INTC, §1A diff (2024 → 2025)

The following summarizes the material factors that make an investment in our securities speculative or risky. When any one or more of the following risks materialize from time to time, our business, reputation, financial condition, cash flows, and results of operations can be materially and adversely affected, and the trading price of our common stock could decline. These risk factors do not identify all risks that we face; our operations can also be affected by factors that are not presently known to us or that we currently consider to be immaterial to our operations, or by various risks that are generally applicable to most companies. Due to risks and uncertainties, known and unknown, our past financial results may not be a reliable indicator of future performance, and historical trends should not be used to anticipate results or trends in future periods. Some of the factors, events, and contingencies discussed below may have occurred in the past, and the disclosures below are not representations as to whether or not the factors, events, or contingencies have occurred in the past, but are provided because future occurrences of such factors, events, or contingencies could have a material adverse effect on our business. Refer also to the other information set forth in this Form 10-K, including in the MD&A and Financial Statements and Supplemental Details sections.

The industry in which we operate is highly competitive and subject to rapid technological, geopolitical, and market developments; changes in industry standards; changes in customer and end-user needs, expectations, and preferences; and frequent product introductions and improvements. When we do not anticipate or respond to these developments, our competitive position can weaken, and our products or technologies can become uncompetitive or obsolete. Our competitive environment has intensified in recent years, and we expect it to continue to do so in the future, including as a result of the proliferation of AI and high demand for AI-related products and services. If we are not able to compete effectively, or if our foundry strategy is unsuccessful, our financial results will be adversely affected, including through reduced revenue and gross margin, and we may be required to accelerate the write-down of the value of certain assets.

We face intense competition across our product portfolio. Our competitors include companies offering platform products, such as AMD and Qualcomm; accelerator products such as GPUs, including those offered by NVIDIA; other accelerator products such as ASICs, application-specific standard products, and FPGAs; memory and storage products; connectivity and networking products; and other semiconductor products. Some of these competitors have developed or utilize competing computing architectures and platforms, such as the ARM architecture, and these architectures and platforms can produce beneficial network effects for competitors when an ecosystem of customers and application developers for such architectures and platforms grows at scale. For example, ARM-based products and the ARM ecosystem have seen increased development and adoption in recent years. We also compete with internally developed semiconductors from OEMs, cloud service providers, and others, some of whom are customers. Some of these customers vertically integrate their own semiconductor designs with their software assets and/or customize their designs for specific computing workloads. For example, in 2020, Apple introduced PC products utilizing its own internally developed ARM-based semiconductor designs in place of our client CPUs, and we face increasing competition from Apple's products and ecosystem.

Most of our competitors rely on third-party foundries, such as TSMC or Samsung, for the manufacture and assembly and test of their semiconductor components and products. Manufacturing process and assembly and test improvements introduced by such foundries have contributed, and may continue to contribute, to increasingly competitive offerings by our competitors. Our process technology roadmap to regain transistor performance and power performance competitiveness is subject to a number of risks, and we could fail to realize our goals, including due to changes in competitor technology roadmaps, changes affecting our projections regarding our technology or competing technology, and the risks described in the risk factor "The development and implementation of new semiconductor products and manufacturing technologies are subject to many risks and uncertainties." As an integrated device manufacturer, we have higher capital expenditures and R&D spending than many of our fabless competitors due to the high ongoing investments required to maintain leading-edge process technology and manufacturing capacity. We also face new sources of competition as a result of changes in industry participants through, for example, acquisitions or business collaborations, as well as new entrants, including in China, which could have a significant impact on our competitive position. For example, we could face increased competition as a result of China's programs to promote a domestic semiconductor industry and supply chains.

