Company: COHU
Filing Date: 2025-02-20
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001437749-25-004612
Chunk: 4

Company: COHU INC
Filing Date: 2025-02-20
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1
Chunk 4
---
 the semiconductor ATE market, we face competition from two dominant suppliers headquartered in the U.S. and Japan, both of which are substantially larger than Cohu’s test business. While we are among the leading worldwide suppliers of test contactors, this market is fragmented with a large number of global and local competitors. To remain competitive within the industries we serve, we believe we will require significant financial resources to offer a broad range of products, maintain localized customer support and service centers worldwide, and to invest in research and development of new products. Failure to introduce new products in a timely manner or the introduction by competitors of products with actual or perceived advantages could result in a loss of competitive position and reduced sales of existing products. No assurance can be given that we will continue to compete successfully throughout the world.

3

Manufacturing and Raw Materials

Our principal manufacturing operations are currently located in Melaka, Malaysia; Laguna, Philippines; Lincoln, Rhode Island; Osaka, Japan; and Singapore.

We outsource the manufacturing of many of our semiconductor automated test equipment products to Jabil Circuit, Inc.’s facility in Penang, Malaysia. Our contract manufacturing partner is responsible for significant material procurement, assembly and test. We continue to manage product design through pilot production for the subcontracted products, and we are directly involved in qualifying suppliers and key components used in all our products. While our contract manufacturer is responsible for funding a substantial portion of the capital expenses incurred in connection with the manufacture of our products, we finance and own end-of-line testing equipment and other specific manufacturing equipment utilized in assembling our products or sub-components.

Many of the components and subassemblies we utilize are standard products, although some items are made to our specifications. Certain components are obtained or are available from a limited number of suppliers or may be sole supplier sourced. We seek to reduce our dependence on sole and limited source suppliers, however in some cases the complete or partial loss of certain of these sources could have a material adverse effect on our operations while we attempt to locate and qualify replacement suppliers.

Patents, Trademarks and Intellectual Property

Our technology is protected by various intellectual property laws including patent, license, trademark, copyright and trade secret laws. In addition, we believe that, due to the rapid pace of technological change in the semiconductor and electronic equipment industries, the successful manufacture and sale of our products also depends heavily upon our experience, technological know-how, manufacturing and marketing skills and speed of response to sales opportunities. We believe our intellectual property has value, and we have in the past and will in the