Item 1A. Risk Factors
Risks, Uncertainties and Other Factors That May Affect Future Results
Risks Related to Our Business
Uncertainty in general economic conditions may adversely affect our operating results and financial condition.
Our business is sensitive to negative changes in general economic conditions, both inside and outside the United States. Global and regional economic uncertainty, inflation, potential recession or depression has and may continue to impact our business, resulting in:
•increased cost to manufacture products or deliver solutions;
•reduced customer purchasing power;
•reduced demand for our solutions and services and reduced, delayed or canceled orders;
•increased risk of excess and obsolete inventory;
•increased price pressure on our solutions and services; and
•greater risk of impairment to the value, and a detriment to the liquidity, of our future investment portfolio.
In addition, global and regional macroeconomic developments, such as increased unemployment, decreased income, uncertainty related to future economic activity, volatility in financial markets, reduced access to credit, increased interest rates, volatility in capital markets, decreased liquidity, uncertain or destabilizing national election results in the U.S., Europe, and Asia, and negative changes or volatility in general economic conditions in the U.S., Europe, and Asia could negatively affect our ability to conduct business in those territories. Financial difficulties experienced by our suppliers and customers, including distributors, due to economic volatility or negative changes could result in product delays, reduced purchasing power, delays in payment or inability to pay us, and inventory issues. Economic risks related to accounts receivable could result in delays in collection and greater bad debt expense.
Economic, political, and other risks associated with international sales and operations could adversely affect our results of operations.
Because we operate our businesses and sell our solutions worldwide, our business is subject to risks associated with doing business internationally. We anticipate that revenue from international operations will continue to represent a majority of our total revenue. However, there can be no assurances that our international sales will continue at existing levels or grow in accordance with our effort to increase foreign market penetration. In addition, many of our employees, contract manufacturers, suppliers and manufacturing facilities are located outside the United States. Accordingly, our future results could be harmed by a variety of factors, including, but not limited to:
•inability to conduct business in certain countries or regions or with certain customers due to U.S. sanctions or trade restrictions;
•inability to sell certain products, technologies, or services to countries, regions, facilities, or customers due to U.S. sanctions or trade restrictions;
•changes in a specific country's or region's political, economic or other conditions, including but not limited to changes that favor national interests and economic volatility;
•negative consequences from changes in tax laws;
•difficulty in protecting intellectual property;
•injunctions or exclusion orders related to intellectual property disputes;
•interruptions to transportation flows for delivery of parts to us and finished goods to our customers;
•changes in foreign currency exchange rates;
•difficulty in staffing and managing foreign operations;
•local competition;
•differing labor regulations;
•unexpected changes in regulatory requirements;
•inadequate local infrastructure;
•negative impact of economic and political measures taken by a country to contain the spread of global pandemic conditions;
•potential incidences of corruption and fraudulent business practices; and
•volatile geopolitical turmoil, including popular uprisings, regional conflicts, terrorism, and war.
We centralize most of our accounting processes at two locations: India and Malaysia. If conditions change in those countries, it may adversely affect operations, including impairing our ability to pay our suppliers. Our results of operations, as well as our liquidity, may be adversely affected and possible delays may occur in reporting financial results.
Further, even if we are able to successfully manage the risks of international operations, our business may be adversely affected if our business partners are not able to successfully manage similar risks.
Economic and political policies favoring national interests could adversely affect our results of operations.
Nationalistic economic policies and political trends such as opposition to globalization and free trade, sanctions or trade restrictions, including those on advanced computing and semiconductor manufacturing, withdrawal from or re-negotiation of global trade agreements, tax policies that favor domestic industries and interests, and other similar actions may result in increased transaction costs, reduced ability to hire employees, reduced access to supplies and materials, reduced demand or access to customers, and inability to conduct our operations as they have been conducted historically. Each of these factors may adversely affect our business.
International trade disputes and increased tariffs between the United States and the United Kingdom, the European Union, Singapore, Malaysia and China, among other countries could substantially change our expectations and ability to operate in such jurisdictions as we have done historically. Many of our suppliers, vendors, customers, partners, and other entities with whom we do business have strong ties to doing business in China. Their ability to supply materials to us, buy products or services from us, or otherwise work with us is affected by their ability to do business in China. If the U.S.’s relationship with China results in additional trade disputes, trade protection measures, retaliatory actions, tariffs and increased barriers, policies that favor domestic industries, or increased import or export licensing requirements or restrictions, then our deployment of resources in jurisdictions affected by such measures could be misaligned and our operations may be adversely affected due to such changes in the economic and political ecosystem in which our suppliers, vendors, customers, partners, and other entities with whom we do business operate.
Volatile geopolitical turmoil, including popular uprisings, regional conflicts, terrorism and war could result in market instability, which could negatively impact our business results.
We are a global company with international operations, and we sell our products and solutions in countries throughout the world. Regional conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which resulted in economic sanctions and the decision to discontinue our operations in Russia, the war between Israel and Hamas, and the risk of increased tensions between China and Taiwan, could limit or prohibit our ability to transfer certain technologies, to sell our products and solutions, and could result in additional closure of facilities in sanctioned countries. In addition, international conflict has resulted in increased pressure on the supply chain and could further result in increased energy costs, which could increase the cost of manufacturing, selling and delivering products and solutions; inflation, which has resulted in increases in the cost of manufacturing products and solutions, reduced customer purchasing power, increased price pressure, and reduced or cancelled orders; increased risk of cybersecurity attacks; and market instability, which could adversely impact our financial results.
Our operating results and financial condition could be harmed if the markets into which we sell our solutions decline or do not grow as anticipated.
Visibility into our markets is limited. Our quarterly sales and operating results are highly dependent on the volume and timing of technology-related spending and orders received during the fiscal quarter, which are difficult to forecast and may be cancelled by our customers. In addition, our revenues and earnings forecasts for future fiscal quarters are often based on the expected seasonality or cyclicality of our markets. However, due to the uncertainties and volatile economic environment created by inflation, the potential for recession, increased geopolitical tensions, including regional conflict and war, the markets we serve may experience increased volatility and may not experience the seasonality or cyclicality that we expect. Our customers’ markets may also be affected by changes in the legal regulatory regime. Any decline in our customers’ markets would likely result in a reduction in demand for our solutions and services. If our customers’ markets decline, orders may decline, may be delayed or cancelled, and we may not be able to collect on outstanding amounts due to us. Such declines could harm our financial position, results of operations, cash flows and stock price, and could limit our profitability. In such an environment, pricing pressures could intensify. Since a significant portion of our operating expenses is relatively fixed in nature due to sales, R&D and manufacturing costs, if we were unable to respond quickly enough, these pricing pressures could further reduce our operating margins.
