What changed in this filing

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Item 1. Business

2022-02-18 compared with 2021-02-22 · 117 added, 87 removed, 141 unchanged (59% of the section changed)

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Our comprehensive collection of ion beam, laser annealing, metal organic chemical vapor deposition (“MOCVD”), advanced packaging lithography, single wafer wet processing, molecular beam epitaxy (“MBE”), and atomic layer deposition (“ALD”) technologies play an integral role in the fabrication of key devices that are enabling the 4th industrial revolution of all things connected.

Such devices include leading node application processors for mobile devices, thin film magnetic heads for hard disk drives in data storage, photonics devices for 3D sensing, advanced displays and high-speed data communications, radio frequency (“RF”) filters and power amplifiers for fifth generation (“5G”) networks and mobile electronics.

Such devices include leading advanced node application processors for mobile devices, thin film magnetic heads for hard disk drives in data storage, photonics devices for 3D sensing, advanced displays and high-speed data communications, and radio frequency (“RF”) filters and power amplifiers for fifth generation (“5G”) networks and mobile electronics.

In close partnership with our customers, we combine decades of applications and materials know-how with leading-edge systems engineering to deliver high-volume manufacturing solutions with competitive cost of ownership.

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Our 2022 priorities are:

● Maintain the resilience of our business – Veeco’s management team took decisive action in early 2020 to keep our employees safe and healthy.

We implemented innovative work-arounds, such as virtual customer demos and factory acceptances, where customers can review data and the performance of their system, in our factory, via live video.

This and other steps have helped Veeco operate safely and successfully throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in the overall resiliency of our business.

We have been able to serve our customers without pause and expect to continue to do so while executing on our strategic transformation, which includes a return to profitability and a focus on growth initiatives.

We enter 2021 on strong footing.

Operationally, we have secured a healthy backlog and scaled costs in relation to revenue in order to generate increased earnings.

From a financial perspective, we have strengthened our balance sheet and solidified our capital structure.

We believe that the proactive steps we have taken to manage the business through the pandemic have helped us maintain our financial strength and flexibility while enabling us to remain on track with our transformation;

● Focus on profitability and products – We seek to maintain the strength of our foundational businesses, including data storage, service offerings and sales to universities and research institutions to enable further investment in our growth initiatives;

we are focused on delivering strong operating results;

and in order to provide the greatest value, we continue to rationalize our product portfolio for opportunities to optimize and strengthen our competitive edge;

● Execute near-term to grow in 2021 - We are excited about our near-term growth opportunities, driven by our laser annealing, 5G RF, and data storage products.

We believe that the foundry and logic markets will remain strong, which bodes well for our laser annealing product line.

The adoption of 5G is off to a great start resulting in traction with our wet processing product line for the production of RF filters used in the most advanced smartphones.

Furthermore, we continue to see strength in demand for hard disk drive (“HDD”) magnetic head capacity in the Data Storage market giving us good visibility through 2021;

● Prepare for longer term growth in 2022 and beyond - We view the Semiconductor and Compound Semiconductor markets as long-term growth opportunities.

By selectively investing in new research and development (“R&D”) and developing additional applications for our technology, we believe that Veeco will be well positioned to capitalize on emerging global megatrends in these areas.

We’re investing now in targeted R&D, inventory for evaluation tools, and improving our service support capability for longer term growth in Semiconductor and Compound Semiconductor markets.

We have begun placing evaluation tools with customers and plan to continue with additional placements in the coming quarters in exciting applications such

as laser annealing in the memory market, laser annealing at advanced logic nodes, and early stage micro-LED.

We are also exploring the application of other core Veeco technologies in semiconductor manufacturing.

With these actions, we expect to generate growth opportunities in both the Semiconductor and Compound Semiconductor markets.

Safety is one of Veeco’s core values.

We have taken many steps to protect our employees, customers, suppliers, and stakeholders, and operate safely and successfully throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in the overall resiliency of our business.

