Seagate Technology Holdings plc

Previous wording

The cost, quality and availability of components, subassemblies, certain equipment and raw materials used to manufacture our products are critical to our success. Particularly important for our products are components such as read/write heads, substrates for recording media, ASICs, spindle motors, printed circuit boards, suspension assemblies and NAND flash memory. Certain rare earth elements are also critical in the manufacture of our products. Many of these rare earth elements are sourced from China, which accounts for a majority of the global supply and processing capacity for these materials. As a result, recent or potential future export restrictions or bans by the Chinese government, as well as any import restrictions or bans by the U.S. government, on rare earth minerals could materially and adversely impact our supply chain continuity and operating results. In addition, the equipment we use to manufacture our products and components is frequently custom made and comes from a few suppliers and the lead times required to obtain manufacturing equipment can be significant. Our efforts to control our costs, including capital expenditures, may also affect our ability to obtain or maintain such inputs and equipment, which could affect our ability to meet future demand for our products.

Current wording

The cost, quality and availability of components, subassemblies, certain equipment and raw materials used to manufacture our products are critical to our success. Particularly important for our products are components such as read/write heads, substrates for recording media, ASICs, spindle motors, printed circuit boards, suspension assemblies, DRAM and NAND flash memory. Certain rare earth elements are also critical in the manufacture of our products. Many of these rare earth elements are sourced from China, which accounts for a majority of the global supply and processing capacity for these materials. As a result, recent or potential future export restrictions or bans by the Chinese government, as well as any import restrictions or bans by the U.S. government, on rare earth minerals could materially and adversely impact our supply chain continuity and operating results. In addition, the equipment we use to manufacture our products and components is frequently custom made and comes from a few suppliers and the lead times required to obtain manufacturing equipment can be significant. Our efforts to control our costs, including capital expenditures, may also affect our ability to obtain or maintain such inputs and equipment, which could affect our ability to meet future demand for our products.

Previous wording

We rely on sole or a limited number of direct and indirect suppliers for some or all of these components and rare earth elements that we do not manufacture, including substrates for recording media, read/write heads, ASICs, preamplifiers, spindle motors, printed circuit boards, suspension assemblies, DRAM and NAND flash memory. Our options in supplier selection in these cases are limited and the supplier-based technology has been and may continue to be single-sourced until wider adoption of the technology occurs and any necessary licenses become available. In light of this small, consolidated supplier base, if our suppliers increased their prices as a result of inflationary pressures, evolving trade policies, including the imposition of tariffs or other trade restrictions, supply constraints or other macroeconomic conditions or changes to such conditions, and we could not pass these price increases to our customers, our operating margin would decline. Also, many of these direct and indirect component suppliers are geographically concentrated, making our supply chain more vulnerable to regional disruptions such as severe weather, local or global health issues or pandemics, acts of terrorism, war and an unpredictable geopolitical climate. Trade policy developments, including retaliatory measures by other countries, could exacerbate these risks by further restricting the availability and/or increasing the cost of critical components, delaying shipments, resulting in the relocation of certain manufacturing processes or otherwise disrupting our global supply chain. These factors have materially impacted, and may in the future impact the production, availability and transportation of many components. We also often aim to lead the market in new technology deployments and leverage unique and customized technology from single source suppliers who are early adopters in the emerging market. If there are any technical issues in the supplier’s technology, it may also cause us to delay shipments of our new technology deployments, incur scrap, rework or warranty charges and harm our financial position. Further, if a sole source or limited source supplier decides not to do business with us for any reason, we may be unable to develop, manufacture and commercialize certain of our products, which would adversely affect our business and financial position.

Current wording

We rely on sole or a limited number of direct and indirect suppliers for some or all of these components and rare earth elements that we do not manufacture, including substrates for recording media, read/write heads, ASICs, preamplifiers, spindle motors, printed circuit boards, suspension assemblies, DRAM and NAND flash memory. Our options in supplier selection in these cases are limited and the supplier-based technology has been and may continue to be single-sourced until wider adoption of the technology occurs and any necessary licenses become available. In light of this small, consolidated supplier base, if our suppliers increased their prices as a result of inflationary pressures, evolving trade policies, including the imposition of tariffs or other trade restrictions, supply constraints or other macroeconomic conditions, including international conflicts, or changes to such conditions, and we could not pass these price increases to our customers, our operating margin would decline. Also, many of these direct and indirect component suppliers are geographically concentrated, making our supply chain more vulnerable to regional disruptions such as severe weather, local or global health issues or pandemics, acts of terrorism, war and an unpredictable geopolitical climate. Trade policy developments, including retaliatory measures by other countries, could exacerbate these risks by further restricting the availability and/or increasing the cost of critical components, delaying shipments, resulting in the relocation of certain manufacturing processes or otherwise disrupting our global supply chain. These factors have materially impacted, and may in the future impact the production, availability and transportation of many components. We also often aim to lead the market in new technology deployments and leverage unique and customized technology from single source suppliers who are early adopters in the emerging market. If there are any technical issues in the supplier’s technology, it may also cause us to delay shipments of our new technology deployments, incur scrap, rework or warranty charges and harm our financial position. Further, if a sole source or limited source supplier decides not to do business with us for any reason, we may be unable to develop, manufacture and commercialize certain of our products, which would adversely affect our business and financial position.