A decreased demand for our customers’ products or trade restrictions could adversely affect our results of operations.
Our business depends on our customers’ ability to manufacture, design, and sell their products in the marketplace. International trade disputes affecting our customers could adversely affect our business. Tariffs on imports to or from China could increase the cost of our customers’ components and raw materials, which could make our customers’ products and services more expensive and could reduce demand for our customers’ products. Protectionist and retaliatory trade measures by either China or the United States could limit our customers’ ability to sell their products and services and could reduce demand for our customers’ products. Our customers and other entities in our customer chain could decide to take actions in response to international trade disputes that we could not foresee. A decrease in demand or significant change in operations from our customers due to international trade disputes could adversely affect our operating results and financial condition.
In addition to the above, our customers and suppliers have become subject to U.S. export restrictions and sanctions, such as being added to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s “Lists of Parties of Concern” and having U.S. export privileges denied or suspended. When a customer or supplier of ours becomes subject to such sanctions, we suspend our business with such customer or supplier. Because of the continued tense political and economic relationship between the U.S. and China and between the U.S. and Russia, new restrictions or sanctions have been imposed with little notice, which could leave us without an adequate alternative solution to compensate for our inability to continue to do business with such customer or supplier. Some of our suppliers and customers in the supply chain are working on unique solutions and products in the market, and it may be difficult if not impossible to replace them, especially with short notice. We cannot predict what impact future sanctions could have on our customers or suppliers, and therefore, our business. Any export restrictions or sanctions and any tariffs or other trade restriction imposed on our customers or suppliers could adversely affect our financial condition and business.
Failure to introduce successful new solutions and services in a timely manner to address increased competition, rapid technological changes, and changing industry standards could result in our solutions and services becoming obsolete.
We generally sell our solutions in industries that are characterized by increased competition through frequent new solution and service introductions, rapid technological changes and innovations (such as artificial intelligence and machine learning) and changing industry standards. In addition, many of the markets in which we operate are seasonal and cyclical. Without the timely introduction of new solutions, services and enhancements, our solutions and services will become technologically obsolete over time, in which case our revenue and operating results would suffer. Our ability to offer new solutions and services and to deploy them in a timely manner depend on several factors, including, but not limited to, our ability to:
•properly identify and assess customer needs;
•innovate and develop new technologies, services and applications;
•successfully commercialize new technologies in a timely manner;
•manufacture and deliver our solutions in sufficient volumes and on time;
•differentiate our offerings from our competitors' offerings;
•price our solutions competitively;
•anticipate our competitors' development of new solutions, services or technological innovations; and
•control product quality in our manufacturing process.
Our future operating results may fluctuate significantly if our investments in innovative technologies are not as profitable as we anticipate.
On a regular basis, we review the existing technologies available in the market and identify strategic new technologies to develop and invest in. We are currently devoting significant resources to new technologies in the communications, aerospace and defense, automotive, Internet of Things, and mobile industries. We are investing in R&D, developing relationships with customers and suppliers, and directing our corporate and operational resources to grow within these innovative technologies. Our income could be harmed if we fail to expand our customer base, if demand for our solutions is lower than we expect, or if our income related to the innovative technologies is lower than we anticipate. We provide solutions for the design, development, and manufacturing stages of our customers’ workflow. Our customers who currently use our solutions in one stage of their workflow may not use our solutions in other aspects of their manufacturing process.
Failure to adjust our purchases due to changing market conditions or failure to estimate our customers’ demand could adversely affect our income.
Our income could be harmed if we are unable to adjust our purchases to address market fluctuations, including those caused by volatile global economic conditions, geopolitical conflict, or the seasonal or cyclical nature of the markets in which we operate. The sale of our solutions and services are dependent, to a large degree, on customers whose industries are subject to seasonal or cyclical trends in the demand for their products. For example, the consumer electronics market is particularly volatile, making demand difficult to anticipate. Making such estimations in an economic climate affected by inflation or potential recession, fluctuations in global currency, geopolitical tension and war is particularly difficult as increased volatility may impact seasonal trends making it more difficult to anticipate demand fluctuations. Supply chain fluctuations could impact our ability to purchase parts and components. Some parts require custom design and may not be readily available from alternate suppliers due to their unique design or the length of time necessary for design work. Should a supplier cease manufacturing such a component, we would be forced to re-engineer our solution. In addition to discontinuing parts, suppliers may also extend lead times, limit supplies or increase prices due to capacity constraints or other factors. In order to secure components for the production of products, we may continue to enter into non-cancellable purchase commitments with vendors, or at times make advance payments to suppliers, which could impact our ability to adjust our inventory to declining market demands. Prior commitments of this type have resulted in an excess of parts when demand for electronic products has decreased. If demand for our solutions is less than we expect, we may experience additional excess and obsolete inventories and be forced to incur additional charges.
Dependence on contract manufacturing and outsourcing other portions of our supply chain may adversely affect our ability to bring solutions to market and damage our reputation. Dependence on outsourced information technology and other administrative functions may impair our ability to operate effectively.
As part of our efforts to streamline operations and to cut costs, we outsource aspects of our manufacturing processes and other functions and continue to evaluate additional outsourcing. If our contract manufacturers or other outsourcers fail to perform their obligations in a timely manner or at satisfactory quality levels, our ability to bring solutions to market and our reputation could suffer. For example, during a market upturn, our contract manufacturers may be unable to meet our demand requirements, which may preclude us from fulfilling our customers’ orders on a timely basis. The ability of these manufacturers to perform is largely outside of our control. Additionally, changing or replacing our contract manufacturers or other outsourced vendors could cause disruptions or delays. In addition, we outsource significant portions of our information technology ("IT") and other administrative functions. Since IT is critical to our operations, any failure of our IT providers to perform could impair our ability to operate effectively. In addition to the risks outlined above, problems with manufacturing or IT outsourcing could result in lower revenues and unrealized efficiencies and could impact our results of operations and stock price. Much of our outsourcing takes place in developing countries and, as a result, may be subject to geopolitical uncertainty.
Our operating results may suffer if our manufacturing capacity does not match the demand for our solutions.
