Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022
We note that you provided more expansive disclosure in your 2021-22 Corporate Responsibility Report and Environmental Sustainability section of your website than you provided in your SEC filings. Please advise us what consideration you gave to providing the same type of climate-related disclosure in your SEC filings as you provided in your 2021-22 Corporate Responsibility Report and website.
The Company notes that its 2021-22 Corporate Responsibility Report and the Environmental Sustainability section of the Company’s website (“Corporate Responsibility Reporting”) are based on 2021 data, with complementary narrative updates reflecting the first half of 2022. The Company’s 2022-23 Corporate Responsibility Report and related website sections reflect 2022 data, with complementary narrative updates reflecting the first half of 2023.
The Company prepares the information in its Forms
10-K and other SEC filings in accordance with existing SEC rules and regulations, including ItemsRead in the reply ↗Rest of the answer
101, 103, 105 and 303 of Regulation S-K, as well as the U.S. federal securities laws that require the Company to provide investors with information that is “material,” as that term is defined by Basic Inc. v. Levinson, 485 U.S. 224 (1988) and subsequent case law (as referred to herein,
“Materiality” or “Material”). The Company also considers the Commission’s Guidance Regarding Disclosure Related to Climate Change, Release No. 33-9106 (Feb. 2, 2010). The
Company’s disclosure committee, comprised of senior personnel from multiple, key departments across the Company, assesses and determines the degree to which information, including relevant developments, events, trends, risks and opportunities, is Material to the Company for the purposes of the Company’s SEC filings. The Company considered whether to include the same type of climate-related disclosure from its Corporate Responsibility Reporting in its 2022 Form 10-K and chose not to on the basis that the purpose of the Corporate Responsibility Reporting and 2022 Form 10-K are different and the disclosure contained in each are based on different reporting frameworks and definitions of materiality.
The Company voluntarily reports on its corporate responsibility efforts in its Corporate Responsibility Report and related website sections, which address a range of topics of interest to various stakeholders. These stakeholders include investors, but also include employees, customers, suppliers, non-governmental organizations and communities in which the Company operates. In identifying topics for inclusion in the Company’s Corporate Responsibility Report and related website sections, the Company regularly engages with its various stakeholders about environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) matters, including matters of individual importance to them. Disclosures in the Company’s Corporate Responsibility Reporting respond to these interactions, as well as to voluntary third-party disclosures frameworks and standards, such as those issued by the Global Reporting Initiative, Sustainability Accounting Standards Board, Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures, and
United Nations Sustainable Development Goals secretariat. In addition, each of these voluntary frameworks and standards uses a definition of materiality that is distinct from, and in each case broader than, the U.S. federal securities law definition of Materiality.
The Company provides disclosures in its Corporate Responsibility Reporting voluntarily. The Company does not believe there is a substantial likelihood that these disclosures would have been viewed by the reasonable investor as significantly altering the ‘total mix’ of information made available to investors. The concepts of materiality used for the purposes of creating the disclosures in the Company’s Corporate Responsibility Reporting are broader than the definition of Materiality under the U.S. federal securities laws. The ESG materiality matrix in the Company’s Corporate
Responsibility Report reflects the key aspect of the distinctions between the definitions of materiality under these voluntary standards and the federal securities law definition of Materiality; specifically the materiality matrix in the
Company’s Corporate Responsibility Report measures not only the impact of issues on the Company but also the Company’s impact on the environment and society. The Company uses this approach to materiality in its voluntary reporting, both with respect to responding to areas of individual stakeholder interest and in reporting pursuant to the frameworks and standards mentioned above. The fact that the Company has addressed a topic or initiative in its Corporate Responsibility Reporting does not make that topic or initiative Material to its business or results of operations. To help advise its investors of the different purposes and approaches to disclosures in its Corporate Responsibility Reporting compared to its SEC filings, the
Company specifically states in its 2021-22 Corporate Responsibility Report and related website sections that the ESG materials in them “may contain information that is significant, however, any significance should not be read as necessarily rising to the level of the definition of materiality used for the purposes of our compliance with the U.S. federal securities laws.”
