What changed in this filing

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Item 1. Business

2025-02-14 compared with 2024-02-16 · 31 added, 53 removed, 183 unchanged (31% of the section changed)

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Our comprehensive collection of ion beam, laser annealing, metal organic chemical vapor deposition (“MOCVD”), chemical vapor deposition (“CVD”), 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 advanced node application processors for AI chips, mobile devices, high-speed data communications, and radio frequency (“RF”) filters and power amplifiers for fifth generation (“5G”) networks and mobile electronics, photonics devices for 3D sensing, advanced displays, and thin film magnetic heads for hard disk drives in data storage.

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

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.

Serving a global and highly interconnected customer base, we have comprehensive sales and service operations across the Asia-Pacific, Europe, and North America regions to ensure real-time close collaboration and responsiveness.

Serving a global and highly interconnected customer base, we have comprehensive sales and service

operations across the Asia-Pacific, Europe, and North America regions to ensure real-time close collaboration and responsiveness.

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, magnetic heads for hard disk drives, and other semiconductor devices.

Our 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.

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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.

One such process step is called Laser Annealing,

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, where Veeco’s Ion Beam Deposition technology is used for deposition of the multi-layer EUV reflective coating.

Veeco’s Ion Beam technology is also under evaluation for deposition of low resistivity metals for 300mm front end applications.

Veeco’s Advanced Packaging technologies include 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, high-performance computing, mobile devices, and consumer electronics is driving the adoption of advanced packaging technologies.

Laser Annealing

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Advanced Packaging Lithography

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.

Veeco’s Ion Beam technology is also under evaluation for deposition of low resistivity metals for 300mm front end applications.

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.

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

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

Compound Semiconductor

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A micro-LED display is a self-emissive display that offers improved resolution, contrast, and brightness versus conventional technologies.

Micro-LEDs will be used in a number of applications from televisions, smartwatches, to augmented reality headsets.

Micro-LEDs will be used in a number of applications from televisions, smartwatches, and augmented reality headsets.

RF power amplifiers and filters (including surface acoustic wave (“SAW”) and bulk acoustic wave (“BAW”) filters) are used in 5G communications infrastructure, smartphones, tablets, and mobile devices.

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These applications continue to demand increasingly complex packaging techniques and heterogeneous device integration from integrated device manufacturers (“IDMs,”), Foundries, and outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (“OSAT”) companies.

Our Advanced Packaging tools are designed to optimize productivity for leading-edge 200mm and 300mm Advanced Packaging applications by delivering proven reliability and low cost of ownership in high-volume manufacturing environments.

Our Advanced Packaging tools are designed to optimize productivity for leading-edge 300mm Advanced Packaging applications by delivering proven reliability and low cost of ownership in high-volume manufacturing environments.

Our products are known for best-in-class yield coupled with outstanding resolution and depth of focus.

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

Our SiC CVD system has a base single wafer reactor concept based on a time-tested industry validated architecture and is used for SiC power electronics applications primarily driven by adoption of electric vehicles.

Our SiC CVD system has a single wafer reactor concept based on a time-tested industry validated architecture and is used for research and development for SiC power electronics applications.

Molecular Beam Epitaxy Systems

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We believe that our customer service organization is a significant factor in our success.

We provide service and support on a warranty, service contract, and an individual service-call basis.

We believe that offering timely support creates stronger relationships with customers.

We provide service and support through warranty and service contracts, as well as on an individual service-call basis.

We believe that offering timely support creates stronger relationships with our customers.

Revenue from the sales of parts, upgrades, service, and support represented approximately 20%, 22%, and 24% of our net sales for the years ended December 31, 2024, 2023, and 2022, respectively.

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In addition, many of our products face competition from alternative technologies, some of which are more established than those used in our products.

Significant factors for customer selection of our tools include system performance, accuracy, repeatability, ease of use, reliability, cost of ownership, and technical service and support.

Significant factors for customer selection of our tools include system performance, accuracy, repeatability,

ease of use, reliability, cost of ownership, and technical service and support.

None of our competitors compete with us across all of our product lines.

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Grand Plastics Technology;

Mattson Technology;

Screen Semiconductor Solutions;

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Intellectual Property

Our success depends, in part, on our proprietary technology, and we have over 350 patents in the United States and other countries.

Our success depends, in part, on our proprietary technology, and we have approximately 350 patents in the United States and other countries.

We have patents and exclusive and non-exclusive licenses to patents owned by others covering certain of our products, which we believe provide us with a competitive advantage.

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

Human Capital Resources

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

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

At the end of 2024, we had 1,231 employees with 290 located in the Asia-Pacific region, 60 in the EMEA region, and 881 in the United States.

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● We will always be ACCOUNTABLE

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

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

Employment, Recruitment and Development

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

We offer many of our training and development programs virtually to benefit employees worldwide.

We expect all Veeco employees to complete a minimum of 20 hours of training per year to support their personal growth.

We offer training and development programs both virtually and in person to benefit employees worldwide.

We emphasize the development of future leaders and utilize a talent review process to assess high-potential and high-performing employees for future leadership roles as part of our succession management process.

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Our 12-month rolling average for voluntary turnover on December 31, 2024 was approximately 7.4%.

Our employee average tenure is more than 8 years.

Our employee average tenure is more than eight years.

Employee Engagement

The engagement and satisfaction of the Veeco United Team are 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.

Over 90% of our employees participated in the survey, itself an indicator of high 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.

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

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

We saw significant improvements across all survey areas.

In 2023, we conducted our third formal employee survey using the same survey instrument.

Even with a much larger employee population, we maintained a high participation rate of 90% and over 2,000 responses to open-ended questions.

Overall survey results were similar to 2021 results.

We remain committed to working with employees to strengthen the Company’s culture.

We regularly conduct formal employee surveys to assess global employee engagement, leadership, work environment and culture.

The results of our surveys are used to identify various initiatives designed to strengthen our Company.

Our executives conduct regular meetings with our global workforce, providing employees with opportunities to engage with senior leaders and ask questions in open Q&A sessions.

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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.

Culture of Inclusion

We are committed to building and sustaining a culture of 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.

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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 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 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.

To keep our teams safe and the Company strong, 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 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.

While the COVID-19 public health emergency has ended, our Veeco United Team remains flexible and responsive to potential health risks and has developed robust response capability through this experience.

We continue to carefully monitor and respond to local, state, and federal public health guidance.

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

Available Information

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All filings we make with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), including our Annual Report on Form 10-K, our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, our Current Reports on Form 8-K, our proxy statements and any amendments thereto filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, are available for free in the Investor Relations section of our website as soon as reasonably practicable after they are filed with or furnished to the SEC.

The reference to our website address does not constitute inclusion or incorporation by reference of the information contained on our website in this Form 10-K or other filings with the SEC, and the information contained on our website is not part of this document.

The reference to our website address

does not constitute inclusion or incorporation by reference of the information contained on our website in this Form 10-K or other filings with the SEC, and the information contained on our website is not part of this document.

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