Our products compete based on a number of factors, including performance, energy efficiency, ease-of-integration, ease-of-use, innovative design, features, workload optimization, price, quality, reliability, security, software ecosystem and developer support, time-to-market, reliable product roadmap execution, brand recognition, customer support and customization, and availability. The importance of these factors varies by product and market segment. To the extent our products do not meet our customers' requirements across these factors in an increasingly competitive landscape, our business and results of operations can be harmed. For example, we have lost market share in recent years as competitors have introduced highly competitive data center and client platform products. Our data center business has been further negatively impacted by the shift of customer spend toward GPUs in the past few years. Additionally, to the extent we rely upon third party foundries for our products, our margins may be negatively impacted, as has been the case with the Intel Core Ultra 200V series processors launched in September 2024.

We have limited experience in the highly competitive and capital-intensive third-party foundry business. As we pursue our strategy to establish Intel Foundry as a major provider of foundry capacity to manufacture semiconductors for others, we will face intense competition from well-established competitors such as TSMC, Samsung, Global Foundries (GF), United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC), and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC). To succeed, we will need to compete effectively across factors such as availability and time-to-market of manufacturing technology; advances in manufacturing processes in areas such as performance, performance per watt, and density; multi-chip packaging; system integration; manufacturing capacity; price; margin; ease of use; quality; yields; customer satisfaction; and ecosystem support. Building and maintaining a competitive foundry business requires significant

Risk Factors and Other Key Information

ongoing investments to maintain leading-edge process technology and manufacturing capacity, which investments in many instances must be made ahead of customer commitments and may not be recouped. As we have reassessed demand and our "shell ahead" status and our financial results in the last few years have constrained our ability to make capital investments, we have delayed manufacturing facility construction or expansion projects in Ohio, Germany, Poland, Malaysia, and Israel, and we may have additional project delays or project cancellations in the future. Moreover, many of the largest potential foundry customers are fabless semiconductor companies whose products compete with our own. As a result, our strategy requires us to overcome customer concerns regarding protection of confidentiality information, intellectual property, and foundry capacity, among other competitive concerns, to attract and retain such customers. Our limited third-party foundry experience also means we must continue to hire and retain talented employees with relevant foundry experience with respect to both leading-edge and legacy nodes. Our efforts may be hindered by the higher costs of, regulatory and environmental restrictions imposed upon, and time it takes to build fabrication and assembly and test facilities in the jurisdictions in which we operate and plan to build new or upgrade existing foundry facilities as compared to the jurisdictions in which our competitors predominantly operate their foundry facilities. Our construction projects to expand capacity require available sources of labor, materials, and equipment. Increasing demand for such sources, including from other foundries; supply constraints, labor shortages, and other adverse market conditions; issues with permits or approvals; on-site incidents; and other construction issues arise from time to time and can result in significant delays and increased costs for our projects, as well as legal and reputational harm. These significant hurdles to our foundry strategy make it highly risky and our success highly uncertain.