The Company understands the importance of climate change and stakeholder interest in this topic. As it relates to this question and other questions included in the Staff’s comment, the Company recognizes its obligation to continuously review these matters as part of its ongoing disclosure processes and disclose climate-related matters in its future filings, to the extent required under U.S. federal securities law.
First report after the company's reply of 2023-08-31: 10-Q filed 2023-11-01 ↗, against the 10-Q filed 2023-08-02 ↗.
Tickdelta does not hold the text of both reports, so they are not compared here.
To the extent material, discuss the indirect consequences of climate-related regulation or business trends, such as the following: • decreased demand for goods or services that produce significant greenhouse gas emissions or are related to carbon-based energy sources; • increased demand for goods that result in lower emissions than competing products; • increased competition to develop innovative new products thatRest of the question
result in lower emissions; • increased demand for generation and transmission of energy from alternative energy sources; and • any anticipated reputational risks resulting from operations or products that produce material greenhouse gas emissions.
to the Staff’s comment, the Company specifically addresses each of the individual items referenced in Staff’s comment below:
increased demand for goods that result in lower emissions than competing products increased demand for generation and transmission of energy from alternative energy sources
The Company works closely with its direct customers to define product features, performance and timing so that the Company can meet customers’ needs.Read in the reply ↗Rest of the answer
Generally, these direct customers may include original equipment manufacturers, large public cloud service providers, original design manufacturers, independent distributors, and add-in-board manufacturers in both domestic and international markets. The Company communicates with direct customers about efforts and challenges worldwide to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to use alternative energy sources (including renewable energy sources), and communicates with direct customers about product energy efficiency, including power consumption and battery life. While some of our direct customers express interest in understanding the Company’s focus on greenhouse gas emissions, products that result in lower emissions and alternative energy sources, this interest does not currently correlate to increases or decreases in demand for the Company’s products and technologies that are Material for the purposes of reporting under the U.S. federal securities law. Given this, the Company has decided currently to address this interest in its voluntary reporting. In addition, while our products and technologies are used in the renewable energy sector, including in wind energy, we have not, to date, seen increased interest in alternative sources of energy result in a Material change in demand for our products and technologies.
The Company contributes to and gains insights from these individual and ecosystem-level engagements but has not, to date, identified any climate change-related regulatory or market development Material for the Company’s disclosures under the U.S. federal securities law. In its 2022 Form 10-K (in both the section regarding environmental matters and in the risk factors section), the Company has identified that Energy Star-related regulations and similar regulations worldwide may have an impact on the Company in the future and the Company is monitoring these developments, but the Company did not identify any such adopted regulations or current related regulatory trends likely to have a Material impact on demand for the Company’s products or technologies for the purposes of reporting in its 2022
Form 10-K. However, the Company will continue to evaluate these matters for the purposes of future filings.
increased competition to develop innovative new products that result in lower emissions
Separately, to help inform the Company’s assessment of business opportunities and risks and competitive positioning, it regularly surveys end users. Those end users include consumers and enterprise IT decision makers that purchase devices from the Company’s direct customers. In recent surveys, end users indicated that their buying practices for the Company’s products and technologies are based primarily on timely product introductions, product quality, product features and capabilities, reliability, processor clock speed, performance, size (or form factor), selling price, cost, adherence to industry standards (and the creation of open industry standards), level of integration, software and hardware compatibility, ease of use and functionality of software design tools, completeness of applicable software solutions, security and stability, brand recognition and availability.
