initiatives in sufficient quantities and at competitive prices or that we will be able to verify the origin of all of the materials we procure. If we are unable to meet these requirements and customer initiatives, some customers may move their business to other suppliers, and our reputation and business could be materially and adversely affected.
We purchase new packaging and test equipment to maintain and expand our operations. From time to time, increased demand for new equipment or supply chain disruptions and economic turbulence may cause lead times to extend beyond those normally required by equipment vendors. In periods of increased demand and reduced availability, equipment suppliers may delay orders or only partially satisfy our equipment orders in the normal time frame. The unavailability of equipment or failures to deliver equipment on a timely basis could delay or impair our ability to meet customer orders. If we are unable to meet customer orders, we could lose potential and existing customers. Generally, we acquire our
equipment on a purchase order basis and do not enter into long-term equipment agreements. As a result, depending on market conditions, we could experience adverse changes in pricing, currency risk and potential shortages in equipment, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.
We are a large buyer of gold and other commodity materials, including substrates and copper. The prices of gold and other commodities used in our business fluctuate. Historically, we have been able to partially offset the effect of commodity price increases through price adjustments to some customers and changes in our product designs that reduce the material content and cost, such as the use of shorter, thinner gold wire and migration to copper wire. However, we typically do not have long-term contracts that permit us to impose price adjustments, and market conditions may limit our ability to do so. Significant price increases may materially and adversely impact our gross margin in future periods to the extent we are unable to pass along past or future commodity price increases to our customers.
Our operating results and cash flows have varied and may vary significantly as a result of factors that we cannot control.
Many factors could have a material adverse effect on our net sales, gross profit, operating results and cash flows or lead to significant variability of quarterly or annual operating results. Our profitability and ability to generate cash from operations is principally dependent upon demand for semiconductors, the utilization of our capacity, semiconductor package mix, the average selling price of our services, our ability to manage our capital expenditures and our ability to control our costs including labor, material, overhead and financing costs.
Our net sales, gross margin, gross profit, operating income, net income and cash flows have historically fluctuated significantly from quarter to quarter as a result of many of the following factors, over which we have little or no control and which we expect to continue to impact our business:
•fluctuations in demand for semiconductors and conditions in the semiconductor industry generally, as well as by specific customers, such as inventory reductions by our customers impacting demand in key markets;
•changes in cost, quality, availability and delivery times of raw materials, components, equipment and labor;
•inflation, including wage inflation, and fluctuations in commodity prices, including gold, copper and other precious metals;
•our ability to achieve our major growth objectives, including transitioning second-wave customers to advanced packages and increasing our share of the automotive and industrial end market;
•changes in our capacity and capacity utilization rates;
•fluctuations in interest rates and currency exchange rates, including the current rising interest rate environment;
•changes in average selling prices which can occur quickly due to the absence of long-term agreements on price;
•changes in the mix of the semiconductor packaging and test services that we sell;
•fluctuations in our manufacturing yields;
•the development, transition and ramp to high volume manufacture of more advanced silicon nodes and evolving wafer, packaging and test technologies may cause production delays, lower manufacturing yields and supply constraints for new wafers and other materials;
•the absence of backlog, the short-term nature of our customers’ commitments, double bookings by customers and deterioration in customer forecasts and the impact of these factors, including the possible delay, rescheduling and cancellation of large orders, or the timing and volume of orders relative to our production capacity;
•the timing of expenditures in anticipation of future orders;
•warranty and product liability claims and the impact of quality excursions and customer disputes and returns;
•costs associated with legal claims, indemnification obligations, judgments and settlements;
•political instability, conflicts (such as the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Israel) and government shutdowns, civil disturbances and international events;
•environmental or natural disasters such as earthquakes, typhoons and volcanic eruptions;
•pandemics or other widespread illnesses that may impact our labor force, operations, liquidity, supply chain and end-user demand for products which incorporate semiconductors, such as the Covid-19 pandemic;
•costs of acquisitions and divestitures and difficulties integrating acquisitions;
•our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel to support our global operations;
•our ability to penetrate new end markets or expand our business in existing end markets;
•dependence on key customers or concentration of customers in certain end markets, such as mobile communications and automotive; and
•restructuring charges, asset write-offs and impairments.
In recent years, including on October 7, 2022 and October 17, 2023, the U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security announced new export control regulations applicable to the sale of U.S. semiconductor technology in China (collectively, the “BIS Regulations”). The above factors, in addition to the BIS Regulations and other similarly restrictive trade barriers adopted by U.S. and foreign governments applicable to the semiconductor supply chain, could impact our business and the businesses of our customers. These factors may have a material and adverse effect on our business, liquidity, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows or lead to significant volatility in our quarterly or annual operating results. In addition, these factors may materially and adversely affect our credit ratings, which could make it more difficult and expensive for us to raise capital and could materially and adversely affect the price of our securities.
We compete against established competitors in the packaging and test business as well as internal capabilities of IDMs and face competition from new competitors, including foundries and contract manufacturers.
The outsourced semiconductor packaging and test services market is very competitive. We face substantial competition from established and emerging packaging and test service providers primarily located in Asia, including companies with significantly greater processing capacity, financial resources, local presence, research and development operations, marketing, technology and other capabilities. In addition, we may compete with electronics manufacturing service providers or contract electronics manufacturers that also provide advanced integrated device solutions. We also may face increased competition from domestic companies located in China, where there are government-supported efforts to promote and subsidize the development and growth of the local semiconductor industry. We may be at a disadvantage in attempting to compete with entities associated with such government-supported initiatives based on their lower cost of capital, access to government resources and incentives, preferential sourcing practices, stronger local relationships or otherwise. Our competitors may also have established relationships, or enter into new strategic relationships, with one or more of the large semiconductor companies that are our current or potential customers or key suppliers to these customers. Consolidation among our competitors could also strengthen their competitive position.
Historically, we have also been dependent on the trend in outsourcing of packaging and test services by IDM and foundry customers. Our IDM and foundry customers continually evaluate the need for outsourced services against their own in-house packaging and test services. As a result, at any time and for a variety of reasons, IDMs and foundries may decide to shift some or all of their outsourced packaging and test services to internally sourced capacity. To the extent we limit capacity commitments for certain customers, these customers may increase their level of in-house packaging and test capabilities, which could make it more difficult for us to regain their business when we have available capacity.
If we experience a significant loss of IDM or foundry business, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, liquidity, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows, especially during a prolonged industry downturn.
