Company: LASR
Filing Date: 2025-02-28
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001124796-25-000021
Chunk: 6

Company: NLIGHT, INC.
Filing Date: 2025-02-28
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1
Chunk 6
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. These companies will likely be able to expand into broader products and end markets, which may result in additional competitive pressures on us. Certain competitors also have higher sales volume than we do, which can enable them to lower the prices of their products. Moreover, certain of our customers have internal laser technologies, which may present additional competitive pressure. 

We believe that our vertically-integrated business model, technology innovation, engineering capabilities, functionality, quality and customer service enable us to compete successfully in the markets we serve, taken as a whole.

Manufacturing

We manufacture, package, and test the critical elements of our high-power semiconductor and fiber lasers, including semiconductor laser chips and optical fiber in-house. Our vertically integrated business model enables us to control and protect our proprietary technologies and manufacturing processes. We’ve invested in highly automated semiconductor packaging lines in our Camas, WA facility, which we believe is critical to serve the Directed Energy market. 

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We also use a third-party contract manufacturer, located in Thailand, to package certain of our semiconductor lasers used in commercial applications. We outsource manufacturing, components and materials when we believe that a manufacturing process, or specific component to be manufactured, by itself, does not provide enough competitive advantage to warrant investment in the capital and human resources necessary for the process implementation or the component's manufacture. We work with our suppliers in these situations to ensure consistent quality and delivery performance. In many cases, components are custom manufactured for us based on our proprietary specifications. During 2024, we ceased all manufacturing activities in China and transferred those products and capabilities either to our contract manufacturer in Thailand or to our automated production line in Camas, WA. 

We purchase certain raw materials and components used to manufacture our products and other components, such as semiconductor wafer substrates, fiber laser chip packages, optics, and other materials, from single or limited-source suppliers. We typically purchase our materials through purchase orders or agreed-upon terms and conditions, and we do not have guaranteed supply arrangements with many of these suppliers. To mitigate raw material supply risks, we take a variety of actions such as second source qualification, accumulation of safety stock and vendor surveillance.

Our primary manufacturing facilities are located in Vancouver, Washington; Camas, Washington; Hillsboro, Oregon and Lohja, Finland.

Regulation

We are subject to significant regulation by local, state, federal and international laws in all jurisdictions in which we operate. Compliance with these requirements can be costly and time consuming. We believe that our operations, products, services, and actions substantially comply