Any inability to obtain, preserve,
enforce, defend and protect our technologies, intellectual property
rights and third-party licenses could harm our competitive
position.
Our ability to compete successfully and to achieve future growth
depends in part on the continued strength of our intellectual
property portfolio. While we actively enforce and protect our
intellectual property rights, there can be no assurance that our
efforts will be adequate to prevent the misappropriation or
improper use of our proprietary technologies, software, trade
secrets or know-how. Also,
we cannot assure you that, as our business or business models
expand into new areas, we will be able to develop independently the
technologies, patents, software, trade secrets or know-how necessary to conduct our
business or that we can do so without unknowingly infringing the
intellectual property rights of others. As a result, we may have to
rely on, to a certain degree, licensed technologies and patent
licenses from others. To the extent that we rely on licenses from
others, there can be no assurance that we will be able to obtain
any or all of the necessary licenses in the future on terms we
consider reasonable or at all. The lack of necessary licenses could
expose us to claims for damages and/or injunctions from third
parties, as well as claims for indemnification by our customers in
instances where we have contractually agreed to indemnify our
customers against damages resulting from infringement claims.
We have received, from time to time, communications from third
parties, including non-practicing entities and
semiconductor companies, asserting that our technologies, our
manufacturing processes, or the design IPs of the semiconductors
made by us or the use of those semiconductors by our customers may
infringe their patents or other intellectual property rights.
Because of the nature of the industry, our market position, and the
expansion of our manufacturing operations outside of Taiwan, we may
receive an increased number of such communications in the future.
The assertions made and lawsuits initiated by litigious,
well-funded, non-practicing
entities are particularly aggressive in their monetary demand and
in seeking court-issued injunctions. Such lawsuits and assertions
may increase our cost of doing business and may potentially be
extremely disruptive if these asserting entities succeed in
blocking the trade of products made and services offered by us. See
“Item 8. Financial Information – Legal Proceedings” for a further
discussion. Also, with the expansion of our manufacturing
operations into certain non-R.O.C jurisdictions, we have faced
increased challenges in managing risks of intellectual property
misappropriation. Despite our efforts to adopt robust measures to
mitigate the risk of intellectual property misappropriation in such
new jurisdictions, we cannot guarantee that the protection measures
we adopted will be sufficient to prevent us from potential
infringements by others, or at all.
If we fail to obtain or maintain certain technologies or
intellectual property licenses or fail to prevent our intellectual
property from being misappropriated and, if litigation relating to
alleged intellectual property matters occurs, it could:
(i) prevent us from manufacturing particular products or
selling particular services or applying particular technologies;
and (ii) reduce our ability to compete effectively against
entities benefiting from our misappropriated intellectual property,
which could reduce our opportunities to generate revenue.
Our operational results could also
be materially and adversely affected by disruptive events, such as
earthquakes and droughts, or by industrial accidents, in the
locations in which we, our customers or our suppliers
operate.
Disruptions caused by natural and man-made disasters, including
earthquakes, flooding, typhoons, droughts, tsunamis, sandstorms,
wildfires, volcanic eruptions, fire, gas/chemical leakage,
pandemic, cyber-attacks, sabotage, failure of critical facilities
and equipment, shortages in the supply of utilities, such as water,
electricity and natural gas, etc., could interrupt our operations.
Most of our production facilities, as well as those of many of our
suppliers, customers and upstream providers of complementary
semiconductor manufacturing services, are located in areas
susceptible to natural disasters and may face potential shortages
of electricity or water, which could cause interruptions to our
operations.
Thus, if one or more natural disasters result in a prolonged
disruption to our operations or those of our customers or
suppliers, or if any of our fabs or vendor facilities were to be
damaged or cease operations as a result of an unforeseen disruptive
event, it could reduce our manufacturing capacity and cause the
loss of important customers, and thereby have an adverse, material
impact on our operational and financial performance.
Our operation may be interrupted,
and our expansion may be limited, by power or other utility
shortages.
We have occasionally suffered power outages, dips or surges caused
by difficulties encountered by our electricity supplier or other
power consumers on the same power grid. Some of these have resulted
in interruptions to our operations. Such shortages or interruptions
in electricity supply could further be exacerbated by changes in
the energy policy of the governments. If we are unable to secure
reliable and uninterrupted supply of electricity to power our
manufacturing fabs, our ability to fill customers’ orders would be
jeopardized.
In addition, severe weather events, such as droughts, and any
measures taken by governments in response to such severe weather
events, may materially affect our operations. For further
information, see “— Our operational results could also be
materially and adversely affected by disruptive events, such as
earthquakes and droughts, or by industrial accidents, in the
locations in which we, our customers or our suppliers operate.”
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