We face competition from foundries, such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., which offer full turnkey services from silicon wafer fabrication through packaging and final test. These foundries, which are substantially larger than us and have greater financial resources than we do, have expanded their operations to include packaging and test services and may continue to expand these capabilities in the future. If a key customer decides to purchase wafers from a semiconductor foundry that provides packaging and test services, our business could be adversely affected if the customer also engages that foundry for related packaging and test services.
We also face competition from contract manufacturers and electronic manufacturing service providers, many of which are larger than us, have lower cost structures, and may be willing or able to sell their services at lower margins than we do. These competitors have increased and could increase pricing and competitive pressures for us.
We cannot assure you that we will be able to compete successfully in the future against our existing or potential competitors, that our customers will not rely on internal sources, foundries or contract manufacturers for packaging and test services or that our business, liquidity, results of operations, financial condition or cash flows will not be materially and adversely affected by such increased competition.
We make substantial investments in equipment and facilities to support the demand of our customers, which may materially and adversely affect our business if the demand of our customers does not develop as we expect or is adversely affected.
We make significant investments in equipment and facilities in order to service the demand of our customers. The amount of our capital expenditures depends on several factors, including the performance of our business, our assessment of future industry and customer demand, our capacity utilization levels and availability, advances in technology, our liquidity position and the availability of financing. Our ongoing capital expenditure requirements may strain our cash and liquidity, and, in periods when we are expanding our capital base, we expect that depreciation expense and factory operating expenses associated with capital expenditures to increase production capacity will put downward pressure on our gross profit, at least in the near term. From time to time, we also make significant capital expenditures based on specific business opportunities with one or a few key customers, and the additional equipment purchased may not be readily usable to support other customers. If demand is insufficient to fill our capacity, or we are unable to efficiently redeploy such equipment, our capacity utilization and gross profit could be negatively impacted.
Furthermore, if we cannot generate or raise additional funds to pay for capital expenditures, particularly in some of the advanced packaging and bumping areas, as well as research and development activities, our growth and future profitability may be materially and adversely affected. Our ability to obtain external financing in the future is subject to a variety of uncertainties, including: our future financial condition, results of operations and cash flows; general market conditions for financing; volatility in fixed income, credit and equity markets; and economic, political and other global conditions.
In October 2023, we completed the initial phase of construction for our Vietnam Facility. While manufacturing has begun at our Vietnam Facility, there can be no assurance that the actual scope, costs or benefits of the project will be consistent with our current expectations.
Due to our high percentage of fixed costs, we may be unable to maintain satisfactory gross margins if we are unable to achieve relatively high-capacity utilization rates.
Our operations are characterized by high fixed costs and the absence of any material backlog. Our profitability depends in part not only on pricing levels for our packaging and test services but also on the efficient utilization of our human resources and packaging and test equipment. Increases or decreases in our capacity utilization can significantly affect gross margins. Transitions between different packaging technologies can also impact our capacity utilization if we do not efficiently redeploy our equipment for other packaging and test opportunities. We cannot assure you that we will be able to achieve consistently high-capacity utilization, and if we fail to do so, our gross margins may be negatively impacted.
In addition, our fixed operating costs have increased as a result of capital expenditures for capacity expansion. The anticipated customer demand for which we have made capital investments may not materialize, and our sales may not
adequately cover fixed costs, resulting in reduced profit levels or even significant losses, either of which may materially and adversely impact our business, liquidity, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.
The lack of contractually committed customer demand may materially and adversely affect our sales.
Our packaging and test business does not typically operate with any material backlog. Our quarterly net sales from packaging and test services are substantially dependent upon our customers’ demand in that quarter. Generally, our customers do not commit to purchase any significant amount of packaging or test services or provide us with binding forecasts of demand for packaging and test services for any future period, in any material amount. In addition, we sometimes experience double booking by customers, and our customers often reduce, cancel or delay their purchases of packaging and test services for a variety of reasons, including industry-wide, customer-specific and Amkor-specific reasons. This makes it difficult for us to forecast our capacity utilization and net sales in future periods. Since a large portion of our costs is fixed and our expense levels are based in part on our expectations of future sales, we may not be able to adjust costs in a timely manner to compensate for any sales shortfall. If we are unable to adjust costs in a timely manner, our margins, operating results, financial condition and cash flows could be materially and adversely affected.
Historically, there has been downward pressure on the prices of our packaging and test services.
Prices for packaging and test services have generally declined over time, and sometimes prices can change significantly in relatively short periods of time. We expect downward pressure on average selling prices for our packaging and test services to continue in the future, and this pressure may intensify during downturns in business. If we experience declining average selling prices and are unable to offset such declines by developing and marketing new packages with higher prices, reducing our purchasing costs, recovering more of our material cost increases from our customers and reducing our manufacturing costs, our business, liquidity, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows could be materially and adversely affected.
Packaging and test processes are complex, and our production yields and customer relationships may suffer from defects in the services we provide or if we do not successfully implement new technologies.
Semiconductor packaging and test services are complex processes that require significant technological and process expertise, and in line with industry practice, customers usually require us to pass a lengthy and rigorous qualification process that may take several months. Once qualified and in production, defective packages primarily result from one or more of the following:
•contaminants in the manufacturing environment;
•human error;
•equipment malfunction;
•changing processes to address environmental requirements;
•defective raw materials; or
•defective plating services.
Test is also complex and involves sophisticated equipment and software. Similar to many software programs, these software programs are complex and may contain programming errors or “bugs.” The test equipment is also subject to malfunction, and the test process is subject to operator error.
These and other factors have, from time to time, contributed to lower production yields. They may also do so in the future, particularly as we adjust our capacity, change our processing steps or ramp new technologies. In addition, we must continue to develop and implement new packaging and test technologies and expand our offering of packages to be competitive. Our production yields on new packages, particularly those packages which are based on new technologies, typically are significantly lower than our production yields on our more established packages.
Our failure to qualify new processes, maintain quality standards or acceptable production yields, if significant and prolonged, could result in the loss of customers, increased costs of production, delays, substantial amounts of returned
goods and claims by customers relating thereto. Any of these problems could have a material adverse effect on our business, liquidity, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.
A significant portion of our revenue is derived from customers in the automotive industry. A downturn or lower sales to customers in the automotive industry could materially affect our business and results of operations.