Because we cannot immediately adapt our production capacity and related cost structures to rapidly changing market conditions, when demand is lower than our expectations, our manufacturing capacity will likely exceed our production requirements. During a general market upturn or an upturn in our business, if we cannot increase our manufacturing capacity to meet product demand, we will not be able to fulfill orders in a timely manner, which could lead to order cancellations, contract breaches or indemnification obligations. This inability could materially and adversely limit our ability to improve our income, margin and operating results. By contrast, if, during an economic downturn, we had excess manufacturing capacity, then our fixed costs associated with excess manufacturing capacity would adversely affect our income, margins and operating results.
Key customers or large orders may expose us to additional business and legal risks that could have a material adverse impact on our operating results and financial condition.
As a global company, we have key customers all over the world, although no one customer makes up more than 10 percent of our revenue. Sales to those customers could be reduced or eliminated as a result of failure to respond to customer needs, reduced customer demand, increased sales to our competitors, inability to manufacture or ship products and solutions, supply chain constraints, trade restrictions, sanctions and embargoes. We have experienced forced reductions in sales and been prevented from selling large orders to certain key customers due to trade restrictions, which we have been able to mitigate with the addition of new customers and new business. If we have future reductions in sales or lose key customers, there is no guarantee that we will be able to mitigate the impact of such reductions or losses, which could negatively impact our income, operating results and financial condition.
Certain key customers have substantial purchasing power and leverage in negotiating contractual arrangements with us. These customers may demand contract terms that differ considerably from our standard terms and conditions. Large orders may also include severe contractual liabilities if we fail to provide the quantity and quality of product at the required delivery times or fail to meet other obligations. While we attempt to contractually limit our potential liability, we may agree to some or all of these provisions to secure these orders and grow our business. Such actions expose us to significant additional risks, which could result in a material adverse impact on our operating results and financial condition.
Industry consolidation and consolidation among our customer base may lead to increased competition and may harm our operating results.
There is potential for industry consolidation in our markets. As companies attempt to expand, strengthen or hold their market positions in an evolving industry, companies could be acquired or may be unable to continue operations. Companies that are strategic alliance partners in some areas of our business may acquire or form alliances with our competitors, thereby reducing their business with us. Industry consolidation may result in stronger competitors and could lead to more variability in our operating results and could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, and financial condition. Furthermore, particularly in the communications market, rapid consolidation would lead to fewer customers, with the effect that loss of a major customer could have a material impact on results not anticipated in a customer marketplace composed of more numerous participants.
Additionally, if there is consolidation among our customer base, our customers may be able to command increased leverage in negotiating prices and other terms of sale, which could adversely affect our profitability. If, as a result of increased leverage, customer pressures require us to reduce our pricing such that our gross margins are diminished, we could decide not to sell our solutions under such less favorable terms, which would decrease our revenue. Consolidation among our customer base may also lead to reduced demand for our solutions, replacement of our products by the combined entity with those of our competitors and cancellations of orders, each of which could harm our operating results.
Our acquisitions, strategic alliances, joint ventures, internal reorganizations and divestitures may result in financial results that are different than expected.
In the normal course of business, we may engage in discussions with third parties relating to possible acquisitions, strategic alliances, joint ventures and divestitures. Additionally, we occasionally make changes to our internal structure to align business products, services and solutions with market demands and to obtain cost synergies and operational efficiencies. As a result of such transactions, our financial results may differ from our own or the investment community’s expectations in a given fiscal quarter, or over the long term. If market conditions or other factors lead us to change our strategic direction, we may not realize the expected value from such transactions or reorganizations. Further, such third-party transactions often have post-closing arrangements, including, but not limited to, post-closing adjustments, transition services, escrows or indemnifications, the financial results of which can be difficult to predict. In addition, acquisitions and strategic alliances may require us to integrate a different company culture, management team, employees and business infrastructure into our existing operations without impacting the business operations of the newly acquired company. We may have difficulty developing, manufacturing and marketing the products of a newly acquired company in a way that enhances performance and expands the markets of the newly acquired company. The acquired company may not enhance the performance of our businesses or product lines such that we do not realize the value from expected synergies. Depending on the size and complexity of an acquisition, the successful integration of the entity depends on a variety of factors, including but not limited to:
•the achievement of anticipated cost savings, synergies, business opportunities and growth prospects from combining the acquired company;
•the scalability of production, manufacturing and marketing of products of a newly acquired company to broader adjacent markets;
•the ability to cohesively integrate operations, product definitions, price lists, contract terms and conditions, delivery, and technical support for products and solutions of a newly acquired company into our existing operations;
•the compatibility of our infrastructure, operations, policies and organizations with those of the acquired company;
•the retention of key employees and/or customers;
•the management of facilities and employees in different geographic areas; and
•the management of relationships with our strategic partners, suppliers, and customer base.
If we do not realize the expected benefits or synergies of such transactions, our consolidated financial position, results of operations, cash flows and stock price could be negatively impacted. Additionally, we may record significant goodwill and other assets as a result of acquisitions or investments, and we may be required to incur impairment charges, which could adversely affect our consolidated financial position and results of operations.
Any inability to complete acquisitions on acceptable terms could negatively impact our growth rate and financial performance.
Our ability to grow revenues, earnings and cash flow depends in part upon our ability to identify and successfully acquire and integrate businesses at appropriate prices and realize anticipated synergies and business performance. Appropriate targets for acquisition are difficult to identify and complete for a variety of reasons, including, but not limited to, limited due
diligence, high valuations, difficulty obtaining business and intellectual property evaluations, other interested parties, negotiations of the definitive documentation, satisfaction of closing conditions, the need to obtain antitrust or other regulatory approvals on acceptable terms, and availability of funding. The inability to close appropriate acquisitions on acceptable terms could adversely impact our growth rate, revenue, and financial performance.
We may need additional financing in the future to meet our capital needs or to make opportunistic acquisitions, and such financing may not be available on terms favorable to us, if at all, and may be dilutive to existing shareholders.
We may need to seek additional financing for our general corporate purposes. For example, we may need to increase our investment in R&D activities or need funds to make acquisitions. We may be unable to obtain any desired additional financing on terms favorable to us, if at all. If adequate funds are not available on acceptable terms, we may be unable to fund our expansion, successfully develop or enhance solutions or respond to competitive pressures, any of which could negatively affect our business. If we finance acquisitions by issuing convertible debt or equity securities, our existing stockholders may experience share dilution, which could affect the market price of our stock. If we raise additional funds through the issuance of equity securities, our shareholders will experience dilution of their ownership interest. If we raise additional funds by issuing debt, we may be subject to further limitations on our operations and ability to pay dividends due to restrictive covenants.