To compete successfully, we must maintain an effective R&D program, develop new products and manufacturing processes, improve our products and processes, and make significant capital investments in new and existing manufacturing facilities, all ahead of competitors and market demand. The R&D efforts and capital investments we require are intensive as we compete across both product and process technologies and we may not have the ability to fund such investments at the level needed to be competitive. We incurred R&D expenses of $16.5 billion in 2024, $16.0 billion in 2023 and $17.5 billion in 2022. We are focusing our R&D efforts across several key areas, including process and packaging technology, our xPU products and features, AI, and software. These include ambitious initiatives, such as our efforts to introduce five new manufacturing process technologies, or nodes, in four years and our unified oneAPI portfolio of developer tools. Our investments are typically long-term and, even where successful, often do not contribute to our operating results for a number of years. We cannot guarantee that our efforts will deliver the benefits we anticipate, including as a result of our new products or technologies falling short of expectations or the offerings of competitors. For example, we previously experienced significant delays in the implementation of our 10nm process technology, and during 2020, we announced that our 7nm process technology would be delayed relative to our prior expectations. In such instances where we do not timely introduce new manufacturing process technologies that improve performance, performance per watt, transistor density, die utilization, core counts, and/or new features such as optimizations for AI and other workloads, with sufficient manufacturing yields and operational efficiency, relative to competing foundry processes, we have faced and will face cost, product performance, and time-to-market disadvantages relative to our competitors. This has in the past and may in the future result in higher operating costs, including as a result of additional costs from unused manufacturing capacity, higher leverage and borrowing costs, and pressure on our credit ratings, and adversely affect our business, financial condition and prospects. Further, we are not always able to timely or successfully develop new products, including as a result of bugs, late changes to features due to customer requests, or other design challenges. For example, in 2022, we announced that the release of Intel's 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processor would be delayed from the first half of 2022 to the second half of 2022. To the extent our R&D efforts do not develop new products on schedule with improvements in areas like performance, performance per watt, die utilization, and core counts, and/or with new features such as optimizations for AI and other workloads, our competitive position can be harmed. We have adopted a disaggregated design approach for some of our future products, in which different processors and components can be manufactured on different processes and connected by advanced packaging technology into a single package. This approach introduces new areas of complexity in design and manufacturability, particularly in the deployment of advanced packaging technologies, several of which are novel, have a limited manufacturing history, and/or have increased costs. Delays or failures in implementing disaggregated designs could adversely affect our ability to timely introduce competitive products. For example, adapting a processor or component design for a new or different manufacturing process involves additional R&D expense and can result in delays in the development of the associated product and higher costs due to the utilization of more advanced and expensive capital equipment.

The investments required for our process technology roadmap and our worldwide manufacturing and assembly and test require capital expenditures above our historical levels. In recent years, the semiconductor manufacturing industry has seen very significant increases in the capital investments required for manufacturing facilities utilizing leading process technologies, including as a result of the use of EUV and high-NA EUV lithography tools. Our ownership and operation of such high-tech fabrication facilities, and our need to build new and expand existing facilities in anticipation of future demand, has resulted and will continue to result in us incurring large capital outlays and high costs that are fixed or difficult to reduce in the short term. Such capital outlays and costs include those related to utilization of existing facilities, facility construction and equipment, R&D, and the employment and training of a highly skilled workforce. To the extent customers are unwilling to pay prices to access the features that our process and product investments are expected to deliver, or if demand for our products, foundry capacity and assembly and test capacity decreases or we fail to forecast demand accurately, our gross margin and operating income can be disproportionately affected due to our high fixed cost structure, which is difficult to reduce quickly in response to lower demand and other unfavorable market factors. As we have reassessed demand and our "shell ahead" status and our financial results in the last few years have constrained our ability to make capital investments, we have delayed manufacturing facility construction or expansion projects in Ohio, Germany, Poland, Malaysia, and Israel. We could also be required to write off inventory or record excess manufacturing capacity charges, which would also lower our gross margin and operating income. To the extent the demand decrease is prolonged, our manufacturing or assembly and test capacity could be underutilized, and we may be required to write down our long-lived assets, which would increase our expenses. We may also be required to shorten the useful lives of under-used facilities and equipment and accelerate depreciation. For example, in the third quarter of 2024 we recorded $3.1 billion of charges related to non-cash impairments and the accelerated depreciation for certain manufacturing assets, a substantial majority of which related to the Intel 7 process node.

Risk Factors and Other Key Information

The development and implementation of new semiconductor products and manufacturing technologies are subject to many risks and uncertainties.

We are continually engaged in the development of next-generation technologies. Forecasting our progress and schedule for developing advanced nodes and other technologies is challenging, and at times we encounter unexpected delays due to the complexity of interactions among steps in the manufacturing process, challenges in using new materials or new production equipment, and other issues. Diagnosing defects in our manufacturing processes often takes a long time, as manufacturing throughput times can delay our receipt of data about defects and the effectiveness of fixes, and defects can be more serious and difficult to resolve than initially anticipated.