Although currently, indirect consequences of trends to develop innovative new products to lower emissions is not Material for the purposes of the Company’s disclosure under U.S. federal securities law, the Company recognizes the opportunity for its products to help enable direct customers and end users meet their environmental sustainability goals, including aims to address emissions. For instance, the Company designs products that power servers in data centers that enable climate research, as well as connected devices that power solutions used for renewable energy. The Company also powers seven of the top ten systems on the Green 500 list of most energy efficient supercomputers (June 2023). While the Company did not consider increased competition to develop products that result in lower emissions
Material for the purposes of reporting in its 2022 Form 10-K, the Company will continue to monitor the indirect impacts of climate change on its competitive landscape for the purposes of future filings.
emissions
The Company assesses risk primarily through its enterprise risk management (“ERM”) process and its disclosure controls review processes. Risks identified through these processes are reviewed regularly with the Company’s executive leadership and with the Company’s Board of Directors. The Company’s ERM process considers reputational risks as it integrates climate risks which are assessed through 1) periodic internal ESG readiness assessments, 2) monthly meetings among internal cross-functional teams, 3) quarterly emerging risks reports to the Audit and Finance
Committee of the Company’s Board of Directors and relevant Company executives, and 4) annual Enterprise Risk Assessment for the Company’s Board of Directors and relevant Company executives. Based on the Company’s ERM process and the
Company’s regular engagement with its stakeholders, as well as benchmarking of its peer companies, the Company does not currently anticipate any Material reputational risks resulting from its operations or products that produce Material greenhouse gas emissions.
First report after the company's reply of 2023-08-31: 10-Q filed 2023-11-01 ↗, against the 10-Q filed 2023-08-02 ↗.
Tickdelta does not hold the text of both reports, so they are not compared here.
We note your disclosure on page 35 of your Form 10-K regarding the impact of the physical effects of climate change. If material, discuss the physical effects of climate change on your operations and results. This disclosure may include the following: • severity of weather, such as water availability and quality; • quantification of material weather-related damages to your property or operations; • potential forRest of the question
indirect weather-related impacts that have affected or may affect your customers; and • any weather-related impacts on the cost or availability of insurance. Your response should include quantitative information for each of the periods for which financial statements are presented in your Form 10-K and explain whether changes are expected in future periods.
While the Company is mindful that the impact of the physical effects arising from climate change are evolving, the Company believes that, except as to the future possibility of Material impacts identified in the Risk Factors section of the 2022 Form 10-K (see our risk factor “Our worldwide operations are subject to political, legal and economic risks and natural disasters, which could have a material adverse effect on us”), the physical effects of climate change are not Material to the Company’s business, financial condition and results of operations at this time.Read in the reply ↗Rest of the answer
That being said, the Company has operations in regions that are subject to weather-related events that could disrupt its operations. There were only two weather-related events experienced by the Company during the periods covered by the 2022 Form 10-K. The Company’s office in Austin, Texas experienced a winter storm in 2021, in which the Company incurred approximately $36,000 in costs associated with minor property damage and business delays. In 2022,
Hurricane Ian caused minor damage to the Company’s office located in Orlando, Florida, in which the Company incurred approximately $5,000 in costs for equipment repairs. The Company did not consider these weather-related events or their impacts to be Material for the purposes of reporting in the 2022 Form 10-K. With respect to how the Company determines whether matters are Material to the Company and requiring disclosure in the Company’s SEC filings, please see the Company’s first response above.
With respect to water risks such as water availability and quality, while the Company has operations in regions that can face risks associated with water availability and quality, including certain Company sites in India, the Company believes that its use of recycled water (including reuse of gray water at certain facilities and utilization of rainwater harvesting at certain facilities) helps to mitigate its exposure to water risks. The Company did not consider water risks to be Material for the purposes of reporting in the 2022 Form
10-K; however, the Company will continue to assess risks associated with water availability, quantity and use for the purposes of future filings.
With respect to indirect weather-related impacts affecting the Company’s customers, the Company is unaware of the full extent to which indirect weather-related impacts may affect the full scope of its direct customers’ operations because its engagement with its customers often represents only a small portion of their total operations; however, the Company does assess the degree to which weather-related impacts may hinder its ability to deliver its products to its customers because this is one way in which both the Company and its direct customers’ operations could be Materially impacted. To date, no weather-related events have had a Material impact on the Company’s ability to deliver its products to its direct customers; however, the Company has built redundancy into its delivery mechanisms by working with logistics vendors to adjust delivery routes if necessary.
