Company: COHU
Filing Date: 2025-02-20
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001437749-25-004612
Chunk: 14

Company: COHU INC
Filing Date: 2025-02-20
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1
Chunk 14
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, we incurred $84.8 million in research and development expenses. We expect to continue to make investments and we may, at any time, based on product need or marketplace demand, decide to significantly increase our product development expenditures in these or other products. The cost of investments in new product offerings and product enhancements can have a negative impact on our operating results. We have in the past made material investments in new product platforms that for various reasons, such as technical challenges or lack of customer adoption, have not generated the expected sales or return. For example, in January 2025, we acquired Tignis, Inc., a provider of AI process control and analytics-based monitoring software to expand our analytics offerings to a broader market, but there can be no assurance that this or other new products we develop or acquire will be accepted in the marketplace or generate material revenues for us.

The design, development, commercial introduction and manufacture of new semiconductor equipment is an inherently complex process that involves a number of risks and uncertainties. These risks include potential problems in meeting customer acceptance and performance requirements, integration of the equipment with other suppliers’ equipment and the customers’ manufacturing processes, transitioning from product development to volume manufacturing and the ability of the equipment to satisfy the semiconductor industry’s constantly evolving needs and achieve commercial acceptance at prices that produce satisfactory profit margins. The design and development of new semiconductor equipment is heavily influenced by changes in integrated circuit assembly, test and final manufacturing processes and integrated circuit package design changes. We believe that the rate of change in such processes and integrated circuit packages is accelerating. As a result of these changes and other factors, assessing the market potential and commercial viability of test handling, ATE, system-level and burn-in test equipment and test contactors is extremely difficult and subject to a great deal of risk. In addition, not all integrated circuit manufacturers employ the same manufacturing processes. Differences in such processes make it difficult to design standard test products that can achieve broad market acceptance. As a result, we might not accurately assess the semiconductor industry’s future equipment requirements and fail to design and develop products that meet such requirements and achieve market acceptance. Failure to accurately assess customer requirements and market trends for new semiconductor test products may have a material adverse impact on our operations, financial condition and results of operations.

10

The semiconductor industry we serve is cyclical, seasonal, volatile and unpredictable, and increased cyclicality could have an adverse impact on our sales and gross margin.

Capital equipment providers in the semiconductor industry, such as Cohu, have, in the past, been negatively impacted by