We have outstanding debt and may incur other debt in the future, which could adversely affect our financial condition, liquidity and results of operations.
We currently have outstanding debt as well as availability to borrow under a revolving credit facility. We may borrow additional amounts in the future and use the proceeds from any future borrowing for general corporate purposes, future acquisitions, expansion of our business or repurchases of our outstanding shares of common stock.
Our incurrence of debt, and increases in our aggregate levels of debt, may adversely affect our operating results and financial condition by, among other things:
•requiring a portion of our cash flow from operations to make interest payments on outstanding debt;
•increasing our vulnerability to general adverse economic and industry conditions;
•reducing the cash flow available to fund capital expenditures and other corporate purposes and to grow our business; and
•limiting our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business and the industry.
Our current revolving credit facility imposes restrictions on us, including restrictions on our ability to create liens on our assets and the ability of our subsidiaries to incur indebtedness, and requires us to maintain compliance with specified financial ratios. Our ability to comply with these ratios may be affected by events beyond our control. In addition, the indenture governing our senior notes contains covenants that may adversely affect our ability to incur certain liens. If we breach any of the covenants and do not obtain a waiver from the lenders, then, subject to applicable cure periods, our outstanding indebtedness could be declared immediately due and payable.
Volatility in currency exchange rates could adversely impact our financial results.
A substantial amount of our solutions are priced and paid for in U.S. Dollars, although many of our solutions are priced in local currencies and a significant amount of certain types of expenses, such as payroll, utilities, tax and marketing expenses, are paid in local currencies and could be impacted by significant currency exchange rate fluctuations. Our hedging programs are designed to reduce, but not entirely eliminate, within any given 12-month period, the impact of currency exchange rate movements, including those caused by currency controls, which could impact our business, operating results and financial condition by resulting in lower revenue or increased expenses. However, for expenses beyond a 12-month period, our hedging strategy will not mitigate our exchange rate risk. In addition, our currency hedging programs involve third-party financial institutions as counterparties. The weakening or failure of these counterparties may adversely affect our hedging programs and our financial condition through, among other things, a reduction in the number of available counterparties, increasingly unfavorable terms or the failure of counterparties to perform under hedging contracts.
We are or will be subject to ongoing tax examinations of our tax returns by the IRS and other tax authorities. An adverse outcome of any such audit or examination by the IRS or other tax authority could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition and liquidity.
We are or will be subject to ongoing tax examinations of our tax returns by the IRS and other tax authorities in various jurisdictions. We regularly assess the likelihood of adverse outcomes resulting from ongoing tax examinations to determine the adequacy of our provision for income taxes. These assessments can require considerable estimates and judgments. Intercompany transactions associated with the sale of inventory, services, intellectual property and cost sharing arrangements
are complex and affect our tax liabilities. The calculation of our tax liabilities involves uncertainties in the application of complex tax laws and regulations in multiple jurisdictions. The outcomes of these tax examinations could have an adverse effect on our operating results and financial condition. Due to the complexity of tax contingencies, the ultimate resolution of any tax matters related to operations may result in payments greater or less than amounts accrued.
Our effective tax rate may be adversely impacted by changes in our business mix or changes in the tax legislative landscape.
Our effective tax rate may be adversely impacted by, among other things, changes in the mix of our earnings among countries with differing statutory tax rates, changes in the valuation allowance of deferred tax assets, and changes in tax laws. We cannot give any assurance as to what our effective tax rate will be in the future because, among other things, there is uncertainty regarding the tax policies of the jurisdictions where we operate. Changes in tax laws, such as tax reform in the United States or changes in tax laws resulting from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (“OECD”) multi-jurisdictional plan of action to address “base erosion and profit shifting” and the taxation of the “Digital Economy,” could impact our effective tax rate.
If tax laws or incentives change or cease to be in effect, our income taxes could increase significantly.
We are subject to federal, state, and local taxes in the United States and numerous foreign jurisdictions. We devote significant resources to evaluating our tax positions and our worldwide provision for taxes. Any changes to the positions we have taken could result in an impact to our financial statements. Our financial results and tax treatment are susceptible to changes in tax, accounting, and other laws, including the Inflation Reduction Act and The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in the U.S, regulations, principles, and interpretations in the United States and in other jurisdictions where we do business. With the existence of economic and political policies that favor domestic interests, it is possible that more countries will enact tax laws that either increase the tax rates, or reduce or change the tax incentives available to multinational companies like ours. Upon a change in tax laws in any territory where we do significant business, we may not be able to maintain our current tax rate or qualify for or maintain the benefits of any tax incentives offered, to the extent such incentives are offered.
Keysight benefits from tax incentives in several jurisdictions, most significantly in Singapore and Malaysia, that will expire at various times in the future. The tax incentives provide lower rates of taxation on certain classes of income and require thresholds of investments and employment in those jurisdictions. If we cannot or do not wish to satisfy all or portions of the tax incentives conditions, we may lose the related tax incentives and could be required to refund the benefits that the tax incentives previously provided. We believe that we will satisfy such conditions, but cannot guarantee that the tax environment will not change or that such conditions will be satisfied. The Singapore tax incentive expires July 31, 2024, and the Malaysia incentive expires October 31, 2025.
Our taxes could increase if the existing Singapore or Malaysia incentives are revoked or are not renewed upon expiration. We cannot guarantee that we will qualify for any new incentive regime that may exist going forward. As a result, our effective tax rate could be higher than it would have been had we renewed the tax incentives and could harm our operating results after tax.
Global health crises, could have a material impact on our global operations, our customers and our vendors, which could adversely impact our business results and financial condition.
Global health crises could have a material impact on our global operations, our employees, our customers and our vendors, which could adversely impact our business results and financial conditions. For example, the continued evolution of COVID-19 and its variants, as well as periodic spikes in infection rates, local outbreaks on our sites or supplier, customer or vendor sites, in spite of safety measures or vaccinations, could cause disruptions to our operations or those of our suppliers, customers or vendors. Pandemic conditions could lead to global supply chain challenges, which could adversely impact our ability to procure certain components and could impact our ability to manufacture products and cause delays in delivery of our solutions to our customers. As new variants of viruses appear, especially variants that are more easily spread, cause more serious outcomes, or are resistant to existing vaccines, new health orders and safety protocols could further impact our on-site operations and our ability to manufacture, ship or deliver products and solutions to customers.