With respect to weather-related impacts on the cost of availability of insurance, the Company has not experienced a Material increase in the cost of property insurance premiums in connection with or as a reflection of any weather-related events. The Company’s property insurance premium costs for 2020 through 2022 are set forth below:
Year
Insurance premium costs
2020
$
4.6 million
2021
5.2 million
2022
10.9 million
The property insurance premiums described above covers fire and water damage to owned properties; leasehold improvements to leased properties; and owned contents, equipment and inventory, both at Company and third-party sites. The Company’s property insurance premiums for 2022 increased over 2021 primarily due to the Company’s acquisition of
Xilinx, Inc. in February 2022. As noted earlier, while the Company incurred approximately $36,000 in costs associated with minor property damage and business delays in connection with the Texas winter storm in 2021 and approximately $5,000 in costs associated with Hurricane Ian which caused minor damage to the Company’s office in Florida in 2022, these costs did not result in a Material increase in the Company’s property insurance premiums. The Company does not believe that any weather-related impacts on the cost or availability of insurance have caused or are reasonably likely to cause a Material impact on the Company’s business, financial condition or results of operation; however, the Company will continue to monitor the physical effects of climate change and will, in future filings, discuss these effects to the extent required.
First report after the company's reply of 2023-08-31: 10-Q filed 2023-11-01 ↗, against the 10-Q filed 2023-08-02 ↗.
Tickdelta does not hold the text of both reports, so they are not compared here.
If material, please discuss any purchase or sale of carbon credits or offsets and the effects on your business, financial condition, and results of operations. To the extent applicable, ensure you provide quantitative information with your response for each of the periods for which financial statements are presented in your Form 10-K and for any future periods.Rest of the question
We remind you that the company and its management are responsible for the accuracy and adequacy of their disclosures, notwithstanding any review, comments, action or absence of action by the staff.
The Company did not purchase or sell carbon credits or offsets in fiscal years 2022, 2021 and 2020. To the extent applicable and if Material to the Company’s business, financial condition and results of operations, the Company will disclose in future filings the purchase or sale of carbon credits or offsets. Read in the reply ↗
First report after the company's reply of 2023-08-31: 10-Q filed 2023-11-01 ↗, against the 10-Q filed 2023-08-02 ↗.
Tickdelta does not hold the text of both reports, so they are not compared here.
We note your response to prior comment 2 states that you did not identify any indirect consequences of climate-related regulation or business trends for purposes of your reporting to the Commission. Please include a discussion explaining in greater detail your analysis and how you concluded on the materiality of each of the items for which disclosure was not deemed necessary.Rest of the question
For example, explain how you determined that your customer's interest in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and using alternate energy sources did not correlate to increases or decreases in demand for your products and technologies. In that regard, we note your CDP Climate Change submission reflects that you work closely with customers to identify climate challenges and solutions and engage customers on matters related to energy efficiency and climate in order to inform your product design and other environmental initiatives. Please also tell us how you considered the impact that climate-related regulation or business trends of your suppliers, including the manufacturers of your wafer supplies, may have on your business and operations. In addition, we note your response reflects that you do not currently anticipate any material reputational risks resulting from your operations or products that produce material greenhouse emissions. Please expand your disclosure to discuss the potential adverse consequences to your reputation resulting from your operations that produce greenhouse gas emissions.