We are not always successful or efficient in developing or implementing new process nodes and manufacturing processes. We experienced significant delays in implementing our 10nm process technology, and in 2020, we encountered a defect mode in the development of our 7nm process technology that resulted in delays relative to our prior expectations. In 2022, Intel's 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processor was delayed to allow for more platform and product validation time. These delays have allowed competitors using third-party foundries, such as TSMC, to benefit from advancements in manufacturing processes introduced ahead of us, including improvements in performance, energy efficiency, and other features, which have helped increase the competitiveness of their products. On the product side, we have had limited market success with our accelerator offerings, and in 2024 we recognized $922 million in Gaudi AI accelerator inventory-related charges. We may experience greater adverse competitive impacts in the event of further delays in the development of future manufacturing process technologies and products or lack of market success with our offerings.

Our efforts to innovate involve significant expense and carry inherent risks, including difficulties in designing and developing next-generation process and packaging technologies, and investments in manufacturing assets and facilities that are made years in advance. We cannot guarantee that we will realize the expected benefits of next-generation process technologies, including the expected cost, performance, power, and density advantages, or that we will achieve an adequate return on our capital and R&D investments, particularly as the development of new nodes has grown increasingly expensive. In such circumstances, we may be required to write down the value of some of our manufacturing assets and facilities, increasing our expenses, as we were required to do in the third quarter of 2024 with respect to the Intel 7 process node.

Risks inherent in the development of next-generation process technologies include production timing delays, lower-than-anticipated manufacturing yields, longer manufacturing throughput times, failure to achieve expected performance, power, and area improvements, and product defects and errata (deviations from published specifications). Production timing delays have at times caused us to miss customer product design windows, which can result in lost revenue opportunities and damage to our customer relationships. Furthermore, when the introduction of next-generation process nodes is delayed, adding cores or other competitive features to our products can result in larger die size products, manufacturing supply constraints, and increased product costs. Lower manufacturing yields and longer manufacturing throughput times, compared to previous process nodes, can increase our product costs, adversely affect our gross margins, and contribute to manufacturing supply constraints. A new process node typically has higher costs compared to a mature node due to factors that include higher depreciation costs and lower yields, and costs and yields at times do not improve at the same rate as on prior nodes. In addition, the cost of new leading-edge process nodes continues to increase at a higher rate relative to legacy process nodes due to a number of factors, including the cost of procuring and operating advanced manufacturing equipment. As the die size of our products has increased and our manufacturing process nodes have increased the number of transistors per die, our products and manufacturing processes have grown increasingly complex and more susceptible to product defects and errata, which at times also contribute to production timing delays and lower yields that may also increase our costs to manufacture and warranty our products.

Our disaggregated design strategy poses increased logistical risks and challenges, particularly where we decide to manufacture different product components on different process technologies, including third-party foundries' process technologies. To combine components in a single package, they need to be manufactured on a timely basis and in sufficient quantities, while the manufacturing processes we utilize may have differing yields, throughput times, and capacity constraints. We may be required to safely store some components pending the manufacture of others. Delays or quality issues with one component could limit our ability to manufacture the entire completed product. In addition, the packaging technologies used to combine these components can increase our costs and may introduce additional complexity and quality issues. To the extent we are unable to manage these risks, our ability to timely supply competitive products can be harmed and our costs could increase.

From time to time, disruptions in the production process result from errors; defects in materials; delays in obtaining or revising permits and licenses; interruptions in our supply of materials, resources, or production equipment; adverse changes in equipment productivity; and disruptions at our fabrication and assembly and test facilities due to accidents, maintenance issues, power interruptions, equipment malfunctions, or unsafe working conditions—all of which could affect the timing of production ramps and yields and could result in production timing delays. Production issues periodically lead to increased costs and affect our ability to meet product demand, which can adversely impact our business and the results of operations.