We have been able to serve our customers without pause and expect to continue to do so while executing on our strategic growth plans.

We understand that the culture of the Company can have a direct impact on our performance.

We made significant improvements to our culture as measured by a culture survey in 2021 compared to a baseline measured in 2019, and we remain committed to working with employees to continue to strengthen our culture.

With safety top of mind and an emphasis on improving our culture, we enter 2022 with a healthy backlog and an improved balance sheet;

We believe that our success depends on our ability to successfully execute in challenging environments, recognizing that our customers have high expectations.

We are focused on the execution of multiple initiatives, including on-time deliveries, quality, and our on-going customer evaluation programs.

We achieved significant revenue growth in 2021 despite a difficult supply chain environment.

The Veeco United team worked through material shortages, lead time increases, and labor shortages in our factories as well as those of our suppliers.

We are focused on continued execution throughout our entire supply chain in order to meet customer demand.

Additionally, we continue to focus on improving the quality of our products and services, in line with our core value of our commitment to never stop improving.

Finally, throughout 2021, we increased our emphasis on placing strategic evaluation systems with customers in the semiconductor and compound semiconductor markets, consistent with our growth plans.

These systems are provided to customers after significant time spent demonstrating their capabilities in our factory, and represent one of the final stages in our customers’ selection process.

We invested in inventory, R&D, and service capability to support these evaluation systems.

We are focused on successful outcomes for these evaluations and in continuing the elevated level of evaluation system activity with existing and potential customers;

● Innovate and Invest:

We are focused on completing the transition of our San Jose operations to our newly leased facility.

This facility is designed for the manufacture of our semiconductor market products, and will double our manufacturing capacity compared to the existing facility.

We are also focused on continuing to invest in our service capabilities.

As we grow our business, and as our customers add capacity to their

manufacturing operations, additional investments in service engineers and inventory are required.

Finally, we will continue our efforts in product innovation.

We have exciting new solutions in our semiconductor and compound semiconductor product development pipeline, which we believe will solve our customers’ difficult materials challenges and enable sustainable growth in the long term;

● Growth and Profitability:

We view the semiconductor and compound semiconductor markets as significant growth opportunities in the near-term and long-term.

We expect these markets to be the primary drivers of growth in 2022, driven by strong traction in laser annealing, advanced packaging lithography, EUV mask blank and MOCVD systems.

We are focused on executing our backlog and winning additional orders to drive meaningful growth.

While we expect expenses to increase as we continue to invest for growth, we are also focused on improving profitability through responsible management of our cost structure, with an emphasis on increasing gross margins.

Our products are purchased by customers in the following four end-markets:

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and 4) Scientific & Other.

Our array of process equipment systems are used in the production of a broad range of microelectronic components, including logic, dynamic random-access memory (“DRAM”), photonics devices (including laser diodes and micro-LEDs), power electronics, RF filters and amplifiers, thin film magnetic heads, and other semiconductor devices.

Many of our systems are used to directly deposit advanced materials critical to the operation of the device and some of our systems are used in cleaning and surface preparation as well as the precise removal of critical materials.

We are also a leader in systems used in the advanced packaging process flow of microelectronic components such as flip chip, fan-out wafer level packaging (“FOWLP”), and other wafer level packaging approaches used in the modern integration of diverse semiconductor products, especially in consumer electronics.

Our array of process equipment systems are used in the production of a broad range of microelectronic components, including logic, dynamic random-access memory (“DRAM”), photonics devices (including laser diodes and micro-LEDs), power electronics, RF filters and amplifiers, magnetic heads for hard disk drives, and other semiconductor devices.

Many of our systems are used to deposit advanced materials critical to the operation of the device and some of our systems are used in cleaning and surface preparation as well as the precise removal of critical materials.