A significant portion of our sales is to customers within the automotive industry. The automotive industry is cyclical, and, as a result, our customers in the automotive end-market are sensitive to changes in general economic conditions, inflationary pressure, disruptive innovation and end-market preferences, which can adversely affect sales of our products and, correspondingly, our results of operations. The automotive industry is also subject to long design-in time frames, long product life cycles and a high degree of regulatory and safety requirements, necessitating suppliers to the industry to comply with stringent qualification processes, very low defect rates and high reliability standards, all of which result in significant operational challenges, risk to our results of operations, and increased costs of our investments in serving customers in the automotive end-market. Additionally, the quantity and price of our products sold to customers in the automotive end-market could decline despite continued growth in such end-market. Lower sales to customers in the automotive end-market may have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.
The loss of certain customers or reduced orders or pricing from existing customers may have a material adverse effect on our operations and financial results.
We have derived and expect to continue to derive a large portion of our revenues from a small group of customers during any particular period due in part to the concentration of market share in the semiconductor industry. Our ten largest customers accounted for, in the aggregate, 69% of our net sales for the year ended December 31, 2023. In addition, we have significant customer concentration within our end markets. The loss of a significant customer, a business combination among our customers, a reduction in orders or decrease in price from a significant customer or disruption in any of our significant commercial arrangements may result in a decline in our sales and profitability and could have a material adverse effect on our business, liquidity, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.
The demand for our services from each customer is directly dependent upon that customer’s financial health, level of business activity and purchasing decisions, the quality and price of our services, our cycle time and delivery performance, the customer’s qualification of additional competitors on products we package or test and a number of other factors. Each of these factors could vary significantly from time to time resulting in the loss or reduction of customer orders, and we cannot be sure that our key customers or any other customers will continue to place orders with us in the future at the same levels as in past periods.
For example, as seen in the automotive end market in 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic and restrictions imposed by governmental authorities to mitigate the spread of Covid-19 may decrease demand for our customers’ products and services, thereby adversely impacting their demand for our services.
In addition, from time to time, we may acquire or build new facilities or migrate existing business among our facilities. In connection with these facility changes or new facility constructions, our customers require us to qualify the new facilities even though we have already qualified to perform the services at our other facilities. We cannot assure that we will successfully qualify facility changes, that we will complete construction of new facilities in a timely manner or that our customers will not qualify our competitors and move the business for such services.
We may have difficulty funding liquidity needs.
We assess our liquidity based on our current expectations regarding sales and operating expenses, capital spending, dividend payments, stock repurchases, debt service requirements and other funding needs. We fund our operations, including capital expenditures and other investments and servicing principal and interest obligations with respect to our debt, from cash flows from our operations, existing cash and cash equivalents, borrowings under available debt facilities, or proceeds from any additional debt or equity financing. Our liquidity is affected by, among other factors, volatility in the global economy and credit markets, the performance of our business, our capital expenditures and other investment levels, other uses of our cash, including any payments of dividends and purchases of stock under any stock repurchase program, any acquisitions or investments in joint ventures and any decisions we might make to either repay debt and
other long-term obligations out of our operating cash flows or refinance debt at or prior to maturity with the proceeds of debt or equity financings.
Servicing our current and future customers requires that we incur significant operating expenses and continue to make significant capital expenditures and other investments, and the amount of our capital expenditures for 2024 and thereafter may vary materially and will depend on several factors. These factors include, among others, the amount, timing and implementation of our capital projects, the performance of our business, economic and market conditions, advances in technology, the cash needs and investment opportunities for the business, the need for additional capacity and facilities and the availability of cash flows from operations or financing.
The health of the worldwide banking system and capital markets also affects our liquidity. If financial institutions that have extended credit commitments to us are adversely affected by the conditions of the United States, foreign or international banking system and capital markets (including as a result of rising interest rates, economic downturns or other developments), they may refuse or be unable to fund borrowings under their credit commitments to us. Although the U.S. Federal Reserve recently lowered interest rates, the U.S. Federal Reserve raised interest rates several times during 2022 and 2023. Volatility in the banking system and capital markets, as well as any further increase in interest rates or adverse economic, political, public health or other global conditions, could also make it difficult or more expensive for us to maintain our existing credit facilities or refinance our debt.
The trading price of our common stock has been, and is likely to continue to be, highly volatile and could be subject to wide fluctuations. Such fluctuations could impact our decision or ability to utilize the equity markets as a potential source of our funding needs in the future.
In addition, there is a risk that we could fail to generate the necessary net income or operating cash flows to meet the funding needs of our business due to a variety of factors, including the other factors discussed in this “Risk Factors” section. If we fail to generate the necessary cash flows or we are unable to access the capital markets when needed, our liquidity could be materially and adversely impacted.
We face challenges as we integrate diverse operations.
We have experienced, and expect to continue to experience, change in the scope and complexity of our operations resulting primarily from existing and future facility and operational consolidations, facility and operational expansions, strategic acquisitions, joint ventures and other partnering arrangements. Some of the risks from these activities include those associated with the following:
•increasing the scope, geographic diversity and complexity of our operations;
•conforming an acquired company’s standards, practices, systems and controls with our operations;
•increasing complexity from combining recent acquisitions of an acquired business;
•unexpected losses of key employees or customers of an acquired business;
•difficulties in the assimilation of acquired operations, technologies or products; and
•diversion of management and other resources from other parts of our operations and adverse effects on existing business relationships with customers.
In connection with these activities, we may:
•incur costs associated with personnel reductions and voluntary retirement programs;
•record restructuring charges to cover costs associated with facility consolidations and related cost reduction initiatives;
•use a significant portion of our available cash;
•incur substantial debt;
•issue equity securities, which may dilute the ownership of current stockholders;
•incur or assume known or unknown contingent liabilities; and
•incur large, immediate accounting write offs and face antitrust or other regulatory inquiries or actions.
For example, the businesses we have acquired had, at the time of acquisition, multiple systems for managing their own production, sales, inventory and other operations. Migrating these businesses to our systems typically is a slow, expensive process requiring us to divert significant resources from other parts of our operations. We may continue to face these challenges in the future. As a result of the risks discussed above, the anticipated benefits of these or other future acquisitions, consolidations and partnering arrangements may not be fully realized, if at all, and these activities could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Risks Related to Our International Sales and Operations
Our factories and operations, and those of our customers and vendors, are located in various foreign jurisdictions, which exposes us to risks arising from international trade restrictions and regional conflict.