These factors could materially and negatively impact our business results, operations, revenue, growth and overall financial condition.
Volatile changes in weather conditions and effects of climate change could damage or destroy strategic facilities, including our headquarters, which could have a significant negative impact on our operations.
We and our customers and suppliers are vulnerable to the increasing impact of climate change. Volatile changes in weather conditions, including extreme heat or cold, could increase the risk of wildfires, floods, blizzards, hurricanes and other weather-related disasters. Such extreme weather events can cause power outages and network disruptions that may result in disruption to operations and may impact our ability to manufacture and ship products, which may negatively impact revenue. Disasters created by extreme conditions could cause significant damage to or destruction of our facilities, including our
headquarters, resulting in temporary or long-term closures of our facilities and operations and significant expense for repair or replacement of damaged or destroyed facilities. This could also result in loss or damage to employee homes, employees relocating to other parts of the country or being unwilling to relocate to strategic locations, housing shortages and loss of or inability to recruit key employees. This could result in adverse impact to the available workforce, damage to or destruction of inventory, inability to manufacture and deliver solutions, cancellation of orders, and breaches of customer contracts leading to reduced revenue.
If we suffer a loss to our factories, facilities or distribution system due to a catastrophic event, our operations could be significantly harmed.
Our factories, facilities and distribution system are vulnerable to catastrophic loss due to natural or man-made disasters. Several of our facilities could be subject to a catastrophic loss caused by earthquake or other natural disasters due to their locations. For example, our production facilities, headquarters and laboratories in California and our production facilities in Japan are all located in areas with above-average seismic activity. If any of these facilities were to experience a catastrophic loss, it could disrupt our operations, delay production, shipments and revenue and result in large expenses to repair or replace the facility. In addition, since we have consolidated our manufacturing facilities, we are more likely to experience an interruption to our operations in the event of a catastrophe in any one location. Although we carry insurance for property damage and business interruption, we do not carry insurance or financial reserves for interruptions or potential losses arising from earthquakes or terrorism. Even where insured, there is a risk that an insurer may deny or limit coverage or may become financially incapable of covering claims. Also, our third-party insurance coverage will vary from time to time in both type and amount depending on availability, cost and our decisions with respect to risk retention. Economic conditions and uncertainties in global markets may adversely affect the cost and other terms upon which we are able to obtain third-party insurance. If our third-party insurance coverage is adversely affected, or to the extent we have elected to self-insure, we may be at a greater risk that our operations will be harmed by a catastrophic loss.
Our commitment to net zero emissions in company operations by fiscal year 2040 will be subject to significant costs and regulations, which could impact business operations, processes, revenue, and reputation.
In May 2021, the company disclosed its commitment to achieving net zero Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by the end of fiscal year 2040. The company plans to meet this commitment by reducing energy consumption through efficiency and conservation measures, investments in renewable energy and selective purchase of certified offsets for residual emissions. The company also committed in September 2021 to developing approved science-based targets in line with limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. In addition to Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions defined by our net zero goal, the company has developed Scope 3 reduction and engagement targets across relevant categories as part of our commitment to science-based targets, which were approved by Science Based Target Initiative ("SBTi") on October 27, 2023. The development and implementation of goals and targets may require significant and expensive capital improvements, changes in product development, manufacturing processes and shipping methods. These changes may materially increase the cost to manufacture and ship products and solutions, result in price increases to customers, reduce product or solution performance, and create customer dissatisfaction, potentially adversely impacting our revenue and profitability.
Achieving net zero emissions goals and targets may entail compliance with evolving laws and regulatory requirements, which may cause us to change or reconfigure facilities and operations to meet regulatory standards. If operations are out of compliance, we may be subject to civil or criminal actions, fines and penalties and be required to make significant changes to facilities and operations and temporarily or permanently shut down non-compliant operations, which could result in business disruption and significant unexpected expense, delays in or inability to develop, manufacture and ship products and solutions, customer dissatisfaction, loss of revenue and damage to our reputation.
If we are unable to sufficiently reduce Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions through energy reduction measures or our investments in renewable energy are not successful, we may fail to achieve our net zero emission commitment by fiscal year 2040. If we are unable to achieve Scope 3 reduction and engagement targets, we may fail to achieve our commitment to science-based targets. Failing to achieve the company’s net zero or science-based targets commitments could result in regulatory non-compliance, criminal or civil actions against us, assessment of fees and penalties, inability to develop, manufacture and ship products, customer dissatisfaction with our products and solutions, reduced revenue and profitability, shareholder lawsuits and damage to our reputation.
Third parties may claim that we are infringing their intellectual property rights, and we could suffer significant litigation or licensing expenses or be prevented from selling solutions or services.
From time to time parties have claimed that one or more of our solutions or services infringe their intellectual property rights. We analyze and take action in response to such claims on a case-by-case basis. On January 1, 2022, Centripetal Networks filed a lawsuit in Federal District Court in Virginia, alleging that certain Keysight products infringe certain of Centripetal’s patents. In addition, in February 2022, Centripetal filed complaints in Germany alleging infringement of certain of
Centripetal’s German patents, and in April 2022, Centripetal filed a complaint with the International Trade Commission (“ITC”) requesting that they investigate whether Keysight violated Section 337 of the Tariff Act (“Section 337”) and should be enjoined from importing certain products that are manufactured outside of the U.S. which are alleged to infringe Centripetal patents. On December 5, 2023, the ITC issued its Notice of Determination that Keysight did not unfairly import products in violation of Section 337 and the investigation was terminated. Centripetal has appealed this determination. Although we deny the allegations and are aggressively defending each case, the outcome of existing proceedings, lawsuits and claims may differ from our expectations because the outcomes of litigation are often difficult to reliably predict.
Disputes and litigation regarding patents or other intellectual property are costly and time-consuming due to the complexity of our technology and the uncertainty of intellectual property litigation and could divert our management and key personnel from business operations. Claims of intellectual property infringement could cause us to enter into a costly or restrictive license agreement (which may not be available under acceptable terms, or at all), require us to redesign certain of our solutions (which would be costly and time-consuming) and/or subject us to significant damages or an injunction against the development, sale and importation of certain solutions or services. In certain of our businesses, we rely on third-party intellectual property licenses, and we cannot ensure that these licenses will be available to us in the future on terms favorable to us or at all.