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Our implementation of new business strategies and investments in new businesses, products, and technologies are inherently risky and do not always succeed.

Our implementation of new business strategies, including our foundry strategy and our cost reduction measures, as well as our many internal structural, systems, and process changes, may subject us to a number of risks. We have entered new businesses and introduced new products and services as we seek to capitalize on the opportunities presented by growth in semiconductor demand, ubiquitous compute, pervasive connectivity, cloud-to-edge infrastructure, AI, and sensing. As part of our strategy, we announced plans to establish Intel Foundry as a major provider of foundry capacity to manufacture semiconductors for others and to implement an internal foundry operating model through updates to our processes, systems, and guardrails between our manufacturing and our individual product-based business units. The implementation of our internal foundry operating model requires many internal structural, system, and process changes to support the separation of the product and manufacturing sides of our business and our external foundry business, including a new enterprise resource planning system. In parallel, we are undertaking significant efforts to separate out portions of our business, such as operating Intel Foundry, Altera and IMS, as autonomous subsidiaries that we majority own and consolidate in order to potentially raise capital and unlock value as we focus on our core product and manufacturing capabilities. Significant business changes are inherently risky and are not always successful. For example, in 2022, we wound down Intel Optane; in 2020, we agreed to sell our NAND memory business to SK hynix; and in 2019, we exited the 5G smartphone modem business based on our determination that there was no clear path to profitability for those businesses.

These new and developing areas and products represent a significant portion of our revenue growth opportunity, and they also introduce new sources of competition in not just new and evolving markets but also in our existing markets. These new sources of competition can include established competitors with well-developed and highly competitive technologies, ecosystems, and customer bases, lower prices, margins, or costs, and greater brand recognition. These developing products and market segments require significant investment, do not always grow as projected or at all, or sometimes adopt competing technologies, and we may not realize an adequate return on our investments. For example, AI and machine learning are increasingly driving innovations in technology, but if we fail to develop leading products for these workloads, or if our customers use competing technologies, we may not realize a return on our investments in these areas. We may also not be successful in developing a competitive foundry business for external customers with respect to either leading-edge or mature process nodes, which would make it difficult for us to realize a favorable return on our investments in process technology and manufacturing capacity investments. To be successful, we need to cultivate relationships with customers and partners in these market segments and continue to improve our offerings. Despite our ongoing efforts, there is no guarantee that we will achieve or maintain market demand or acceptance for our products and services in these various market segments or realize an adequate return on our investments, which could lead to impairment of assets and restructuring charges, as well as opportunity costs.

Our Smart Capital approach to capital spending, alternative financing arrangements, and pursuit of government grants involves risks and may not be successful.

As we pursue our strategy, we have utilized our Smart Capital approach to capital spending in an effort to appropriately time and scale our capital investments. To support our capital investments, we have pursued alternative financing arrangements, such as our 2022 joint investment with Brookfield in the manufacturing expansion of our Arizona campus, and our 2024 joint investment with Apollo related to Fab 34 in Ireland, and may enter into similar arrangements in the future. These transactions may fail to advance our business strategy, may include unfavorable pricing or other terms such as penalties should key metrics not be attained as prescribed by our agreements, and may fail to achieve their anticipated benefits. Both arrangements include commitments we may not be able to satisfy, including commitments relating to construction and/or wafer demand or purchase, in which case we may be required to make additional payments to our partners. For example, in the fourth quarter of 2024, we recognized a $755 million charge related to penalties we expect to pay in connection with Ireland SCIP for construction delays we decided to make as we reduced our near-term capacity requirements. Further, both arrangements are expected to significantly and increasingly impact our net income (loss) attributable to Intel and earnings (loss) per share attributable to Intel in future periods as wafer production volumes increase at our expanded Arizona campus and at Fab 34 in Ireland. Our partners may also fail to satisfy financial or other obligations on which we rely and we may fail to resolve any potential disputes. Any of these risks, including our ability to effectuate any additional transactions at all, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, or cash flows, which may limit our ability to raise sufficient capital for our required investments.