We provide packaging and test services through our factories and other operations located in China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Portugal, Singapore and Taiwan and began delivering packaging and test services from the Vietnam Facility. Substantially all of our property, plant and equipment is located outside of the United States, and many of our customers and the vendors in our supply chain are also located outside the United States. The following are some of the risks we face in doing business internationally:
•restrictive trade barriers considered or adopted by U.S. and foreign governments applicable to the semiconductor supply chain, including laws, rules, regulations and policies in areas such as national security, licensing requirements for exports, tariffs, customs and duties, including the export rules and regulations applicable to U.S. companies that sell certain semiconductor and chipmaking equipment products to customers in China;
•laws, rules, regulations and policies within China and other countries that may favor domestic companies over non-domestic companies, including customer- or government-supported efforts to promote the development and growth of local competitors;
•health and safety concerns, including widespread outbreak of infectious diseases, such as Covid-19, and governmental responses thereto;
•changes in consumer demand resulting from current or expected inflation or other variations in local economies;
•laws, rules, regulations and policies imposed by U.S. or foreign governments in areas such as data privacy, cybersecurity, antitrust and competition, tax, currency and banking, labor, environmental, and health and safety;
•the payment of dividends and other payments by non-U.S. subsidiaries may be subject to prohibitions, limitations or taxes in local jurisdictions;
•fluctuations in currency exchange rates, particularly the U.S. dollar to Japanese yen exchange rate for our operations in Japan;
•political and social conditions, and the potential for civil unrest, terrorism or other hostilities (such as the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Israel);
•disruptions or delays in shipments caused by customs brokers or government agencies;
•difficulties in attracting and retaining qualified personnel and managing foreign operations, including foreign labor disruptions;
•difficulty in enforcing contractual rights and protecting our intellectual property rights;
•potentially adverse tax consequences resulting from tax laws in the United States and in other jurisdictions; and
•local business and cultural factors that differ from our normal standards and practices, including business practices that we are prohibited from engaging in by the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and other anti-corruption laws and regulations.
Many of these factors and risks are present and may be heightened within our business operations in China. For example, changes in U.S.-China relations, the political environment or international trade policies could result in further revisions to laws or regulations or their interpretation and enforcement, increased taxation, trade sanctions, the imposition of import or export duties and tariffs, restrictions on imports or exports, currency revaluations or retaliatory actions, which have had and may continue to have an adverse effect on our business plans and operating results. Additionally, the BIS Regulations place limitations on the ability of companies to export certain advanced computing semiconductor chips, as well as chipmaking equipment, by requiring companies to obtain licenses to export such products and equipment into China or other designated countries. These expanded export restrictions limit our ability to sell to certain Chinese companies and to third parties that do business with those companies. Certain of the Company’s competitors may be exempt from the BIS Regulations by virtue of being non-U.S. manufacturers. To the extent required, Amkor would evaluate pursuing export licenses and authorizations, but there can be no assurances that Amkor would obtain such licenses or authorizations on a timely or cost-effective basis or at all, or that our customers will not reroute business that would have otherwise been given to Amkor to one or more of our competitors as a result of the BIS Regulations, particularly if our competitors have, or are not required to have, required licenses or authorizations that we have not obtained. It is also possible that government agencies in China or in other countries may adopt retaliatory export control rules in response to the BIS Regulations, which could further impact our business, liquidity, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows. These restrictions have created, and these and similar restrictions may continue to create, uncertainty and caution with our current or prospective customers and may cause them to amass large inventories of our products, replace our products with products from another supplier that is not subject to the export restrictions or focus on building indigenous semiconductor capacity to reduce reliance on U.S. suppliers. Furthermore, if these export restrictions cause our current or potential customers to view U.S. companies as unreliable, we could suffer reputational damage or lose business to foreign competitors who are not subject to such export restrictions, and our business could be materially harmed. We are continuing to evaluate the impact of these restrictions on our business, but these actions may have direct and indirect material adverse impacts on our revenues and results of operations in China and elsewhere. In addition, our success in the Chinese markets may be adversely affected by China’s evolving policies, laws and regulations, including those relating to antitrust, cybersecurity, data protection and data privacy, the environment, indigenous innovation and the promotion of a domestic semiconductor industry and intellectual property rights and enforcement and protection of those rights.
We also have significant facilities and other investments in Korea, and there have been heightened security concerns in recent years stemming from North Korea’s nuclear weapon and long-range missile programs as well as its military actions in the region. Furthermore, there has been a history of conflict and tension within and among other countries in the region.
The Covid-19 pandemic impacted our operations and the operations of our customers and suppliers as a result of illness, quarantines, facility closures and travel and logistics restrictions in connection with the outbreak. National, regional, and local governments implemented, and may implement in the future, public health measures to mitigate the spread of Covid-19, the emergence of new variants or the re-emergence of Covid-19 in jurisdictions in which we, our customers and our suppliers operate, and such restrictions may materially and adversely impact our operations and the operations of our customers and suppliers. Such restrictions may also affect end-user demand in each geography where our customers sell their products and services, which may materially and adversely affect demand for our services, our operating results and our financial condition.
We have significant severance plan obligations associated with our manufacturing operations in Korea which could reduce our cash flow and negatively impact our financial condition.
Our subsidiary in Korea maintains an unfunded severance plan, under which we have an accrued liability of $48.4 million as of September 30, 2024. The plan covers certain employees that were employed prior to August 1, 2015. In the event of a significant layoff or other reduction in our labor force in Korea, our subsidiary in Korea would be required to make lump-sum severance payments under the plan, which could have a material adverse effect on our liquidity, financial condition and cash flows. We have made, and may in the future make, offers to some or all of the covered employees to convert from the severance plan to a defined contribution plan. Some employees have accepted previous
offers, and future offers to make similar conversions could impact the timing of future payments, reducing our cash flow and materially and adversely affecting our financial condition.
Risks Related to Cybersecurity, Data Privacy and Intellectual Property
Our business will suffer if we are not able to develop new proprietary technology, protect our proprietary technology and operate without infringing the proprietary rights of others.
The complexity and scope of semiconductor packaging, SiP modules and test services are rapidly increasing. As a result, we expect to develop, acquire and implement new manufacturing processes and packaging technologies and tools in order to respond to competitive industry conditions and customer requirements. Technological advances may lead to rapid and significant price erosion and may make our existing packages less competitive or our existing inventories obsolete. If we cannot achieve advances in packaging design or obtain access to advanced packaging designs developed by others, our business could suffer.