Third parties may infringe our intellectual property rights, and we may suffer competitive injury or expend significant resources enforcing our intellectual property rights.
Our success depends in part on our proprietary technology, including technology we obtained through acquisitions. We rely on various intellectual property rights, including patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets, as well as confidentiality provisions and licensing arrangements, to establish our proprietary rights. If we do not enforce our intellectual property rights successfully, our competitive position may suffer, which could harm our operating results.
Our pending patent, copyright and trademark registration applications may not be allowed or competitors may challenge the validity or scope of our patents, copyrights or trademarks. In addition, our patents, copyrights, trademarks and other intellectual property rights may not provide us with a significant competitive advantage. Different jurisdictions vary widely in the level of protection and priority they give to trademark and other intellectual property rights.
We may be required to spend significant resources monitoring our intellectual property rights, and we may or may not be able to detect infringement of such rights by third parties. Our competitive position may be harmed if we cannot detect infringement and enforce our intellectual property rights in a timely manner, or at all. In some circumstances, we may choose to not pursue enforcement due to a variety of reasons. In addition, competitors may avoid infringement by designing around our intellectual property rights or by developing non-infringing competing technologies. Intellectual property rights and our ability to enforce them may be unavailable or limited in some countries, which could make it easier for competitors to infringe our intellectual property rights, capture market share and could result in lost revenues to the company. Furthermore, some of our intellectual property is licensed to others, which allows them to compete with us using that intellectual property.
If we experience a significant cybersecurity attack or disruption in our IT systems or our software products, our business, reputation, and operating results could be adversely affected.
We rely on several centralized IT systems to provide solutions and services, maintain financial records, retain sensitive data such as intellectual property, proprietary business information, and data related to customers, suppliers, and business partners, process orders, manage inventory, process shipments to customers and operate other critical functions. The ongoing maintenance and security of this information is pertinent to the success of our business operations and our strategic goals.
Despite our implementation of network security measures, our network may be vulnerable to cybersecurity attacks, computer viruses, break-ins and similar disruptions. Our network security measures include, but are not limited to, the implementation of firewalls, antivirus protection, patches, log monitors, routine backups, offsite storage, network audits, employee training and routine updates and modifications. Despite our efforts to create these security barriers, we may not be able to keep pace as new threats emerge, and it is virtually impossible for us to entirely eliminate this risk. Cybersecurity attacks are evolving and include, but are not limited to, ransomware attacks, malicious software, attempts to gain unauthorized access to data, and other electronic security breaches that could lead to disruptions in systems, unauthorized release of confidential or otherwise protected information and corruption of data. Any such event could have a material adverse effect on our business, reputation, operating results and financial condition, and no assurance can be given that our efforts to reduce the risk of such attacks will be successful.
Our software products may contain vulnerabilities that could be exploited by cybersecurity attackers, allowing them to introduce malicious code into our products to gain access to customer networks. Such attacks could lead to disruptions to our customers’ operations or processes, system downtime, financial loss, loss of their intellectual property, business information and proprietary data, or corruption of data, which could impact Keysight’s reputation, and result in loss of confidence in our products, loss of orders, and loss in revenue, which could materially impact our financial results. We proactively scan for
vulnerabilities in our product lines. When vulnerabilities are discovered, we respond with a predefined Product Security Response Process to address the vulnerability, but we cannot eliminate the possibility of a successful cybersecurity attack or exploitation of undiscovered vulnerabilities.
In an effort to improve information security, governments may enact rules, regulations, standards and attestation requirements. These requirements may be unclear, onerous, and compliance may be burdensome and costly. Additionally, the requirements may vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and may include differing or conflicting requirements. Compliance with the requirements could impact both the order availability of existing products as well as the introduction timing of new products, which could cause customers to stop purchasing our solutions and could impact our revenue and profits. The failure to comply with such requirements, once enacted, may result in lost orders, reduced revenue, fines, penalties and damage to our reputation.
In addition, our IT systems may be susceptible to damage, disruptions, instability, or shutdowns due to power outages, hardware failures, telecommunication failures, user errors, implementation of new operational systems or software or upgrades to existing systems and software, catastrophes, or other unforeseen events. Such events could result in the disruption of business processes, network degradation and system downtime, along with the potential that a third party will exploit our critical assets, such as intellectual property, proprietary business information and data related to our customers, suppliers and business partners. Further, such events could result in loss of revenue, loss of or reduction in purchase orders, inability to report financial information, litigation, regulatory fines and penalties, and other damage that could have a material impact on our business operations. To the extent that such disruptions occur, our customers and partners may lose confidence in our solutions, and we may lose business or brand reputation, resulting in a material and adverse effect on our business operating results and financial condition.
Our business will suffer if we are not able to retain and hire key personnel.
Our future success depends partly on the continued service of our key research, engineering, sales, marketing, manufacturing, executive and administrative personnel, including personnel joining our company through acquisitions. The markets in which we operate are dynamic, and from time to time we may need to respond with reorganizations, reductions in workforce, salary freezes or reductions, or site closings. We believe our pay levels are competitive within the regions in which we operate. However, global labor shortages, inflationary pressure on wages, and increased global attrition have intensified competition for talent in most fields across the geographic areas in which we operate, and it may become more difficult to retain key employees. If we fail to retain key personnel and are unable to hire highly qualified replacements, we may not be able to meet key objectives, such as launching effective product innovations and meeting financial goals and maintain or expand our business.
If we fail to maintain satisfactory compliance with certain regulations, we may be subject to substantial negative financial consequences and civil or criminal penalties.
We and our customers are subject to various significant international, federal, state and local regulations, including, but not limited to, export regulations, sanctions and embargoes, packaging, data privacy, product content, environmental, health and safety and labor. These regulations are complex, change frequently and may become more stringent over time. We have been required to incur significant expenses to comply with these regulations and to remedy violations of certain import/export regulations. Any future failure by us to comply with applicable government regulations could also result in cessation of our operations or portions of our operations, high financial penalties, product recalls or impositions of fines, and restrictions on our ability to carry on or expand our operations. If demand for our solutions is adversely affected or our costs increase, our business would suffer.