In addition, as part of our Smart Capital approach, we have applied for, received, and expect to receive additional grants and incentives from domestic and foreign local, regional, and national governments. Legislation in the US and EU has been adopted to provide government funding for semiconductor manufacturing expansions in those regions. However, any amounts, if any, we may receive under any agreements enabled by such legislation may not be sufficient in amount or timeliness to support our capital investment plans and offset the higher costs of operations in many of the locations of our facilities as compared to those of many of our competitors, we may be unable to comply with the requirements and limitations of any such grants and incentives, or such agreements may contain restrictions that limit our flexibility to pursue changes in business strategy or transactions that may enhance stockholder value. For example, in November 2024 we entered into a direct funding agreement with the US Department of Commerce under the CHIPS Act that contains detailed milestones we must achieve for us to receive the funds, including with respect to achievement of various milestones with respect to capital expenditures, facility completion, process technology development, wafer production, Intel products insourcing, and external foundry customer acquisitions. It also contains restrictions on certain “change of control” transactions we are permitted to engage in, a requirement that we share with the US government project returns above specified thresholds, and various termination rights and remedies if we were to breach the agreement, including potential repayment of some or all of the awards. To the extent funding is below our expectations, we elect not to accept any grants or incentives due to burdensome compliance requirements, we are required to return any amounts received from any grants or incentives due to an inability to comply with any requirements or limitations contained therein, we are subject to restrictions as a result of any awards we have accepted, or the US government delays or does not provide any awards

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that have been agreed upon, our anticipated cash requirements may increase, our strategy, business and financial results may be adversely affected, and we may be constrained in our ability to engage in transactions that are in the best interests of our stockholders.

▪consumer confidence, income levels, and customer capital spending, which can be impacted by changes in market conditions, including changes in government borrowing or spending, taxation, interest rates, the credit market, current or expected inflation, employment, and energy or other commodity prices;

▪geopolitical conditions, including trade policies, potential tariffs or other trade restrictions, and geopolitical tensions and conflicts;

▪competitive and pricing pressures, including new product introductions and other actions taken by competitors;

▪customer order patterns and order cancellations, including as a result of maturing product cycles for our products, customers' products, and related products such as operating system upgrade cycles; and

▪disruptions affecting customers, such as the delays in obtaining tools, components, and other supplies as a result of COVID-19-related port shutdowns in China that negatively impacted demand for our business in 2022, as well as the industry substrate and component shortages that negatively impacted demand across several of our businesses in 2021.

Our pricing and margins vary across our products and market segments due in part to marketability of our products and differences in their features or manufacturing costs. For example, our core product offerings range from lower-priced and entry-level platforms to higher-end platforms. Our ancillary product offerings that extend beyond our core product lines typically have significantly lower margins than our higher-priced products, and at times are not profitable. Some of our higher-priced products, however, such as the Intel Core Ultra 200V processors launched in September 2024, have lower margins as they are produced at external foundries rather than in our manufacturing facilities. To the extent demand shifts from our higher-margin to lower-margin products in any of our market segments, as has been the case with the Intel Core Ultra 200V processors, our gross margin percentage has decreased and may decrease again.

We have manufacturing, assembly and test, R&D, sales, and other operations in many countries, and some of our business activities are concentrated in one or more geographic areas. Our operations rely upon a supply chain that is also highly distributed, and with reliance in some instances on supplies or materials available in only one or more geographic areas. Moreover, sales outside the US accounted for 76% of our revenue for the fiscal year ended December 28, 2024, with revenue from billings to China contributing 29% of our total revenue. As a result, our operations and our financial results, including our ability to execute our business strategy, manufacture, assemble and test, design, develop, or sell products, and the demand for our products, are at times adversely affected by a number of global and regional factors outside of our control.

