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In addition to the factors discussed elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, 10-Q, this section discusses important factors which could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements made by us. The order of presentation is not necessarily indicative of the level of risk that each factor poses to us. Any of these factors could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, or stock price. Our operations could also be affected by other factors that are presently unknown to us or not considered significant.

•our ability to develop develop, produce, and produce supply new and competitive memory and storage technologies and products;

We have a broad portfolio of products to address our customers’ needs, which span multiple market segments and are subject to rapid technological changes. Our manufacturing costs on a per gigabit basis vary across our portfolio as they are largely influenced by the technology node in which the solution was developed. We strive to balance our demand and supply for each technology node, but the dynamics of our markets and our customers can create periods of imbalance, which can lead us to carry elevated inventory levels and underutilized capacity. Consequently, we may incur charges in connection with obsolete or excess inventories, or we may not fully recover our costs, which would reduce our gross margins. In addition, due to the customized nature of certain products we manufacture, we may be unable to sell certain finished goods inventories to alternative customers or manufacture in-process inventory to different specifications, which may result in excess and obsolescence charges or loss of revenue in future periods.

Our industry goes through cycles with demand changes that are not fully aligned to the available supply in the market. We may not be able to predict or quickly respond to trends in the dynamics of our markets and our customers or changes in customer demand, which could negatively impact our gross margin. Although AI is a relatively new demand driver for our products, it is evolving rapidly, and the expected timing and amount of investments related to AI can change significantly. As a result, it may be difficult to accurately forecast such demand and we may incur costs in anticipation of demand that ultimately does not materialize. If such demand does materialize, but is lower than expected, we may not be able to reduce our costs in response, which would adversely impact our gross margins. If demand exceeds our forecast, we may be unable to increase supply sufficiently to meet such demand, which could result in a loss of revenue or damage to customer relationships. Our inability to prevent deterioration of or improve gross margins align supply with demand could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, or financial condition.

Our future success depends on our ability to develop develop, produce, and produce supply new and competitive memory and storage technologies and products. products in a dynamic market environment.

In addition, our ability to successfully introduce new products often requires us to make product specification decisions multiple years in advance of when new products enter the market. Recent technologies, such as generative AI models have emerged, and while they have driven increased demand for HBM and other advanced products in the data center and other markets, the long-term trajectory is unknown and associated demand may fluctuate. Due to the higher performance and more complex manufacturing process, HBM requires a higher number of wafers and more cleanroom space to produce the same number of bits as conventional DRAM in the same technology node. If demand for HBM weakens and suppliers shift capacity from HBM to conventional DRAM, this could result in a significant increase in conventional DRAM supply. An oversupplied DRAM market may lead to downward pressure on pricing, which could adversely impact our financial results. Conversely, as the demand for DRAM, HBM, or any of our other products has increased and may continue to increase, we may be unable to increase supply sufficiently to meet such demand. Our ability to meet demand is influenced by numerous factors, including changes in product development cycles, cleanroom capacity, ramping technologies, and evolving customer requirements. When demand exceeds our supply, we may be unable to scale supply sufficiently, requiring us to make decisions about manufacturing priorities as well as customer and market supply allocations. These decisions could strain long-term customer relationships, lead to legal or other disputes, and limit our ability to sell product into certain end markets in the future if conditions change.

We have a broad portfolio of products to address our customers’ needs, which span multiple market segments and are subject to rapid technological changes. We invest our capital in areas that we believe best align with our business strategy and optimize future returns. Investments in capital expenditures may not generate expected returns or cash flows. Significant judgment is required to determine which capital investments will result in optimal returns, and we could invest in projects that are ultimately less profitable than those projects we do not select. Our strategic decision-making process involves careful evaluation and prioritization of investments to ensure alignment with our long-term goals. Additionally, we may choose to exit business or market segments that do not provide us with optimal returns. As we streamline our product portfolio, we may face execution risks that could impact our ability to support demand and maintain share in certain markets. Further, as we continue to optimize the efficiency of our fabrication facilities to support demand from leading edge notes, any delays in completion and ramping of new production facilities, or failure to optimize our investment choices, could significantly impact our ability to realize expected returns on our capital expenditures.