The need to develop and maintain advanced packaging capabilities and equipment could require significant research and development, capital expenditures and acquisitions in future years. In addition, converting to new packaging designs or process methodologies could result in delays in producing new package types, which could impact our ability to meet customer orders and materially and adversely impact our business.
Although we seek patent protection for some of our technology under U.S. and foreign patent laws, the process of seeking patent protection takes a long time and is expensive. There can be no assurance that patents will issue from pending or future applications or that, if patents are issued, the rights granted under the patents will provide us with meaningful protection or any commercial advantage. Any patents we do obtain may be challenged, invalidated or circumvented and will eventually expire. As a result, such patents may not offer us meaningful protection or provide the commercial advantage for which they were designed.
Some of our technologies are not covered by any patent or patent application. The confidentiality agreements on which we rely to protect these technologies may be breached or may not be adequate to protect our proprietary technologies. There can be no assurance that other countries in which we market our services will protect our intellectual property rights to the same extent as the United States.
Our competitors may develop, patent or gain access to know-how and technology similar or superior to our own. In addition, many of our patents are subject to cross licenses, several of which are with our competitors. The semiconductor industry is characterized by frequent claims regarding the infringement of patent and other intellectual property rights. If any third party makes an enforceable infringement claim against us or our customers, we could be required to:
•discontinue the use of certain processes or cease to provide the services at issue, which could curtail our business;
•pay substantial damages;
•develop non-infringing technologies, which may not be feasible; or
•acquire licenses to such technology, which may not be available on commercially reasonable terms or at all.
We may need to enforce our patents or other intellectual property rights, including our rights under patent and intellectual property licenses with third parties, or defend ourselves against claimed infringement of the rights of others through litigation, which could result in substantial cost and diversion of our resources and may not be successful. Furthermore, if we fail to obtain necessary licenses, our business could suffer, and we could be exposed to claims for damages and injunctions from third parties, as well as claims from our customers for indemnification. Unfavorable outcomes in any legal proceedings involving intellectual property could result in significant liabilities or loss of commercial advantage and could have a material adverse effect on our business, liquidity, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows. The potential impact from the legal proceedings referred to in this Form 10-Q on our results of operations, financial condition and cash flows could change in the future.
We face risks in connection with the continuing development and implementation of changes to, and maintenance and security of, our information technology systems.
We depend on our information technology systems for many aspects of our business. Our systems may be susceptible to damage, disruptions or shutdowns due to failures during the process of upgrading, replacing or maintaining software, databases or components thereof, power outages, hardware failures, interruption or failures of third-party provider systems, computer viruses, attacks by computer hackers, ransomware attacks, telecommunication failures, user errors, malfeasance or catastrophic events. Such events have occurred in the past and may occur in the future. Cybersecurity breaches could result in unauthorized disclosure of confidential information and/or disruptions to our operations. While we have not experienced a material information security breach, we cannot be sure that such a breach will not occur in the future. The information technology systems in our factories are at varying levels of sophistication and maturity as the factories have different sets of products, processes and customer expectations. Some of our key software has been developed by our own programmers, and this software may not be easily integrated with other software and systems. From time to time, we make additions or changes to our information technology systems. For example, we continue to further integrate information technology systems in our facilities in Japan into our existing systems and processes. We face risks in connection with current and future projects to install or integrate new information technology systems or upgrade our existing systems. These risks include:
•delays in the design and implementation of the system;
•costs may exceed our plans and expectations; and
•disruptions resulting from the implementation, integration or cybersecurity breach of the systems may impact our ability to process transactions and delay shipments to customers, impact our results of operations or financial condition or harm our control environment.
Our business could be materially and adversely affected if our information technology systems are disrupted or if we are unable to successfully install new systems or improve, upgrade, integrate or expand upon our existing systems. We maintain insurance policies for various types of information security risks, including network security and privacy liability for third party claims, and business interruption and system failure reimbursement coverage, but we do not carry insurance for all the above referred risks. With regard to the insurance we do maintain, we cannot assure you that it would be sufficient to cover all of our potential losses. As a result, our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows could be materially and adversely affected by a disruption, failure or breach of our information technology systems.
Risks Related to Our Indebtedness
Covenants in the indentures and agreements governing our current and future indebtedness could restrict our operating flexibility.
The indentures and agreements governing our existing debt contain, and debt we incur in the future may contain, affirmative and negative covenants that materially limit our ability to take certain actions, including our ability to incur debt, pay dividends and repurchase stock, make certain investments and other payments, enter into certain mergers and consolidations, engage in sale leaseback transactions and encumber and dispose of assets. In addition, certain of our debt agreements contain, and our future debt agreements may contain, financial covenants and ratios.
The breach of any of these covenants by us, or the failure by us to meet any of the financial ratios or conditions, could result in a default under any or all of such indebtedness. If a default occurs under any such indebtedness, all of the outstanding obligations thereunder could become immediately due and payable, which could result in a default under our other outstanding debt and could lead to an acceleration of obligations related to other outstanding debt. The existence of such a default or event of default could also preclude us from borrowing funds under our revolving credit facilities. Our ability to comply with the provisions of the indentures, credit facilities and other agreements governing our outstanding debt and indebtedness we may incur in the future can be affected by events beyond our control, and a default under any debt instrument, if not cured or waived, could have a material adverse effect on us.
Our substantial indebtedness could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and prevent us from fulfilling our obligations.
We have a substantial amount of debt, and the terms of the agreements governing our indebtedness allow us and our subsidiaries to incur more debt, subject to certain limitations. As of September 30, 2024, our total debt balance was $1,101.6 million, of which $207.6 million was classified as a current liability and $581.1 million was collateralized indebtedness at our subsidiaries. We may consider investments in joint ventures, increased capital expenditures, refinancings or acquisitions which may increase our indebtedness. If new debt is added to our consolidated debt level, the related risks that we face could increase.
Our substantial indebtedness could:
•make it more difficult for us to satisfy our obligations with respect to our indebtedness, including our obligations under our indentures to purchase notes tendered as a result of a change in control of Amkor;
•increase our vulnerability to general adverse economic and industry conditions;
•limit our ability to fund future working capital, capital expenditures, research and development and other business opportunities, including joint ventures and acquisitions;
•require us to dedicate a substantial portion of our cash flow from operations to service payments of interest and principal on our debt, thereby reducing the availability of our cash flow to fund future working capital, capital expenditures, research and development expenditures and other general corporate requirements;
•increase the volatility of the price of our common stock;
•limit our flexibility to react to changes in our business and the industry in which we operate;
•place us at a competitive disadvantage to any of our competitors that have less debt;
•limit, along with the financial and other covenants in our indebtedness, our ability to borrow additional funds;
•limit our ability to refinance our existing indebtedness, particularly during periods of adverse credit market conditions when refinancing indebtedness may not be available under interest rates and other terms acceptable to us or at all; and
•increase our cost of borrowing.
