Super Micro Computer, Inc. 10-Q

Item 1A. Risk Factors Our operations and financial results are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including the factors discussed in Part I, Item 1A “Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2025, which are incorporated herein by reference, and which could adversely affect our business, financial conditions, and future results. There have been no material changes from the risk factors discussed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2025, except as set forth below. If negative publicity arises with respect to us, our employees, our third-party service providers or our partners, our business and operating results could be adversely affected, regardless of whether the negative publicity is true. Negative publicity about us or our products, even if inaccurate or untrue, could adversely affect our reputation and confidence in our products, which could harm our business and operating results. For example, on August 27, 2024, a news article was published by a short seller alleging evidence of accounting manipulation, sibling self-dealing and sanctions evasion (the “Report”). We indicated that such Report contained false or inaccurate statements about us, including misleading presentations of information we previously shared publicly and announced the results of the related Special Committee investigation. SMCI | Q3 2026 Form 10-Q | 56 Table of Contents On March 19, 2026, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York unsealed an indictment of three individuals either employed or associated with the Company at the time in connection with an alleged conspiracy to commit export control violations (the “Indictment”). Although the Company is not named as a defendant in the Indictment and has been cooperating with the government’s investigation, and although the three individuals are no longer employed or associated with the Company, the Indictment, as well as the prior publication of the Report and our previous Delinquent Reports have all contributed to significant volatility in, and declines of, the trading price of our common stock, as well as harm to our reputation, and could continue to do so in the future. Harm to our reputation has in the past, and may in the future, arise from many other sources, including employee misconduct, such as in connection with the alleged conduct described in the Indictment involving individuals associated with the Company at the time, and misconduct by our partners, consultants and outsourced service providers. Additionally, negative publicity with respect to our partners or service providers could also affect our business and operating results to the extent that we rely on these partners or if our customers or prospective customers associate us with these partners. Our operations are impacted by complex laws, rules and regulations related to import and export controls to which our business is subject, and rapid changes in such laws, rules, and regulations as well as political and other actions related thereto may adversely impact our business. We are subject to U.S. and other applicable trade control regulations that restrict with whom we may transact business, including economic sanctions administered and enforced by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control and the import and export controls enforced by the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security, among other U.S. government agencies. If we fail to comply with applicable sanctions, export control or import laws and regulations, we may be subject to civil or criminal penalties. Any future violations could have an adverse impact on our ability to sell our products to United States federal, state and local government and related entities. We have business relationships with companies in China, in Eastern Europe, and elsewhere who have been, or may in the future be, added to a restricted party list. We take steps to minimize business disruption when these situations arise; however, we may be required to terminate or modify such relationships if our activities are prohibited by U.S. or other applicable laws. Further, our association with these parties could subject us to greater scrutiny or reputational harm among current or prospective customers, partners, suppliers, investors, other parties doing business with us or using our products, government enforcement agencies, or the general public. The United States and other countries continually update their lists of import and export-controlled items and technologies, and may impose new or more-restrictive import, export, or sanctions requirements on our products in the future. As a result of regulatory changes, we may be required to obtain licenses or other authorizations to continue supporting existing customers or to supply existing products to new customers in China, Eastern Europe and elsewhere. Further escalations in trade restrictions or hostilities, particularly between the United States and China, could impede our ability to sell or support our products. Although we historically sold products into Russia before broad sanctions were imposed, we no longer sell products or provide services to Russia. We had last recorded revenue from customers based in Russia in February 2022. Moreover, the increasing focus on the risks and strategic importance of AI technologies has resulted in regulatory restrictions that target products and services capable of enabling or facilitating AI and may in the future result in additional restrictions impacting some or all of our product and service offerings. Concerns regarding third-party use of AI for purposes contrary to governmental interests, including concerns relating to the misuse of AI applications, models, and solutions, has resulted in and could in the future result in unilateral or multilateral restrictions on products that can be used for training, modifying, tuning, and deploying large language models (“LLMs”). Such restrictions have limited and could in the future limit the ability of downstream customers and users worldwide to acquire, deploy and use systems that include our products, software, and services, and negatively impact our business and financial results. SMCI | Q3 2026 Form 10-Q | 57 Table of Contents Such restrictions could include additional unilateral or multilateral import and export controls on certain products or technology, including but not limited to AI technologies and high-performance computing. As geopolitical tensions have increased, products containing semiconductors associated with AI, including GPUs and associated products, are increasingly the focus of export control restrictions proposed by stakeholders in the U.S. and its allies. The United States has imposed unilateral controls restricting GPUs and associated products, and it is likely that additional unilateral or multilateral controls will be adopted. Such controls have been and may again be very broad in scope and application, prohibit us from exporting our products to any or all customers in one or more markets, including but not limited to China, and could tangentially negatively impact our warehousing locations and options, or could impose other conditions that limit our ability to serve demand abroad and could negatively and materially impact our business, revenue and financial results. Violations or alleged violations of such unilateral controls restricting GPUs and associated products, such as in connection with the alleged conduct described in the Indictment involving individuals associated with the Company at the time, have contributed to significant volatility in, and declines of, the trading price of our common stock, as well as harm to our reputation. Import and export controls targeting products containing GPUs and semiconductors associated with AI, which have been imposed and are increasingly likely to be further tightened, would further restrict our ability to export our technology, products, or services given that competitors may not be subject to similar restrictions, creating a competitive disadvantage for us and negatively impacting our business and financial results. In addition, such controls may subject downstream users to additional restrictions on the use, resale, repair, or transfer of our products, negatively impacting our business and financial results. Controls could negatively impact our cost and/or ability to provide services. Import and export