We are also a leader in systems used in the advanced packaging process flow of microelectronic components such as flip chip, fan-out wafer level packaging (“FOWLP”), and other wafer level packaging approaches, such as heterogeneous integration, used in the modern integration of diverse semiconductor products, especially in consumer electronics.

In general, our customers purchase our systems to both produce current-generation devices in volume and to develop next-generation products which deliver more efficient, cost-effective, and advanced technological solutions.

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As device architectures continue to shrink with advanced nodes, more precise process control is paramount to achieving high yields and competitive cost.

This market includes mask blank production for extreme ultraviolet (“EUV”) lithography.

This market also includes Advanced Packaging which refers to a portfolio of wafer-level assembly technologies that enable improved performance of electronic products, such as smartphones, high-end servers, and graphical processors.

Demand for higher performance, smaller form factors, and lower power consumption in applications such as artificial intelligence, mobile devices, consumer electronics, and high-performance computing is driving the adoption of advanced packaging technologies.

One such process step is called Laser Annealing, which uses a very precise method to activate dopants, reduce contact resistance and modify material grain structure.

The Veeco laser annealing technology enables our customers to have a lower thermal budget by annealing at higher temperatures over a shorter period of time.

This market also includes mask blank production for extreme ultraviolet (“EUV”) lithography with Veeco’s Ion Beam Deposition technology.

Finally, this market also includes Advanced Packaging which refers to a portfolio of wafer-level assembly technologies that enable improved performance of electronic products, such as

Laser Annealing

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Advanced Packaging Lithography

smartphones, high-end servers, and graphical processors.

Veeco serves the advanced packaging market with lithography as well as wet processing equipment.

Compound Semiconductor

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Data Storage refers to the HDD market which provides significant value for mass storage and is an important part of large capacity storage applications.

Our systems enable customers to manufacture thin film magnetic heads for hard disk drives.

Our systems enable customers to manufacture the magnetic heads for hard disk drives.

Physical Vapor Deposition

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Laser Annealing Systems

Our laser annealing systems meet the industry demand for ultra-short time-scale annealing, heating the wafer up to temperatures just below the silicon melting point over a range of timeframes (microseconds to nanoseconds), enabling thermal annealing solutions at the most advanced processing nodes.

This unique annealing technology provides the solution to the difficult challenge of fabricating ultra-shallow junctions and highly activated source/drain contacts at these advanced logic nodes.

Our laser annealing systems meet the industry demand for ultra-short time-scale annealing, heating the wafer up to temperatures just below the silicon melting point over a range of timeframes (hundreds of microseconds), enabling thermal annealing solutions at the most advanced semiconductor process nodes.

This unique annealing technology provides a solution to the difficult challenge of fabricating ultra-shallow junctions and highly activated source/drain contacts at advanced logic nodes.

In addition, our proprietary hardware design enables outstanding temperature uniformity across the wafer and die, by minimizing the pattern-density effect, thus reducing absorption variations.

We have also developed a next generation melt anneal technology targeted for memory devices and annealing advanced logic devices at advanced nodes.

We are also continuing to develop next generation melt anneal technology targeted for memory devices and annealing advanced logic devices at advanced nodes.

As devices scale, achieving performance targets has become a challenge.

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Our ion sources and grid technology are incorporated into etch systems used to pattern magnetic materials for the 300mm Semiconductor STT-MRAM market.

The IBD systems are also critical in the manufacture of thin film magnetic heads where they are used to deposit various magnetic and oxide layers and deliver best-in-class film properties.

The IBD systems are also critical in the manufacture of hard disk drive magnetic heads where they are used to deposit various magnetic and oxide layers and deliver best-in-class film properties.

Our NEXUS ® IBE systems are used to precisely etch complex features on materials which are challenging to pattern by traditional reactive ion etching techniques.

These systems are widely used in the data storage industry for patterning of magnetic and oxide materials and are essential for forming the precise shape of the thin film magnetic head.

These systems are widely used in the data storage industry for patterning of magnetic and oxide materials and are essential for forming the precise shape of the magnetic head.