Previous wording

Macroeconomic developments including new and increased tariffs, trade disputes, sanctions, adverse economic conditions worldwide, government efforts to stimulate or stabilize economies, and international conflicts have and may continue to adversely impact our business. Significant inflation and elevated interest rates have negatively affected our business in recent quarters and could continue to negatively affect our business, operating results or financial condition or the markets in which we operate, which, in turn, could adversely affect the price of our ordinary shares. A general weakening of, and related declining corporate confidence in, the global economy or the curtailment in government or corporate spending could cause current or potential customers to reduce their IT budgets or be unable to fund data storage products, which could cause customers to delay, decrease or cancel purchases of our products or cause customers to not pay us or to delay paying us for previously purchased products and services.

Current wording

Macroeconomic developments including new and increased tariffs, trade disputes, sanctions, adverse economic conditions worldwide, government efforts to stimulate or stabilize economies, geopolitical instability and international conflicts have and may continue to adversely impact our business and contribute to global or regional economic slowdowns, reduced enterprise and consumer spending and increased volatility in the financial markets. Significant inflation and elevated interest rates have negatively affected our business in recent quarters and could continue to negatively affect our business, operating results or financial condition or the markets in which we operate, which, in turn, could adversely affect the price of our ordinary shares. A general weakening of, and related declining corporate confidence in, the global economy or the curtailment in government or corporate spending could cause current or potential customers to reduce their IT budgets or be unable to fund data storage products, which could cause customers to delay, decrease or cancel purchases of our products or cause customers to not pay us or to delay paying us for previously purchased products and services.

Previous wording

Geopolitical uncertainty, political unrest, terrorism, instability or war, such as the conflict between Ukraine and Russia and conflicts in the Middle East, natural disasters, public health issues and other business interruptions have caused and could cause damage or disruption to international commerce and the global economy, and thus could have a strong negative effect on our business, our direct and indirect suppliers, logistics providers, manufacturing vendors and customers. Our business operations are also subject to interruption by natural disasters such as floods and earthquakes, fires, power or water shortages, terrorist attacks, other hostile acts, labor disputes, political unrest, public health issues and related mitigation actions, and other events beyond our control. Such events may decrease demand for our products, make it difficult or impossible for us to make and deliver products to our customers or to receive components from our direct and indirect suppliers, and create delays and inefficiencies in our supply chain.

Current wording

Geopolitical uncertainty, political unrest, terrorism, instability or war, such as the conflict between Ukraine and Russia and conflicts in the Middle East, including the Iran conflict, natural disasters, public health issues and other business interruptions have caused and could cause damage or disruption to international commerce and the global economy, including by contributing to global or regional economic slowdowns, reduced enterprise and consumer spending and increased volatility in financial markets, and thus could have a strong negative effect on our business, our direct and indirect suppliers, logistics providers, manufacturing vendors and customers. Our business operations are also subject to interruption by natural disasters such as floods and earthquakes, fires, power or water shortages, terrorist attacks, other hostile acts, labor disputes, political unrest, public health issues and related mitigation actions, and other events beyond our control. Such events may decrease demand for our products, make it difficult or impossible for us to make and deliver products to our customers or to receive components from our direct and indirect suppliers, and create delays and inefficiencies in our supply chain.

Previous wording

Our business, particularly our Lyve products and related offerings, is subject to state, federal, and international laws and regulations relating to data privacy, data protection and data security, including security breach notification, data retention, transfer and localization. Laws and regulations relating to these matters evolve frequently and their scope may change through new legislation, amendments to existing legislation and changes in interpretation or enforcement and may impose conflicting and inconsistent obligations. Any such changes, and any changes to our products or services or manner in which our customers utilize them may result in new or enhanced costly compliance requirements and governmental or regulatory scrutiny, may limit our ability to operate in certain jurisdictions or to engage in certain data processing activities, and may require us to modify our practices and policies, potentially in a material manner, which we may be unable to do in a timely or commercially reasonable manner or at all.

Current wording

Our business is subject to state, federal, and international laws and regulations relating to data privacy, data protection and data security, including security breach notification, data retention, transfer and localization. Laws and regulations relating to these matters evolve frequently and their scope may change through new legislation, amendments to existing legislation and changes in interpretation or enforcement and may impose conflicting and inconsistent obligations. Any such changes, and any changes to our products or services or manner in which our customers utilize them may result in new or enhanced costly compliance requirements and governmental or regulatory scrutiny, may limit our ability to operate in certain jurisdictions or to engage in certain data processing activities, and may require us to modify our practices and policies, potentially in a material manner, which we may be unable to do in a timely or commercially reasonable manner or at all.

Previous wording

Our operations are dependent upon our ability to protect our digital infrastructure and data. We manage, store and otherwise process various proprietary information and sensitive or confidential data relating to our operations, as well as to our customers, suppliers, employees and other third parties, and we store subscribers’ data on Lyve, our edge-to-cloud mass storage platform. As our operations become more automated and increasingly interdependent and our edge-to-cloud mass storage platform service grows, our exposure to the risks posed by storage, transfer, maintenance and other processing of data, such as damage, corruption, loss, unavailability, unauthorized acquisition and other processing, and other security risks, including risks of disruptions to our platform or security breaches, widespread outages and/or other incidents impacting our digital infrastructure and data, will continue to increase.

Current wording

Our operations are dependent upon our ability to protect our digital infrastructure and data. We manage, store and otherwise process various proprietary information and sensitive or confidential data relating to our operations, as well as to our customers, suppliers, employees and other third parties, and we store certain customer data through our data storage solutions and services. As our operations become more automated and increasingly interdependent, our exposure to the risks posed by storage, transfer, maintenance and other processing of data, such as damage, corruption, loss, unavailability, unauthorized acquisition and other processing, and other security risks, including risks of disruptions to our platform or security breaches, widespread outages and/or other incidents impacting our digital infrastructure and data, will continue to increase.