We are exposed to fluctuations in interest rates and changes in credit risk, which could have a material adverse impact on our earnings as it relates to the market value of our investment portfolio.
We maintain an investment portfolio of various holdings, types and maturities. Our portfolio includes available-for-sale debt investments, the values of which are subject to market price volatility resulting from interest rate movements, changes in credit risk and financial market conditions. If such investments suffer market price declines, we may recognize in earnings the decline in the fair value of our investments below their cost basis when the decline is judged to be an impairment, including an allowance for credit loss.
Risks Related to Our Common Stock
James J. Kim and members of his family can effectively determine or substantially influence the outcome of all matters requiring stockholder approval.
As of September 30, 2024, James J. Kim, the Executive Chairman of our Board of Directors, Susan Y. Kim, the Executive Vice Chairman of our Board of Directors, and members of the Kim family and affiliates owned approximately 132.1 million shares, or approximately 54%, of our outstanding common stock. The Kim family also has options to acquire approximately 0.6 million shares. If the options are exercised, the Kim family’s total ownership would be an aggregate of approximately 132.7 million shares, or approximately 54% of our outstanding common stock.
In June 2013, the Kim family exchanged convertible notes issued by Amkor in 2009 for approximately 49.6 million shares of common stock (the “Convert Shares”). As of September 30, 2024, the Kim family owns 39.6 million Convert Shares. The Convert Shares owned by the Kim family are subject to a voting agreement. The voting agreement requires the Kim family to vote these shares in a “neutral manner” on all matters submitted to our stockholders for a vote, so that such Convert Shares are voted in the same proportion as all of the other outstanding securities (excluding the other shares
owned by the Kim family) that are actually voted on a proposal submitted to Amkor’s stockholders for approval. The Kim family is not required to vote in a “neutral manner” any Convert Shares that, when aggregated with all other voting shares held by the Kim family, represent 41.6% or less of the total then-outstanding voting shares of our common stock. The voting agreement for the Convert Shares terminates upon the earliest of (i) such time as the Kim family no longer beneficially owns any of the Convert Shares, (ii) consummation of a change of control (as defined in the voting agreement) or (iii) the mutual agreement of the Kim family and Amkor.
Mr. Kim and his family and affiliates, acting together, have the ability to effectively determine or substantially influence matters submitted for approval by our stockholders including the election of our Board of Directors, by voting their shares or otherwise acting by written consent. There is also the potential, through the election of members of our Board of Directors, that the Kim family could substantially influence matters decided upon by our Board of Directors. This concentration of ownership may also have the effect of impeding a merger, consolidation, takeover or other business consolidation involving us, or discouraging a potential acquirer from making a tender offer for our shares, and could also negatively affect our stock’s market price or decrease any premium over market price that an acquirer might otherwise pay. Concentration of ownership also reduces the public float of our common stock. There may be less liquidity and higher price volatility for the stock of companies with a smaller public float compared to companies with broader public ownership. Also, the sale or the prospect of the sale of a substantial portion of the Kim family shares may cause the market price of our stock to decline significantly.
We may decrease or suspend our quarterly dividend, and any decrease in or suspension of the dividend could cause our stock price to decline.
Since October 2020, we have declared a regular quarterly cash dividend on our outstanding common stock. However, the payment, amount and timing of future cash dividends are subject to the final determination each quarter by our Board of Directors or a committee thereof that there are sufficient funds available to lawfully pay a dividend, that the dividend is compliant with the applicable restrictions in our debt agreements and that the payment of the dividend remains in our and our stockholders’ best interests. The determination will be based on our results of operations, financial condition, cash requirements, debt restrictions and other factors. Given these considerations, we may increase or decrease the amount of the dividend at any time and may also decide to vary the timing of or suspend the payment of dividends in the future. Any decrease or suspension of dividend payments could cause our stock price to decline.
Risks Related to Human Capital and Management
We face risks trying to attract, retain or replace qualified employees to support our operations.
Our success depends to a significant extent upon the continued service of our key senior management, sales and technical personnel, any of whom may be difficult to replace. Competition for qualified employees is intensifying, accelerated by increasing competition in the semiconductor industry for talent to meet strong demand, and our business could be materially and adversely affected by the loss of the services of any of our existing key personnel, including senior management and technical talent, as a result of competition or for any other reason. Labor shortages could also result in higher wages that would increase our labor costs, which could reduce our profits. Although we have entered into agreements with our Chief Executive Officer and certain other executives that would prevent them from working for, or impose financial penalties for doing business with, our competitors in the event that those executives cease working for us, we cannot assure you that we will be successful in our efforts to retain or replace key employees or in hiring and properly training sufficient numbers of qualified personnel and in effectively managing our growth. Our inability to attract, retain, motivate and train qualified new personnel could have a material adverse effect on our business.
Risks Related to Regulatory, Legal and Tax Challenges
We may face warranty claims, product return and liability risks, economic damage claims and negative publicity if our packages fail.
Our packages are incorporated into a number of end products. If our packages fail, our business may be exposed to warranty claims, product return and liability risks, economic damage claims and negative publicity.
We receive warranty claims from our customers from time to time in the ordinary course of our business. If we were to experience an unusually high incidence of warranty claims, we could incur significant costs and our business could be materially and adversely affected. In addition, we are exposed to the product and economic liability risks and the risk of
negative publicity affecting our customers. Our sales may decline if any of our customers are sued on a product liability claim. We also may suffer a decline in sales from the negative publicity associated with such a lawsuit or with adverse public perceptions in general regarding our customers’ products. Further, if our packages are delivered with defects, we could incur additional development, repair or replacement costs or suffer other economic losses, and our credibility and the market’s acceptance of our packages could be harmed.
If we fail to maintain an effective system of internal controls, we may not be able to accurately report financial results or prevent fraud.