The NEXUS ® systems may be included on our cluster system platform to allow either parallel or sequential deposition/etch processes.

Our Lancer IBE system is used for etching of SAW and BAW devices in the RF filter market and various waveguide patterning steps for AR/VR markets where their best-in-class film uniformity is a key advantage.

Our Lancer TM IBE system is used for etching of SAW and BAW devices in the RF filter market and various waveguide patterning steps for AR/VR markets where their best-in-class film uniformity is a key advantage.

Our SPECTOR ® Ion Beam Sputtering system was developed for high precision optical coatings and offers manufacturers state of the art optical thickness monitoring, improved productivity, and target material utilization, for cutting-edge optical interference coating applications.

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Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition Systems

MOCVD production systems are used to make GaN and As/P-based devices for applications including power electronics, RF devices, specialty LED, display, and many other applications.

MOCVD production systems are used to make GaN and As/P-based devices for applications including power electronics, RF devices, specialty LED, display, and many other photonics applications.

Our proven TurboDisc ® technology is at the heart of our MOCVD systems and is the key to enabling best-in-class deposition uniformity, yield performance and cost per wafer savings for our customers with a combined advantage of high operating uptime and low maintenance costs.

Our Lumina ® platform is used for As/P deposition, and features long campaigns and low defectivity for exceptional yield and flexibility.

Our Propel™ series (“Propel”) enables the development of highly-efficient GaN-based power electronic, RF devices and advanced GaN-on-silicon micro-LEDs.

Our Propel ® series enables the development of highly-efficient GaN-based power electronics, RF devices and advanced GaN-on-silicon micro-LEDs.

The Propel ® system offers 200mm and fully-automated 300mm technology and incorporates single-wafer reactor technology for outstanding film uniformity, yield, and device performance.

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The GENxplor ® MBE system creates high quality epitaxial layers and is ideal for cutting-edge research on a wide variety of materials including GaAs, antimonides, nitrides, and oxides on 3” diameter substrates.

Atomic Layer Deposition and Other Deposition Systems

Atomic Layer Deposition Systems

ALD is a thin-film deposition method in which a film is deposited on a substrate uniformly with precise control down to the atomic scale.

Veeco offers a full suite of ALD systems for non-semiconductor front-end production applications across a wide range of markets and applications such as energy, optical, electronics, micro-electro mechanical systems (“MEMS”), nanostructures, and biomedical.

We have recently developed a fully automated tool, Firebird™, capable of managing fragile wafers in a continuous operational sequence.

Other deposition systems include Physical Vapor Deposition, Diamond-Like Carbon Deposition, and Chemical Vapor Deposition Systems.

We have recently developed the Firebird ® ALD system, a fully automated tool capable of managing fragile wafers in a continuous operational sequence.

Other Systems

We have other deposition systems including Physical Vapor Deposition, Diamond-Like Carbon Deposition, and Chemical Vapor Deposition Systems primarily sold to the data storage market.

In addition, we have mechanical systems such as saws and lappers for the data storage industry as well as the power semiconductor market.

Finally, we have Gas-mixing systems primarily sold to the semiconductor market.

Sales and Service

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We rely on certain principal customers for a significant portion of our sales.

Sales to Seagate Technology accounted for more than 10% of our total net sales in 2020 and 2019;

and sales to Focus Lighting Tech Co.

accounted for more than 10% of our total net sales in 2018.

Sales to Western Digital and TDK Headway each separately accounted for more than 10% of our total net sales in 2021;

and sales to Seagate Technology accounted for more than 10% of our total net sales in 2020 and 2019.

If any principal customer discontinues its relationship with us or suffers economic difficulties, our business prospects, financial condition, and operating results could be materially and adversely affected.

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Refer to Item 1A, “Risk Factors,” for a description of risks associated with intellectual property.

Human Capital

Veeco’s global workforce spans 12 countries around the world.