to the Staff’s specific question regarding the Company’s CDP Climate Change submission, the Company notes two considerations. First, as discussed above, the Company considers energy efficiency to be an issue that is broader than driving lower emissions, the use of alternative energy sources or the production of greenhouse gas emissions.Read in the reply ↗Rest of the answer
As discussed above, the Company’s customers are focused predominantly on the performance of the Company’s products and also on the cost savings associated with higher efficiency products, with total cost of ownership being a key driver of demand and the Company’s competitive landscape. Second, the Company notes that while its CDP Climate Change submission provides that the Company’s product energy efficiency gains can help customers reduce emissions, and supply chain resource efficiency initiatives can reduce energy/emission impacts in the supply chain, including in wafer manufacturing, these were examples of ESG “material” risks and opportunities. Consistent with the Company’s Initial Response Letter, the approach the Company takes to materiality, including its use of the word “material” in the CDP Climate Change submission is different from the approach the Company takes for the purposes of reporting to the SEC under U.S. federal securities law. Respectfully, the Company notes to the Staff that while the Company can and does help its customers in this way, that does not mean that these matters rise to the level of being Material for the purposes of its reporting to the SEC nor to the level of having a Material impact on the Company’s business, financial condition or results of operations.
In summary, during the periods covered by the 2022 Form 10-K, the Company has not seen evidence of any meaningful effect on demand related to whether the Company’s products or technology may contribute to a customer’s production of greenhouse gas emissions or are related to carbon-based energy sources, nor any discernable trend of customers changing their demand in any meaningful way for products or technology specifically for the purpose of achieving lower emissions than competing products.
-increased competition to develop innovative new products that result in lower emissions.
The Company’s strategy is to create and deliver the world’s leading high-performance and adaptive computing products across a diverse set of markets to solve the world’s most important challenges. The Company continually focuses on innovation and on executing to its product technology roadmap to deliver leadership products. While the Company consistently strives to build innovative and impactful products for a sustainable future, consistent with the Company’s Initial Response Letter and its responses above, during the applicable periods, the Company did not experience increased competition to develop new products to purposefully result in lower emissions. Also consistent with its Initial Response Letter and its responses above, the Company assesses the Materiality of increases or decreases in competition, and degree to which underlying factors are likely to have a Material impact on the competitive landscape, by assessing the degree to which any such increases or decreases are likely to have a Material impact on the Company’s business, financial condition or results of operations. The Company assesses its competitive landscape through the customer engagement process described above and by conducting external market analyses and competitive market analyses. There are a variety of factors as listed above that can drive demand and therefore competition. As indicated above, while total cost of ownership can be a Material factor that drives demand, and therefore competition, and energy efficiency can be part of the total cost of ownership analysis, lower emissions alone have not been revealed by the Company’s customer engagements and analysis to be a meaningful driver of competition to date.
-increased demand for generation and transmission of energy from alternative energy sources.
While the Company has set and pursues environmental sustainability goals to reduce its carbon footprint and consistently strives to build innovative and impactful products with increased energy efficiency, consistent with the Company’s Initial Response Letter and responses above, the Company has not experienced meaningful increased demand for products relating to the generation and transmission of energy from alternative energy sources to date. Also consistent with its Initial Response Letter and responses above, the Company assesses the Materiality of increases or decreases in demand, and degree to which underlying factors are likely to have a Material impact on demand, by assessing the degree to which any such increases or decreases in demand are likely to have a Material impact on the Company’s business, financial condition or results of operations. Using the same methods described above that the Company uses to assess customer demand, the Company determined for the covered applicable periods that it did not experience an increased or decreased demand for products and technologies based on generation or transmission of energy from alternative energy sources. As discussed above, there are many business reasons why customers may demand the Company’s products, and although energy efficiency does play a role because it can relate to total cost of ownership, the Company has not seen energy sources play any meaningful role in driving customer demand to date.
-any anticipated reputational risks resulting from operations or products that produce material greenhouse gas emissions.
Consistent with the Company’s Initial Response Letter, the Company has not experienced reputational risks resulting from operations or products that produce Material greenhouse gas emissions to date. Also consistent with the Company’s Initial Response Letter and responses above, the Company assesses the Materiality of reputational risks, and degree to which underlying factors are likely to have a Material impact on its reputation, by assessing the degree to which any such risks are likely to have a Material impact on the Company’s business, financial condition or results of operations.