Our internal controls over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements because of their inherent limitations, including the possibility of human error, the circumvention or overriding of controls, and fraud or corruption. Therefore, even effective internal controls can provide only reasonable assurance with respect to the preparation and fair presentation of financial statements. In addition, projections concerning the effectiveness of internal controls in future periods are subject to the risk that our internal controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with our policies or procedures may deteriorate.
We assess our internal controls and systems on an ongoing basis, and from time-to-time, we update and make modifications to our global enterprise resource planning system. We have implemented several significant enterprise resource planning and shop floor management systems and expect to implement additional similar systems in the future. There is a risk that deficiencies may occur that could constitute significant deficiencies or, in the aggregate, a material weakness.
If we fail to remedy any deficiencies or maintain the adequacy of our internal controls, we could be subject to regulatory scrutiny, civil or criminal penalties or shareholder litigation. In addition, failure to maintain adequate internal controls could result in financial statements that do not accurately reflect our operating results or financial condition.
We could suffer adverse tax and other financial consequences if there are changes in tax laws or taxing authorities do not agree with our interpretation of applicable tax laws, including whether we continue to qualify for conditional reduced tax rates, or if we are required to establish or adjust valuation allowances on deferred tax assets.
We earn a substantial portion of our income in foreign countries, and our operations are subject to tax in multiple jurisdictions with complicated and varied tax regimes. Tax laws and income tax rates in these jurisdictions are subject to change due to economic and political conditions. Changes in the tax laws of foreign jurisdictions could arise as a result of the base erosion and profit shifting project that was undertaken by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (“OECD”). The OECD, which represents a coalition of member countries, recommended changes to long-standing tax principles related to transfer pricing and has developed model rules including establishing a global minimum corporate income tax tested on a jurisdictional basis (the “Pillar Two Model Rules”). Some countries we operate in have already started to implement laws based on the Pillar Two Model Rules to be effective in 2024. We do not believe the Pillar Two Model Rules have any material impact to our 2024 results. However, there can be no assurance that our effective tax rate, tax payments or conditional reduced tax rates will not be adversely affected as countries independently amend their tax laws to adopt Pillar Two Model Rules. Changes in U.S. or foreign tax laws, including new or modified guidance with respect to existing tax laws, could have a material adverse impact on our liquidity, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.
Our tax liabilities are based, in part, on our corporate structure, interpretations of various U.S. and foreign tax laws, including withholding tax, compliance with conditional reduced tax rate requirements, application of changes in tax law to our operations and other relevant laws of applicable taxing jurisdictions. From time to time, taxing authorities may conduct examinations of our income tax returns and other regulatory filings. We cannot assure you that the taxing authorities will agree with our interpretations, including whether we continue to qualify for conditional reduced tax rates. If they do not agree, we may seek to enter into settlements with the taxing authorities. We may also appeal a taxing authority’s determination to the appropriate governmental authorities, but we cannot be sure we will prevail. If we do not prevail or if we enter into settlements with taxing authorities, we may have to make significant payments or otherwise record charges (or reduce tax assets) that materially and adversely affect our results of operations, financial condition and cash flows. Additionally, certain of our subsidiaries operate under conditional reduced tax rates, which will expire in whole or in part at various dates in the future. As those conditional reduced tax rates expire, we expect that our tax expense will increase as income from those jurisdictions becomes subject to higher statutory income tax rates, thereby reducing our liquidity and cash flow.
We monitor on an ongoing basis our ability to utilize our deferred tax assets and whether there is a need for a related valuation allowance. In evaluating our ability to recover our deferred tax assets in the jurisdiction from which they arise, we consider all available positive and negative evidence, including scheduled reversals of deferred tax liabilities, projected future taxable income, tax-planning strategies and recent results of operations. In the event taxable income falls short of current expectations, we may need to establish a valuation allowance against such deferred tax assets that, if required, could materially and adversely affect our results of operations.
Environmental, health and safety liabilities and expenditures could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operation and financial condition.
Environmental, health and safety laws and regulations in places we do business impose various controls on the use, storage, handling, discharge and disposal of chemicals used or generated in, or emitted by, our production processes, on the factories we occupy and on the materials contained in semiconductor products. For example, at our foreign facilities we produce liquid waste when semiconductor wafers are diced into chips with the aid of diamond saws, then cooled with running water. In addition, semiconductor packages have historically utilized metallic alloys containing lead within the interconnect terminals typically referred to as leads, pins or balls. The European Union’s Restriction of Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment directive and similar laws in other jurisdictions, including China, impose strict restrictions on the placement into the market of electrical and electronic equipment containing lead and certain other hazardous substances. We may become liable under these and other environmental, health and safety laws and regulations, including for the cost of compliance and cleanup of any disposal or release of hazardous materials arising out of our former or current operations, or otherwise as a result of the emission of greenhouse gases (“GHGs”) or other chemicals, the existence of hazardous materials on our properties or the existence of hazardous substances in the products for which we perform our services. We could also be held liable for damages, including fines, penalties and the cost of investigations and remedial actions, and we could be subject to revocation of permits, which may materially and adversely affect our ability to maintain or expand our operations. Additionally, if Amkor is unable to align its environmental, health and safety practices with shifting customer preferences, we could suffer reputational harm, which could have a material and adverse effect on our business, results of operations, liquidity and cash flows.
There has also been an increase in regulatory and public attention and industry and customer focus on the materials contained in semiconductor products, the environmental impact of semiconductor operations and the risk of chemical releases from such operations, climate change, sustainability and related environmental concerns. Increased regulation of and restriction on the use of hazardous substances may impact our supply chain due to decreased availability, necessitate changes in our packaging processes, require us to seek substitutes that may not be readily available in the marketplace or eliminate the use of such hazardous substances although there may not be a technically feasible alternative. This increased focus on sustainability and the environmental impact of semiconductor operations and products has caused industry groups and customers to impose additional requirements on us and our suppliers, sometimes exceeding regulatory standards. These industry and customer requirements include increased tracking and reporting of GHG emissions, reductions in waste and wastewater from operations, additional reporting on the materials and components used in the products for which we perform our services, and the use of renewable energy sources in our factory operations. In addition, recent and ongoing changes to climate change regulation could increase our compliance costs, including as a result of carbon pricing impacts on electrical utilities as well as increased indirect costs resulting from our customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders incurring additional compliance costs that are passed on to us. We have started to incur compliance costs within our existing manufacturing infrastructure, and such costs may increase as we expand our manufacturing capacity. To comply with these additional requirements, we may need to procure additional, or increase the use of, renewable energy, procure additional equipment or make factory or process changes, which could result in increased operating costs.