The Veeco United Team

Veeco’s global workforce spans twelve countries around the world.

At the end of 2021, we had 1,091 employees with 240 located in the Asia-Pacific region, 40 in the EMEA region, and 811 in the United States.

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We compete for talent with other companies and organizations.

We consider our relations with our employees to be good.

We consider our relations with the Veeco United Team to be favorable.

We are subject to various federal, state, and local regulations, and regularly monitor all key employment activities, such as hiring, termination, pay and working practices to ensure compliance with such regulations.

In addition, we supplement our employee base with contractors and other temporary workers.

In addition, we supplement the Veeco United Team with contractors and other temporary workers.

Our Core Values

All Veeco employees are expected to honor our core values, which define the way we conduct our business in everyday actions and choices and form the foundation of our culture:

● We will always put our CUSTOMERS first

● We will never compromise on SAFETY

● We will always demonstrate RESPECT

● We will never stop IMPROVING

● We will always be ACCOUNTABLE

● We will never forget that DIVERSITY and INCLUSION makes us stronger

Employment, Recruitment and Development

Our recruitment programs are regionally focused, and hiring is done at a local level to ensure compliance with applicable regulations.

To ensure diversity within our workforce, we advertise job openings and source candidates broadly to attract a diverse candidate pool.

As a leader in our industry, we are able to attract a strong candidate pool and have been successful in filling vacancies.

In fiscal 2020, we hired 138 employees, 113 of whom were within the United States, 24 of whom were in the Asia-Pacific region and 1 of whom was within the EMEA region.

During fiscal 2019, we conducted a global employee survey designed to assess employee engagement, leadership, work environment and culture.

We had a response rate of 91% of our total worldwide employee base, which is one indicator of a high-level of employee engagement.

As a leader in our industry, we are able to attract a strong candidate pool and have been

successful in filling vacancies.

In fiscal 2021, we hired 223 employees, 181 of whom were within the United States, 41 of whom were in the Asia-Pacific region, and 4 of whom were in the EMEA region.

We track and report key talent metrics including workforce demographics, talent pipeline and diversity.

We invest in professional development programs to provide opportunities for individuals to advance their careers in either technical/individual contributor or leadership tracks.

Many of our training and development programs are offered on-line for the benefit of employees located around the world.

Additional focus is placed on the development of future leaders and we leverage a talent review process where high-potential and high-performing employees are assessed for future leadership roles as part of our succession management process.

Since turnover is an important indicator of employee satisfaction, we closely monitor turnover statistics.

Our 12-month rolling average for voluntary turnover at December 31, 2021 was approximately 9.2%.

Our employee average tenure is more than 8 years.

Employee Engagement

The engagement and satisfaction of the Veeco United Team is critical to our culture and our success.

In 2019, we conducted a formal employee survey designed to assess global employee engagement, leadership, work environment and culture.

91% of our employees participated in the survey, itself an indicator of a high level of employee engagement.

Participants provided over 2,000 responses to open-ended questions.

The findings from this survey established an agenda for various initiatives designed to strengthen our Company.

A follow-up survey is planned for fiscal 2021.

We track and report internally on key talent metrics including workforce demographics, talent pipeline and diversity.

We believe in investing in professional development programs to ensure we provide opportunities for individuals to advance their careers either in a technical track or move to a leadership position.

We offer many of our training and development programs on-line for the benefit of employees located around the world.

Additional focus is placed on the development of our future leaders and we leverage a talent review process where high-potential and high-performing employees are

assessed for future leadership roles as part of our succession management process for critical leadership positions.

Since turnover is an important indicator of employee satisfaction, we closely monitor turnover globally and benchmark locally.

Our 12-month rolling average for voluntary turnover at December 31, 2020 was approximately 6.8%, substantially less than benchmark data.

Our employee average tenure is more than 9 years.