We have received, and may expect to receive in the future continue to receive, future, benefits and incentives from national, state, and local governments in various regions of the world designed to encourage us to establish, maintain, or increase investment, workforce, research and development, or production in those regions. However, there is no guarantee that such government incentives and benefits will continue to be available in the future on the same terms, terms that are acceptable to us or at all and existing incentives could be modified or terminated by government authorities. In addition, we have discretion in the timing of use of certain of these incentives. If we choose to exercise such discretion due to the cyclicality of our business or other factors, we may not be able to fully utilize these incentives. Our future business plans may be impacted by obtaining these government incentives, which may take various forms, including grants, subsidies, loans, and tax arrangements, and typically require us to achieve or maintain certain levels of investment, capital spending, employment, technology deployment or development milestones, construction or production milestones, or research and development activities to qualify for such incentives or could restrict us from undertaking certain activities. We may fail to achieve these milestones, in a timely manner or at all, due to a variety of factors, some of which may be outside of our control, including a cyclical downturn in our business or global downturn. Failure to achieve such milestones could result in up to all of certain incentives being clawed back, in some cases along with interest and/or loss of project assets. In some cases, these incentives have additional terms and conditions regarding our business operations or governance that are required to be satisfied as a condition to receive incentives or disbursements. Compliance with these terms and conditions may add complexity to our operations and increase our costs and failure to comply could result in termination of incentive programs or clawbacks of incentive amounts received, in some cases along with interest and/or loss of project assets.

Our manufacturing processes are also dependent on our relationships with third-party manufacturers of controllers, analog integrated circuits, and other components used in some of our products and with outsourced semiconductor foundries, assembly and test providers, contract manufacturers, logistics carriers, and other service providers, including providers of maintenance for our advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment and providers of electricity and other utilities. Although we have certain long-term contracts with some of our suppliers, many of these contracts do not provide for long-term capacity or pricing commitments. To the extent we do not have firm commitments from our third-party suppliers over a specific time period or for any specific capacity, quantity, and/or pricing, our suppliers may allocate capacity to their other customers and capacity and/or materials may not be available when needed or at reasonable prices. Inflationary pressures may continue to increase costs for materials, supplies, and services. Regardless of contract structure, large swings in demand may exceed our contracted supply and/or our suppliers’ capacity to meet those demand changes, resulting in a shortage of parts, materials, or capacity needed to manufacture our products. In periods of shortage, we may not be able to obtain the needed supply in a timely manner or we may be required to incur increased costs in order to meet our contractual commitments and demand from our customers or experience a decrease in revenue. In addition, if any of our suppliers were to cease operations or become insolvent, this could impact their ability to provide us with necessary supplies, and we may not be able to obtain the needed supply in a timely manner or at all from other providers.

In 2025, over half of our total revenue came from our top ten customers. Among our end markets, approximately one-half of our total revenue was concentrated in the data center end market. A disruption in our relationship with any of our top customers or a significant decrease in demand for our data center products, or in the overall data center end market, could adversely affect our business. We could experience fluctuations in our customer base or the mix of revenue by customer or end market, as markets and strategies evolve. Demand for our products may fluctuate due to factors beyond our control. Our inability to qualify our products to meet customer or end market requirements could adversely impact our revenue. A meaningful change in inventory strategy by our top customers or in certain end markets could impact our industry bit demand growth outlook. In addition, any consolidation of our customers or consolidation of significant end markets could limit the opportunity for sale of our products. Further, if we are unable to satisfy customer demand and customers are required to purchase products from our competitors, they may shift immediate and future purchases to such competitors, which could harm our customer relationships and adversely impact our access to certain end markets. The loss of, or restrictions on our ability to sell to, one or more of our major customers or in certain end markets, or any significant reduction in orders or a shift in product mix, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, or financial condition. See Part I. Financial Information, Item 1. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, Statements, Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, Note 20. Segment and Other Information.