The Company monitors how its reputation, and any changes to sentiment about its reputation, may impact its business, financial results, results of operations and access to capital. The Company monitors its reputation, in the context of how its products or operations relate to its reputation, by engaging with a broad stakeholder base including investors, customers, suppliers, and employees. This engagement includes the customer engagement processes discussed above, as well as solicitation of input from major institutional investors and analysts, direct manufacturing suppliers and employees. The Company also respectfully refers the Staff to its Initial Response Letter, which provides detail on how the Company’s evaluation of reputational risk fits into its overall enterprise risk management process, and also refers the Staff to the responses above, which discusses in further detail the factors that the Company sees as directly relating to demand for its products and its competitive landscape, any of which could also impact its reputation.
Regarding the Company’s products specifically, as discussed above, while energy efficiency may be part of customers’ assessment of the total cost of ownership of its products and technology in comparison to others in the marketplace, the Company’s engagement with them has not indicated that greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the Company’s business processes, products or technology are meaningful factors in their decision to purchase the Company’s products or technology or to their assessment of the Company’s reputation.
Regarding the Company’s operations specifically, the Company has not experienced reputational risks resulting from its operations that produce greenhouse gas emissions, nor does the Company anticipate any Material adverse consequences to its reputation resulting from its operations that produce greenhouse gas emissions. The Company is pursuing, and annually reports its progress toward, a science-based target (aligned with a 1.5˚C scenario) of a 50 percent absolute reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from the Company’s operations (Scope 1 and 2) by 2030, from a 2020 base year. This goal has been informed by input from various Company stakeholders, including customers, investors and employees. The Company also surveys at least annually a large portion of its direct manufacturing suppliers to assess their environmental performance, which in turn may indirectly affect the Company’s reputation. Through its ESG Executive Steering Committee, the Company has established a forum consisting of cross-functional leaders in the Company to understand and reconcile the feedback received from the stakeholder outreach. Additionally, as part of the Company's market analysis, the Company found that end users who were surveyed believed that the Company’s commitment to environmental sustainability was perceived as being more favorable relative to other technology companies. Based on the methods described above to assess the Company’s reputation, including the Company’s market analysis, as well as the Company’s ongoing engagement efforts, the Company’s greenhouse gas emissions from its operations have not been raised as a Material reputational risk by its stakeholders.
The Company also notes in the Risk Factors of the 2022 Form 10-K (We are subject to environmental laws, conflict minerals related provision of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act as well as a variety of other laws or regulations that could result in additional costs and liabilities) the reputational harm that the Company may experience if its suppliers are not in compliance with environmental laws. The Company also discusses in detail in the Risk Factors of the 2022 Form 10-K other factors that may have an impact on its reputation; for example, the Risk Factors address the Company’s ability to achieve expected manufacturing yields, the timely production of its products, IT outages, data loss, data breaches or cybersecurity attacks. The factors identified in the 2022 Form 10-K as potentially having an impact on the Company’s reputation, when taken together with all of the risk factors included in the 2022 Form 10-K, are the factors that the Company determined may have a Material impact on the Company’s financial condition, including through having an adverse impact on the Company’s reputation, at the time the 2022 Form 10-K was filed. The Company will continue to consider reputational risk and what factors may Materially impact its reputation, and revise its disclosure to the extent Material to the Company’s business, financial condition or results of operations.