COVID-19 Update

As a result of the outbreak and continuing spread of COVID-19, governmental authorities have implemented and are continuing to implement numerous and constantly evolving measures to try to contain the virus, such as travel bans and restrictions, limits on gatherings, quarantines, shelter-in-place orders, and business shutdowns.

We have important manufacturing operations in the United States and sales and support operations in China, Germany, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan and the United Kingdom, all of which have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Measures providing for business shutdowns generally exclude certain essential services, and those essential services include critical infrastructure and the businesses that support that critical infrastructure.

Our operations are considered part of the critical and essential infrastructure defined by applicable government authorities, and, although governmental measures to contain the pandemic may be modified or extended, our manufacturing facilities currently remain open.

We believe our diverse product offerings and the critical nature of certain of our products for infrastructure insulate us, to some extent, from the adverse effects of the pandemic;

however, a prolonged economic downturn will adversely affect our customers, which could have a material adverse effect on our revenues, particularly if customers from whom we derive a significant amount of revenue reduce or delay purchases to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic or fail to make payments to us on time or at all.

We serve a global and highly interconnected customer base across the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, and North America.

Our net sales to customers located outside of the United States represented approximately 68%, 70%, and 77% of our total net sales in 2020, 2019, and 2018, respectively, and we expect that net sales to customers outside the United States will continue to represent a significant percentage of our total net sales.

As a result, our business will be adversely impacted by further deterioration in global economic conditions, particularly in markets in Asia and Europe.

To date, we have not yet experienced any significant interruptions to our supply chain as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

We continue to monitor our global supply chain and may experience disruptions in future periods, primarily as a result of financial challenges confronting companies in our supply chain and restrictions or disruptions of transportation, such as reduced availability of air transport, port closures and increased border controls or closures, any of which could cause a disruption in our ability to obtain raw materials or components required to manufacture our products.

Like many in our industry, we are managing through the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Although the full extent of the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on our business, results of operations, supply chains and growth can not be predicted or quantified, we proactively identified potential challenges to our business and have been executing business continuity activities to manage disruptions in our business and continue to provide critical infrastructure to our customers.

In response to the pandemic, we have taken, or intend to take, the following steps, among others, to keep our employees safe and minimize the spread of the virus, while continuing to serve our customers:

implemented rigorous health and safety protocols at our manufacturing facilities, including extensively and frequently disinfecting our facilities, limiting access to our facilities, checking temperatures of individuals entering our facilities, staggering shifts to minimize employee overlap in gowning areas, and providing protective equipment;

mandated remote working arrangements for employees that do not need to be physically present on the manufacturing floor or at customer facilities;

implemented virtual meetings, customer demos, and factory acceptances to enable customers to review data and performance of their system in our factory remotely via live video;

performing service and support activities remotely to resolve customer issues and enable our customers to maintain their operations;

proactively identified gaps in our supply chain and re-sourced a number of components in order to maintain our customer shipment commitments and mitigate single points of failure;

monitoring our IT systems and implementing contingency and disaster recovery plans to support our IT infrastructure to ensure that our systems remain continuously operative;

continuing to monitor and, if necessary, reduce our operating expenses and capital expenditures to maintain financial flexibility and profit margins.

While these steps have been effective so far, there could be additional challenges ahead that may impact either our operations or those of our customers, which could have a negative effect on our financial performance, including productivity and capacity impacts as a result of the ongoing pandemic.

We expect to continue to implement these measures until we determine that the COVID-19 pandemic is adequately contained for purposes of our business, and we may take further actions as government authorities require or recommend or as we determine to be in the best interests of our employees, customers and suppliers.

As a result, we may incur additional expenses in future periods in response to the pandemic, which could adversely affect our financial position, results of operations, or cash flows.

In addition, we may revise our approach to these initiatives or take additional actions to meet the needs of our employees and customers, and mitigate the impact of the pandemic on our business.

In 2021, we conducted a second formal employee survey, using the same survey instrument.