The incentives from the proposed agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce (“Commerce”) pursuant to the U.S. CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 (“CHIPS Act”) might not materialize due to the non-binding nature of the agreement, are conditional upon achieving or maintaining certain outcomes and compliance with other obligations, are subject to reduction, termination, or clawback and would impose certain restrictions on our business.
On July 26, 2024, we announced that we had signed a non-binding preliminary memorandum of terms with Commerce to receive proposed funding pursuant to the CHIPS Act. Following the execution of a definitive agreement with Commerce, we expect to receive benefits and incentives designed to encourage us to establish, maintain, and increase investment, workforce, and production in the United States. These incentives may take various forms, including grants,
subsidies, loans, and tax arrangements, and will require us to achieve or maintain certain levels of investment, capital spending, employment, technology deployment, and construction and production milestones to qualify for such incentives and would restrict us from undertaking certain activities. There is no guarantee that we will execute a definitive agreement with Commerce, and if we do not execute a definitive agreement with Commerce, we will not receive the proposed incentives from Commerce. We cannot guarantee that we will successfully achieve and maintain outcomes or be able to comply with other obligations required to qualify for these incentives or that Commerce will provide or continue to provide such funding. These incentive arrangements typically provide Commerce with rights to audit our compliance with their terms and obligations, and such audits could result in modifications to, or termination of, the incentives. To a lesser extent, if we receive federal funding pursuant to the CHIPS Act, we also expect incentives from state and local governments, which may have similar terms and conditions. Any incentives we receive could be subject to reduction, termination, or clawback, and any decrease, termination, or clawback of such government incentives could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, or financial condition.
General Risk Factors
The Covid-19 pandemic impacted, and may impact in the future, the supply chain and consumer demand for our customers’ products and services, and such impact on the supply chain and consumer demand may ultimately have a material and adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
The impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic varied by location, by industry and by end market. We, our suppliers and our customers were disrupted by worker illness and absenteeism, quarantines and restrictions on employees’ ability to work, office and factory closures, disruptions to ports and other shipping infrastructure and border closures or other travel or health-related restrictions. Restrictions on our workforce or access to our manufacturing facilities, or similar limitations for our suppliers, or restrictions or disruptions of transportation in order to contain the spread of Covid-19 caused disruptions to our supply chain in connection with the sourcing of equipment, supplies and other materials, and similar restrictions in the future could limit our capacity to meet customer demand and have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. Restrictions may be implemented in response to the emergence of new variants or re-emergence of Covid-19, and such restrictions may materially and adversely impact our operations and the operations of our customers and suppliers.
Our business and financial condition has been adversely affected, and could be adversely affected in the future, by natural disasters and other calamities, health conditions or pandemics, political instability, hostilities or other disruptions.
We have significant packaging and test services and other operations in China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Portugal, Singapore, Taiwan and the Vietnam Facility. Such operations are or could be subject to: natural disasters, such as earthquakes, tsunamis, typhoons, floods, droughts, volcanoes and other severe weather and geological events, and other calamities, such as fire; the outbreak of infectious diseases (such as Covid-19 and other coronaviruses, Ebola or flu); industrial strikes; government-imposed travel restrictions or quarantines; breakdowns of equipment; difficulties or delays in obtaining materials, equipment, utilities and services; political events or instability; acts of war or armed conflict (such as ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Israel); terrorist incidents and other hostilities in regions where we have facilities; and industrial accidents and other events, that could disrupt or even shut down our operations. While our global manufacturing footprint allows us to shift production to other factories without substantial cost or production delays, certain of our services are currently performed using equipment located in one or only a subset of our factories. A major disruption or shutdown of any such factory could completely impair our ability to perform those services or require us to shift them to another location. As a result, our ability to fulfill customer orders may be impaired or delayed, and we could incur significant losses.
For example, in April 2016, our Kumamoto factory was damaged by earthquakes in Japan. As a result of these earthquakes, our sales were reduced due to the temporary disruption in operations, and we incurred earthquake-related costs for damaged inventory, buildings and equipment. Our suppliers and customers also have significant operations in such locations, and this could compound the effect of any such disruption. In the event of such a disruption or shutdown, we may be unable to reallocate production to other facilities in a timely or cost-effective manner (if at all), and we may not have sufficient capacity, or customer approval, to service customer demands in our other facilities. A natural disaster or other calamity, political instability, the occurrence of hostilities or other event that results in a prolonged disruption to
our operations, or the operations of our customers or suppliers, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
In addition, some of the processes that we utilize in our operations place us at risk of fire and other damage. For example, highly flammable gases are used in the preparation of wafers holding semiconductor devices for flip chip packaging.
We maintain insurance policies for various types of property, casualty and other risks, but we do not carry insurance for all the above referred risks. With regard to the insurance we do maintain, we cannot assure you that it would be sufficient to cover all of our potential losses. As a result, our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows could be materially and adversely affected by natural disasters and other calamities.
Item 2. Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds
Issuer Repurchase of Equity Securities
The following table provides information regarding repurchases of our common stock during the three months ended September 30, 2024.
Period
Total Number of Shares Purchased (a)
Average Price Paid Per Share ($)
Total Number of Shares Purchased as Part of Publicly Announced Plans or Programs (b)
Approximate Dollar Value of Shares that May Yet Be Purchased Under the Plans or Programs ($) (b)
July 1 - July 31
6
$
39.77
—
$
—
August 1 - August 31
22,526
32.17
—
—
September 1 - September 30
—
—
—
—
Total
22,532
$
32.18
—
(a)Represents shares of common stock surrendered to us to satisfy tax withholding obligations associated with the shares issued to employees in connection with share-based compensation.
Item 3. Defaults Upon Senior Securities
None.
Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures
Not applicable.
Item 5. Other Information
During the three months ended September 30, 2024, no director or officer of the Company adopted or terminated a “Rule 10b5-1 trading arrangement” or “non-Rule 10b5-1 trading arrangement,” as such terms are defined in paragraphs (a) and (c), respectively, of Item 408 of Regulation S-K promulgated under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.
Inline XBRL Instance Document - the instance document does not appear in the Interactive Data File because its XBRL tags are embedded within the Inline XBRL document
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.
AMKOR TECHNOLOGY, INC.
By:
/s/ Megan Faust
Megan Faust
Executive Vice President,
Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer
(Principal Financial Officer and Principal Accounting Officer)