With respect to the Staff’s specific question about the impact of climate-related regulation or business trends of the Company’s suppliers, the Company considers the impact that climate-related regulation or business trends of our suppliers, including our wafer suppliers, may have on the Company’s business and operations. The Company engages its direct suppliers on climate-related matters through its contractual terms and conditions, annual communication of the Company’s supplier code of conduct, periodic supplier business reviews and performance scorecards, and annual questionnaires on environmental matters. Although it is not feasible for the Company to predict all the ways in which future climate-related regulation or business trends may impact its suppliers, the Company, through its supplier engagement processes discussed above, has been able to estimate the degree to which its suppliers may have been impacted by climate-related regulation or business trends for the applicable periods. While some of the engagements the Company has with its suppliers are competitively sensitive, the Company has not found any impacts of climate-related regulation or business trends on its suppliers to be Material for the purposes of the Company’s business, financial condition or results of operations.
For all the reasons discussed above in each of the items requested to be addressed by the Staff, during the periods covered by the 2022 Form 10-K, the Company believes it has not experienced any Material indirect consequences of climate-related regulation or business trends. Further, at this time, the Company does not expect that any such consequences (should they materialize) are reasonably likely to have a Material impact to the Company’s business, financial condition or results of operations (including through an impact on the Company’s reputation) in the foreseeable future. The Company will continue to monitor the indirect consequences of climate-related regulation or business trends, and, to the extent Material to the Company’s business, financial condition or results of operations, the Company will disclose such consequences in future SEC filings, as required.
First report after the company's reply of 2023-10-04: 10-Q filed 2023-11-01 ↗, against the 10-Q filed 2023-08-02 ↗.
Tickdelta does not hold the text of both reports, so they are not compared here.
We note your response to prior comment 3. Please further address the following: • Your response states that you did not consider water risks to be material for purposes of reporting in your Form 10-K, although your 2021-2022 Corporate Responsibility Report and CDP Water Submission indicates that the impact of water availability and quality is material to your direct wafer manufacturing suppliers.Rest of the question
Please tell us how you considered disclosure regarding the impact of water availability and quality in the manufacturing of your products, including your determination of materiality on your business and operations. • Please revise your disclosure to more clearly address how you could be impacted if severe weather impacts your customers. In this regard, we note your disclosure on page 9 of your Form 10-K indicating that one customer accounted for 16% of your consolidated net revenue for the year ended December 31, 2022 and that a loss of this customer would have a material adverse effect on your business.
As noted in the Company’s Initial Response Letter and above, the Company’s approach to materiality in its voluntary reporting, including in its CDP Water Submission report, is different from the Company’s approach to Materiality in SEC reporting, even if the Company uses the word “material” or “materiality” in its voluntary reporting. The concepts of materiality used for the purposes of creating the disclosures in the Company’s Corporate Responsibility Reporting and CDP filings are broader than the definition of Materiality under the U.S. federal securities laws.Read in the reply ↗Rest of the answer
While water availability and quality are relevant to the Company’s supply chain, the impacts of water availability and quality on the Company’s suppliers have not risen to the level where they are Material to the Company’s business, financial condition or results of operations to date.
In addition to the Company’s periodic business reviews and engagement with its suppliers, the Company conducts a regular water risk assessment to understand the related risks faced by its manufacturing suppliers as well as mitigating actions. In assessing water availability and quality risks of these suppliers, the Company conducts a screening process by: 1) identifying supplier manufacturing site locations in “extremely high” or “high” overall water risk regions based on the WRI Aqueduct water risk tool; 2) reviewing whether included sites are considered substantively strategic to the Company’s business; 3) soliciting and reviewing water use data from relevant suppliers; 4) reviewing relevant supplier water mitigation plans; and 5) taking additional measures if necessary, such as requesting further assessments, data or investments related to water risk mitigation measures from suppliers. Based on this risk assessment, the Company has determined that its suppliers located in “extremely high” or “high” water risk sites have adequate water conservation and risk mitigation measures to negate substantive impacts to the Company’s business operations, revenue or expenditures.
With respect to the Company’s direct wafer manufacturing suppliers specifically, the contracted wafer manufacturing stage is the point in the Company’s value chain at which the most amount of water is used and the most effluents generated. In addition to the assessment described above, the Company works closely with its wafer manufacturing suppliers to understand water risks, to track and manage water use, and to encourage its wafer manufacturing suppliers to continue to increase water use efficiency. The Company also is focused on collaborating in industry efforts to address responsible water use and water conservation.