Approximately 90% of employees participated in the survey and nearly 2,000 responses were provided to open-ended questions.

We saw significant improvements across all survey areas, and we remain committed to working with employees to strengthen the Company’s culture.

In addition, our executives conduct regular meetings with our global workforce enabling all employees to engage with senior leaders and ask questions in open Q&A sessions.

Finally, we maintain and regularly remind our employees about our confidential third-party hotline service that can be utilized to share their concerns.

Compensation Philosophy

Our compensation philosophy is targeted to support our employees’ financial, physical, and mental health and well-being.

We utilize third-party benchmarking surveys to ensure that our total compensation packages are competitive.

We help employees share in the success of the Company through various programs including an Employee Stock Purchase Plan (“ESPP”), equity compensation, profit sharing and bonus plans.

In addition to providing our employees with competitive compensation packages, we offer benefits designed to meet the needs of employees and their families, including paid time off, medical, dental and vision coverage, disability income protection, life insurance, retirement savings contributions, and more.

Veeco pays the majority or all of the costs for many of these benefits.

Diversity and Inclusion

We are committed to building and sustaining a culture of diversity and inclusion where our people can be their authentic selves and are encouraged to reach their full potential.

Our Veeco team, like the technologies we enable, is a rich combination of diverse individuals coming together as Veeco United to make a material difference for our people, our customers, and the world.

As a global technology company, we recognize that a diverse employee population makes Veeco stronger, more innovative, and a more engaging place to work.

We are always striving to attract talented individuals from a global candidate pool.

In the second quarter of 2021, Veeco established a Diversity and Inclusion Council.

The Council, composed of diverse Veeco colleagues from many different parts of the Company, represents Veeco’s ongoing commitment to inclusion of all genders, sexual orientations, races, ethnic origins, religions, and diversity of thought.

The team has recently established Veeco’s Diversity and Inclusion Mission Statement and Charter.

The charter affirms our commitment to building awareness, enhancing community partnerships, addressing diversity in our recruiting and hiring practices, empowering employees to promote D&I initiatives, and identifying opportunities to have meaningful engagements with peers and the leadership team.

We are excited to continue developing initiatives to promote and celebrate diversity at Veeco.

Employee Health and Safety, Pandemic Response

We are committed to providing a safe and healthy workplace for all employees.

We accomplish this through strict compliance with applicable laws and regulations regarding workplace safety, including recognition and control of workplace hazards, tracking injury and illness rates, utilizing a global travel health program, and maintaining detailed emergency and disaster recovery plans.

Our highest priorities throughout the pandemic were, and continue to be, the health and well-being of our employees, customers, suppliers, and stakeholders.

From the beginning of the pandemic, through the recent challenges posed by the acceleration of coronavirus variants, we have taken precautions to protect employees, visitors, and customers while minimizing disruption to our business.

Our facilities remained operational as an “essential business” throughout the pandemic.

However, we implemented rigorous health and safety protocols at our manufacturing facilities, including extensively and frequently disinfecting our facilities, limiting access to our facilities, checking temperatures of individuals entering our facilities, staggering shifts to minimize employee overlap in gowning areas, and providing protective equipment in order to minimize the risks to our employees.

In addition, we required many of our employees to work from home wherever possible.

We protected employees, customers, and stakeholders by providing remote meetings, demos, and service, whenever possible.

Our Veeco United team was committed to remaining flexible and responsive throughout the pandemic.

Our team monitored and responded quickly to local, state, and federal guidance related to the pandemic.

We developed a COVID-19 Pledge to describe all the measures we implemented in our facilities to keep employees working on-site safe throughout the pandemic.

Available Information

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Compared sentence by sentence after normalising whitespace, quotation marks, case and digits, so re-formatting and restated figures do not read as changed language. Wording changes appear as one removal and one addition. The current filing and the prior one are authoritative.

What changed 10-K

Item 1. Business