Our R&D, manufacturing and distribution operations involve the use of hazardous substances and are regulated under international, federal, state and local laws governing health and safety and the environment. We are also regulated under a number of international, federal, state and local laws regarding recycling, product packaging and product content requirements. We apply strict standards for protection of the environment and occupational health and safety inside and outside the United States, even where not subject to regulation imposed by foreign governments. We believe that our properties and operations at our facilities comply in all material respects with applicable environmental and occupational health and safety laws. In spite of these efforts, no assurance can be given that we will be compliant with all applicable environmental and workplace health and safety laws and regulations and violations could result in civil or criminal sanctions, fines and penalties.
We have developed internal data handling policies and practices to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) in the European Union and data privacy regulations similar to GDPR in other jurisdictions. Our existing business strategy does not rely on aggregating or selling personally identifiable information, and as a general matter Keysight does not process personally identifiable information on behalf of our customers. We devote resources to keep up with the changing regulatory environment on data privacy in the jurisdictions where we do business. There has been increased regulatory scrutiny of the use of "big data" techniques, machine learning and artificial intelligence. Despite our efforts, no assurance can be given
that we will be compliant with data privacy regulations. New laws, amendments, or interpretations of regulations, industry standards, and contractual obligations relating to data privacy may require us to incur additional costs and restrict our business operations. If we fail to comply with GDPR or other data privacy regulation, we may be subject to significant financial fines and civil or criminal penalties, and may suffer damage to our reputation or brand, which could adversely affect our business and financial results.
In addition, our products and operations are also often subject to the rules of industrial standards bodies, like the International Standards Organization, as well as regulation by other agencies such as the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. We also must comply with work safety rules. If we fail to adequately address any of these regulations, our businesses could be harmed.
Failure to comply with anti-corruption laws could adversely affect our business and result in financial penalties.
Because we have extensive international operations, we must comply with complex foreign and U.S. laws and regulations, such as the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the U.K. Bribery Act and other local laws prohibiting corrupt payments to governmental officials, and anti-competition regulations. Although we actively maintain policies and procedures designed to ensure ongoing compliance with these laws and regulations, there can be no assurance that our employees, contractors or agents will not violate these policies and procedures. Violations of these laws and regulations could result in fines and penalties, criminal sanctions, restrictions on our business conduct and on our ability to offer our solutions in one or more countries, and could also materially affect our brand, ability to attract and retain employees, international operations, business and operating results.
Our business and financial results may be adversely affected by various legal and regulatory proceedings.
We are subject to legal proceedings, lawsuits and other claims in the normal course of business and could become subject to additional claims in the future, some of which could be material. On January 1, 2022, Centripetal Networks filed a lawsuit in Federal District Court in Virginia, alleging that certain Keysight products infringe certain of Centripetal’s patents. In addition, in February 2022, Centripetal filed complaints in Germany alleging infringement of certain of Centripetal’s German patents, and in April 2022, Centripetal filed a complaint with the International Trade Commission (“ITC”) requesting that they investigate whether Keysight violated Section 377 of the Tariff Act and should be enjoined from importing certain products that are manufactured outside of the U.S. and alleged to infringe Centripetal patents. On December 5, 2023, the ITC issued its Notice of Determination that Keysight did not unfairly import products in violation of Section 337 and the investigation was terminated. Centripetal has appealed this determination.
Although we deny the allegations and are aggressively defending each case, the outcome of existing proceedings, lawsuits and claims may differ from our expectations because the outcomes of litigation are often difficult to reliably predict. Various factors or developments can lead us to change current estimates of liabilities and related insurance receivables where applicable, or permit us to make such estimates for matters previously not susceptible to reasonable estimates, such as a significant judicial ruling or judgment, a significant settlement, significant regulatory developments or changes in applicable law. A future adverse ruling, settlement or unfavorable development could result in charges that could adversely affect our business, operating results or financial condition.
Our internal controls may be determined to be ineffective, which may adversely affect investor confidence in our company, the value of our stock, and our access to capital.
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 requires us to furnish a report by management on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting, among other things. We devote significant resources and time to comply with such internal control over financial reporting requirements. However, we cannot be certain that these measures will ensure that we design, implement and maintain adequate control over our financial processes and reporting in the future, especially in the context of acquisitions of other businesses. Any difficulties in the assimilation of acquired businesses into our control system could harm our operating results or cause us to fail to meet our financial reporting obligations. Ineffective internal controls could also cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information, which could have a negative effect on the trading price of our stock or on our access to capital, or cause us to be subject to investigation or sanctions by the SEC.
Adverse conditions in the global banking industry and credit markets may adversely impact the value of our cash investments or impair our liquidity.
Our cash and cash equivalents are invested or held in a mix of money market funds, time deposit accounts and bank demand deposit accounts. Disruptions in the financial markets may, in some cases, result in an inability to access assets such as money market funds that traditionally have been viewed as highly liquid. Any failure of our counterparty financial institutions or funds in which we have invested may adversely impact our cash and cash equivalent positions and, in turn, our results and financial condition.
Future investment returns on pension assets may be lower than expected or interest rates may decline, requiring us to make significant additional cash contributions to our future plans.
We sponsor several defined benefit pension plans that cover many of our salaried and hourly employees. The Federal Pension Protection Act of 2006 requires that certain capitalization levels be maintained in each of the U.S. plans, and there may be similar funding requirements in the plans outside the United States. Because it is unknown what the investment return on and the fair value of our pension assets will be in future years or what interest rates and discount rates may be at any point in time, no assurances can be given that applicable law will not require us to make future material plan contributions. Any such contributions could adversely affect our financial condition.
Environmental contamination from past operations could subject us to unreimbursed costs and could harm on-site operations and the future use and value of the properties involved, and environmental contamination caused by ongoing operations could subject us to substantial liabilities in the future.
Some of our properties have been the subject of remediation by HP Inc. ("HP") for subsurface contaminations that were known at the time of Agilent's separation from HP in 1999. In connection with Agilent's separation from HP, HP and Agilent entered into an agreement pursuant to which HP agreed to retain the liability for this subsurface contamination, perform the required remediation and indemnify Agilent with respect to claims arising out of that contamination. Agilent has assigned its rights and obligations under this agreement to Keysight in respect of facilities transferred to us in the separation. As a result, HP will have access to a limited number of our properties to perform remediation. Although HP agreed to minimize interference with on-site operations at such properties, remediation activities and subsurface contamination may require us to incur unreimbursed costs and could harm on-site operations and the future use and value of the properties. In connection with the separation, Agilent will indemnify us directly for any liabilities related thereto. We cannot be sure that HP will continue to fulfill its remediation obligations or that Agilent will continue to fulfill its indemnification obligations.