From time to time, we are subject to various legal, regulatory and administrative investigations, inquiries, proceedings, and claims that arise out of the ordinary conduct of our business or otherwise, both domestically and internationally. Such claims, investigations, inquiries, and proceedings may include, but are not limited to, allegations of anticompetitive conduct, infringement of intellectual property, and claims related to our compliance with securities and other laws. See Part I. Financial Information, Item 1. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, Statements, Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, Note 14. 11. Contingencies.

Expansion of our production capacity is subject to inherent safety risks for our employees and contractors. Expansion and renovation activities may involve accidents, which could result in project delays, litigation, claims or disputes by our contractors and others, as well as increased insurance costs. While the risks of our construction projects are covered by insurance and contractual indemnities from our contractors, we may not have insurance coverage or rights to indemnity for all risks. Further, Additionally, while we maintain insurance coverage for certain claims and liabilities, there can be no assurance that we are adequately insured to protect against all claims and potential liabilities, and we may elect to self-insure with respect to certain matters.

•cease manufacturing, having made, selling, offering for sale, importing, marketing, or using products and/or manufacturing processes in certain jurisdictions.

We may not be able to take any of the actions described above on commercially reasonable terms and any of the foregoing results could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, or financial condition. See Part I. Financial Information, Item 1. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, Statements, Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, Note 14. 11. Contingencies.

Changes to income tax laws and regulations, or the interpretation of such laws, in any of the jurisdictions in which we operate could significantly increase our effective tax rate and ultimately reduce our cash flows from operating activities and otherwise have a material adverse effect on our financial condition. On July 4, 2025, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (“OBBBA”) was enacted, introducing broad changes to the U.S. tax code, including modifications to corporate and international tax provisions which primarily are effective for us beginning in 2026 and 2027. The aggregate impact of the OBBBA remains uncertain. We will continue to monitor future developments, including regulatory guidance and interpretations, which could have a material impact. impact on our income tax provision. Further changes in the tax laws of foreign jurisdictions could arise as a result of the base erosion and profit-shifting project, including Pillar Two Model Rules (“Pillar Two”), undertaken by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. We continue to monitor for additional guidance and legislative changes related to Pillar Two in the jurisdictions where we operate.

We have incurred in the past, and expect to incur in the future, debt to finance our capital investments, business acquisitions, and to realign our capital structure. As of August 28, November 27, 2025, we had debt with a carrying value of $14.58 $11.76 billion and may incur additional debt, including under our $3.50 billion Revolving Credit Facility. Our debt obligations could adversely impact us as follows:

Our common stock has experienced substantial price volatility in the past and may continue to do so in the future. Additionally, we, the technology industry, and the stock market as a whole have on occasion experienced extreme stock price and volume fluctuations that have affected stock prices in ways that may have been unrelated to the specific operating performance of individual companies. The trading price of our common stock may fluctuate widely due to various factors, including, but not limited to, actual or anticipated fluctuations in our financial condition and operating results, changes in financial forecasts or estimates by us or us, other participants in our markets, including our customers and competitors, changes in financial or other market estimates and ratings by securities and other analysts, changes in our capital structure, including issuance of additional debt or equity to the public, interest rate changes, regulatory changes, news regarding our products or products of our competitors, market perception regarding certain technologies, and broad market and industry fluctuations. These fluctuations may not be related to our specific financial or operating performance or our expectations regarding our financial or operating performance.

Although our Board of Directors has authorized share repurchases of up to $10 billion of our outstanding common stock, the authorization does not obligate us to repurchase any common stock. The amount, frequency, and execution of our share repurchases pursuant to our share repurchase authorization may fluctuate based on our operating results, cash flows, restrictions applicable under our CHIPS Act direct funding agreements, and priorities for the use of cash for other purposes. Since repurchases under the authorization began in 2019, our expenditures for share repurchases in any one year have ranged from no repurchases to a high of $2.66 billion of repurchases. Cash uses that could impact our repurchases include, but are not limited to, operational spending, capital spending, acquisitions, and repayment of debt. Other factors, including changes in tax laws, could also impact our share repurchases.