The Company notes that in the 2022 Form 10-K, the Company’s Risk Factors discuss that the Company’s third-party manufacturers are subject to various environmental laws, including those relating to air pollutants and wastewater, and also notes that the Company discusses risks regarding its dependency on third-party manufacturers overall. In addition, the Company respectfully notes to the Staff that water availability and quality could be Material to its suppliers without being Material to the Company because of the Company’s supply chain redundancy, inventory management and other mitigations built into the Company’s supply chain. The Company will continue to monitor the potential impact of water availability and quality in the manufacturing of its products, including the determination of the Materiality on its business and operations.
-Please revise your disclosure to more clearly address how you could be impacted if severe weather impacts your customers. In this regard, we note your disclosure on page 9 of your Form 10-K indicating that one customer accounted for 16% of your consolidated net revenue for the year ended December 31, 2022 and that a loss of this customer would have a material adverse effect on your business.
The Company notes to the Staff that while the total loss of a significant customer may have a Material adverse effect on the Company, or severe weather could disrupt customer operations and therefore have an indirect Material impact on the Company’s business, each of these risks are discussed as potentially Material risks in the 2022 Form 10-K. The Company’s risk factor regarding the risk of catastrophic events within the Risk Factors section of the 2022 Form 10-K (“Our worldwide operations are subject to political, legal and economic risk and natural disasters, which could have a material adverse effect on us”), provides that natural events and climate change such as earthquakes, tsunamis, flooding, typhoons, droughts, fires, extreme heat and volcanic eruptions could disrupt the Company’s operations, or those of its manufacturers, vendors or customers. In addition, the Company risk factor concerning its customers (“The loss of a significant customer may have a material adverse effect on us”) provides clarity on the degree to which the Company is dependent on a small number of customers. The Company has a business continuity program designed to mitigate risks including impacts from severe weather events and notes that, to date, no severe weather events impacting the Company’s customers have resulted in a Material impact on the Company’s business. The Company also has contingency plans for each of the Company’s major sites designed to mitigate the impact of severe weather events and maintain operations during such disruptions. These contingency plans are based on engagements and input with customers who may also be impacted by severe weather events.
Moreover, many of the Company’s customers are highly sophisticated, multinational organizations with severe weather emergency and disaster plans of their own, including steps to diversify their business operations and operate in multiple locations and geographies. While additional information regarding its largest customer is competitively sensitive, the Company notes that its largest customer is a multinational corporation operating globally with a diverse supply chain and distribution network designed to mitigate risks, including severe weather. The Company regularly engages with its largest customer on these and related matters. In addition, the Company regularly engages with its other major customers to understand customer demand forecasts and logistics. The Company’s regular engagements with customers enables the Company to monitor, assess and respond to risks in the Company’s supply chain, including potential weather-related risks, and enables the Company to take a proactive approach in identifying and mitigating potential disruptions caused by events such as severe weather.
First report after the company's reply of 2023-10-04: 10-Q filed 2023-11-01 ↗, against the 10-Q filed 2023-08-02 ↗.
Tickdelta does not hold the text of both reports, so they are not compared here.
We note your response to prior comment 4. Please tell us whether you expect to purchase carbon credits or offsets in future periods.
The Company does not currently have plans to purchase carbon credits or offsets in future periods. As noted in the Company’s Initial Response Letter, if the Company’s plans change in the future, the Company will disclose in future periods the purchase or sale of carbon credits or offsets if Material to the Company’s business, financial condition or results of operations. Read in the reply ↗
First report after the company's reply of 2023-10-04: 10-Q filed 2023-11-01 ↗, against the 10-Q filed 2023-08-02 ↗.
Tickdelta does not hold the text of both reports, so they are not compared here.
Also in this review: company letter, 2023-09-21, closing letter, 2023-10-17