On December 17, 2021, Keysight and HP signed a restrictive covenant related to our Santa Rosa facility that prohibits certain uses of the property (such as running a daycare facility, hospital or school) and terminates HP’s remediation obligation related to that facility. HP’s remediation obligations relating to Keysight’s Colorado Springs facility are ongoing.
Our current manufacturing processes involve the use of substances regulated under various international, federal, state and local laws governing the environment. As a result, we may become subject to liabilities for environmental contamination, and these liabilities may be substantial. Although our policy is to apply strict standards for environmental protection at our sites inside and outside the United States, even if the sites outside the United States are not subject to regulations imposed by foreign governments, we may not be aware of all conditions that could subject us to liability.
Risks Related to Our Common Stock
Our share price may fluctuate significantly.
Our common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE") under the ticker symbol “KEYS.” The market price of our common stock may fluctuate widely, depending on many factors, some of which may be beyond our control, including, but not limited to:
•actual or anticipated fluctuations in our operating results due to factors related to our business;
•success or failure of our business strategy;
•our quarterly or annual earnings, or those of other companies in our industry;
•our ability to obtain third-party financing as needed;
•announcements by us or our competitors of significant acquisitions or dispositions;
•changes in accounting standards, policies, guidance, interpretations or principles;
•the failure of securities analysts to cover our common stock;
•changes in earnings estimates by securities analysts or our ability to meet those estimates;
•the operating and share price performance of other comparable companies;
•investor perception of our company;
•natural or other disasters that investors believe may affect us;
•overall market fluctuations;
•results from any material litigation or government investigations;
•changes in laws or regulations affecting our business;
•changes to our tax rate that may affect our profitability;
•new or expanded trade restrictions;
•economic conditions such as inflation or recession;
•geopolitical conflicts; and
•other external factors.
Stock markets in general have experienced volatility that has often been unrelated to the operating performance of a particular company. These broad market fluctuations have adversely affected the trading price of our common stock.
In addition, when the market price of a company’s shares drops significantly, shareholders often institute securities class action lawsuits against the company. A lawsuit against us could cause us to incur substantial costs and could divert the time and attention of management and other resources.
We do not currently pay dividends on our common stock.
We do not currently pay dividends on our common stock. The payment of any dividends in the future, and the timing and amount thereof, to our stockholders fall within the discretion of our board of directors. The board’s decisions regarding the payment of dividends will depend on many factors, such as our financial condition, earnings, capital requirements, debt service obligations, restrictive covenants in our debt, industry practice, legal requirements, regulatory constraints and other factors that our board of directors deems relevant. We cannot guarantee that we will pay a dividend in the future or continue to pay any dividends if we commence paying dividends.
Certain provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and bylaws, and of Delaware law, may prevent or delay an acquisition of the company, which could decrease the trading price of our common stock.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws contain, and Delaware law contains, provisions that are intended to deter coercive takeover practices and inadequate takeover bids by making such practices or bids unacceptably expensive to the bidder and to encourage prospective acquirers to negotiate with our board of directors rather than to attempt a hostile takeover. These provisions include, but are not limited to:
•the inability of our shareholders to call a special meeting;
•the inability of our shareholders to act without a meeting of shareholders;
•rules regarding how shareholders may present proposals or nominate directors for election at shareholder meetings;
•the right of our board of directors to issue preferred stock without shareholder approval;
•the division of our board of directors into three classes of directors, with each class serving a staggered three-year term, and this classified board provision could have the effect of making the replacement of incumbent directors more time consuming and difficult;
•a provision that shareholders may only remove directors with cause; and
•the ability of our directors, and not shareholders, to fill vacancies on our board of directors.
In addition, because we have not chosen to be exempt from Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law (the "DGCL"), this provision could also delay or prevent a change of control that some shareholders may favor. Section 203 provides that, subject to limited exceptions, persons that acquire, or are affiliated with a person that acquires, more than 15 percent of the outstanding voting stock of a Delaware corporation (an "interested stockholder") shall not engage in any business combination with that corporation, including by merger, consolidation or acquisitions of additional shares, for a three-year period following the date on which the person became an interested stockholder, unless (i) prior to such time, the board of directors of such corporation approved either the business combination or the transaction that resulted in the stockholder becoming an interested stockholder; (ii) upon consummation of the transaction that resulted in the stockholder becoming an interested stockholder, the interested stockholder owned at least 85 percent of the voting stock of such corporation at the time the transaction commenced (excluding for purposes of determining the voting stock outstanding (but not the outstanding voting stock owned by the interested stockholder) the voting stock owned by directors who are also officers or held in employee benefit plans in which the employees do not have a confidential right to tender or vote stock held by the plan); or (iii) on or subsequent to such time the business combination is approved by the board of directors of such corporation and authorized at a meeting of shareholders by the affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of the outstanding voting stock of such corporation not owned by the interested stockholder.
We believe these provisions will protect our shareholders from coercive or otherwise unfair takeover tactics by requiring potential acquirers to negotiate with our board of directors and by providing our board of directors with more time to assess any acquisition proposal. These provisions are not intended to make us immune from takeovers. However, these provisions will apply even if the offer may be considered beneficial by some shareholders and could delay or prevent an acquisition that our board of directors determines is not in the best interests of the company and our shareholders. These provisions may also prevent or discourage attempts to remove and replace incumbent directors.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation designates that the state courts in the State of Delaware or, if no state court located within the State of Delaware has jurisdiction, the federal court for the District of Delaware, as the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by our shareholders, which could discourage lawsuits against the company and our directors and officers.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provide that unless the board of directors otherwise determines, the state courts in the State of Delaware or, if no state court located within the State of Delaware has jurisdiction, the federal court for the District of Delaware, will be the sole and exclusive forum for any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf, any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any of our directors or officers to the company or our shareholders, any action asserting a claim against us or any of our directors or officers arising pursuant to any provision of the DGCL or Keysight's amended and restated certificate of incorporation or bylaws, or any action asserting a claim against us or any of our directors or officers governed by the internal affairs doctrine. This exclusive forum provision may limit the ability of our shareholders to bring a claim in a judicial forum that such shareholders find favorable for disputes with us or our directors or officers, which may discourage such lawsuits against us and our directors and officers.