controls could disrupt our supply chain and distribution channels, negatively impacting our ability to serve demand, including in markets outside China. Repeated changes in the export control rules are likely to impose compliance burdens on our business and our customers, negatively and materially impacting our business. Increasing use of economic sanctions and import and export controls has impacted and may in the future impact demand for our products or services, negatively impacting our business and financial results. Reduced demand due to import and export controls could also lead to excess inventory or cause us to incur related supply charges. Additional unilateral or multilateral controls are also likely to include deemed export control limitations that may also have negative impacts. Additional export restrictions may not only impact our ability to serve overseas markets, but also provoke responses from foreign governments, including China, that negatively impact our supply chain or our ability to provide our products and services to customers in all markets worldwide, which could also substantially reduce our revenue. In October 2022, U.S. export restrictions and export licensing requirements were imposed targeting China’s semiconductor and supercomputing industries. These restrictions impact exports of software, hardware, equipment and technology used to develop, produce or manufacture certain chips in China (including Hong Kong). At the same time, export restrictions and export license requirements were also imposed on certain GPUs and advanced integrated circuits, as well as computing equipment containing such components, with a focus on China (including Hong Kong). These restrictions impacted certain of our products, including products that contain the NVIDIA A100 and H100 integrated circuits, among others. In November 2023, the export control restrictions on advanced integrated circuits, supercomputing and other end uses were revised and further expanded to cover additional countries where we sell our products, including in the Middle East, and additional parties based on the location of their headquarters, or the headquarters of their ultimate parent. Compliance with ever-changing regulations is complex and time consuming. We may experience delays in implementing procedures to address the changing regulatory requirements. SMCI | Q3 2026 Form 10-Q | 58 Table of Contents In January 2025, the U.S. export control regulations targeting advanced integrated circuits and computing were further revised to include a worldwide authorization requirement for certain of our advanced computing products. New license exceptions were added to the regulations and allow us to export in some cases without the need for an export license, thus expanding upon previous authorizations. However, these new regulations will, depending on the country and ultimate consignee, also place new limits on the number of advanced computing products that we can export to each ultimate consignee per calendar year, and the number of advanced computing products that the Commerce Department will license per-country over a given period to all exporters in the aggregate. These new limitations create a competitive process for obtaining the product allocation associated with these new government authorizations and therefore could disadvantage us against certain of our competitors. The limitations could also prevent us from selling our advanced computing products to the full extent of customer demand in certain countries that have not historically been subject to these limitations. In some cases, we rely on channel partners and third parties to distribute and resell our products globally. If channel partners, or their customers, do not adhere to the applicable trade compliance requirements, this can subject us to greater scrutiny or reputational harm among current or prospective customers, partners, suppliers, investors, other parties doing business with us or using our products, government enforcement agencies, or the general public. In the event import and export controls require us to transition some operations out of certain geographies, such transitions could be costly and time consuming, and adversely affect our operations during any such transition period. To the extent that customer requires products covered by the licensing requirements, we may seek a license for the customer. However, the licensing process is time-consuming. We have no assurance that any such license will be granted or that the license application will be acted upon in a timely manner or at all. Even if a license is offered, it may impose burdensome conditions that we or our customer or end users cannot or decide not to accept. The process to obtain licenses required under recently adopted export control regulations is complicated and time consuming in the event we determine to pursue them, and there are no assurances they may be granted at all. Our competitive position and future results may be harmed, over the long-term, if there are further changes in import and export controls, including further expansion of the geographic, customer, end use, deemed export, or product scope of the controls, if customers purchase product from competitors, if customers develop their own internal solution, if we are unable to provide contractual warranty or other extended service obligations, if licenses are not granted in a timely manner or denied to significant customers or if we incur significant transition costs. Even if requested licenses are granted, the licenses may be temporary or impose burdensome conditions that we or our customers or end users cannot or choose not to fulfill. The licensing requirements may benefit certain of our competitors, as the licensing process will make our technical support efforts more cumbersome and less certain and encourage customers to pursue alternatives to our products. Given the increasing strategic importance of AI and rising geopolitical tensions, the export control rules may change again at any time and further subject a wider range of our products to export restrictions and licensing requirements, negatively impacting our business and financial results. In the event of such change, we may be unable to sell our inventory of such products and may be unable to develop replacement products not subject to the licensing requirements, effectively excluding us from markets subject to such restrictions, as well as other impacted markets. Any new control that impacts a wider range of our products would likely have a disproportionate impact on us and may disadvantage us against certain of our competitors that sell products that are outside the scope of such control. Finally, our business depends on our ability to receive consistent and reliable supplies from our overseas partners, especially in Taiwan. Any new restrictions that negatively impact our ability to receive supply of components, parts, or services from Taiwan, would negatively impact our business and financial results. SMCI | Q3 2026 Form 10-Q | 59 Table of Contents Although we attempt to ensure that we, our customers, suppliers, resellers, and partners comply with the applicable import, export, and sanctions laws, we cannot guarantee full compliance by all. Actions of our customers, suppliers, resellers and partners are not within our complete control, and our products could be re-exported to sanctioned persons or countries or provided by our retailers to third persons in contravention of our requirements or instructions or the laws. In addition, there are inherent limitations to the effectiveness of any policies, procedures, and internal controls relating to such compliance, and there can be no assurance that such procedures or internal controls will work effectively at all times or protect us against liability under anti-corruption, sanctions or other laws for actions taken by us, our resellers or partners. For example, the Indictment alleged that the three individuals employed or associated with the Company at the time worked closely with third-party brokers with customers based in China to commit export-control violations. Any such potential violation by us, our customers, suppliers, resellers, or our partners could have negative consequences, including government inquiries, investigations, enforcement actions, monetary fines, or civil and/or criminal penalties, and our reputation, brand, and revenue may be harmed.