Adverse changes in global or regional economic conditions periodically occur, including recession or slowing growth; changes or uncertainty in fiscal, monetary, or trade policy; high interest rates; tighter credit; inflation; lower capital expenditures by businesses, including on IT infrastructure; increases in unemployment; and lower consumer confidence and spending. Adverse changes in macroeconomic conditions can significantly harm demand for our products and make it more challenging to forecast our operating results and make business decisions, including regarding prioritization of investments in our business. An economic downturn or increased uncertainty may also lead to: increased credit and collectability risks; higher borrowing costs or reduced availability of capital and credit markets; reduced liquidity; adverse impacts on our suppliers; failures of counterparties, including financial institutions and insurers; asset impairments; and declines in the value of our financial instruments.

Trade policies and disputes at times result in increased tariffs, trade barriers, and other trade restrictions and protectionist measures, which can increase our manufacturing costs, make our products less competitive, reduce demand for our products, limit our ability to sell to certain customers, limit our ability to procure components or raw materials, or impede or slow the movement of our goods across borders. Increasing protectionism and economic nationalism may lead to further changes in trade policies and regulations, domestic sourcing initiatives, or other formal and informal measures that could make it more difficult to sell our products in, or restrict our access to, some markets. They can also result in declining consumer confidence and slowing economic growth or recession, and could cause our customers to reduce, cancel, or alter the timing of their purchases with us. Sustained geopolitical tensions could lead to long-term

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changes in global trade and technology supply chains, domestic sourcing initiatives, and decoupling of global trade networks, which could make it more difficult to sell our products in, or restrict our access to, some markets and have a material adverse effect on our business and growth prospects.

In particular, geopolitical and trade tensions between the US and China, one of our largest markets, have led to increased tariffs and trade restrictions, including tariffs applicable to some of our products, and have affected customer ordering patterns. Further, the US has imposed restrictions on the export of US-regulated products and technology to certain Chinese technology companies, including certain of our customers. Specifically, in 2022 the US significantly increased US export controls on semiconductor manufacturing equipment and on AI and advanced computing products. In 2023, the US added to the restrictions in all three areas and also worked with Japan and the Netherlands to align on additional restrictions on semiconductor manufacturing equipment. In 2024, the US Commerce Department further expanded export controls to limit the global distribution of high-performance integrated circuits by restricting sales through customer allocations and imposing per-country caps. During this time, the US has increasingly added Chinese companies to prohibited lists. In response, China has restricted US access to certain minerals and has blocked certain companies that provide products to Taiwan's military from selling products in China. These restrictions have in some instances reduced our sales and in a number of instances required specific governmental authorizations or exceptions. These and potential future restrictions, including also through application of antitrust laws and restrictions based on cybersecurity and other national security concerns, could adversely affect our financial performance and result in reputational harm to us. In addition, a number of semiconductor companies in China, including SMIC, are making significant investments, in many instances with the support of the Chinese government, in advanced semiconductor technologies to enable such companies to develop products and technologies that compete with ours. It is difficult to predict what further trade-related actions governments may take, whether the 2025 change in US administration may heighten tensions, the extent to which we may be able to mitigate the effects of any trade-related actions, and the longer-term implications of trade-related actions on the market opportunities for us and the competition we may face.

Geopolitical and security issues, such as armed conflict and civil or military unrest, political instability, human rights concerns, and terrorist activity, present significant risks to our global operations. For example:

▪There has been a significant escalation in tensions and hostilities affecting or in close proximity to Israel, where we have a leading-edge fabrication facility and multiple product development centers. As a significant portion of our revenues are generated from products on Intel 7 manufactured at our fabrication facility in Israel and we are not insured for business interruptions, a disruption of that facility could have a significant adverse impact on our business. Additionally, our property, plant, and equipment assets in Israel are self-insured and could be impacted by the conflict. Further, our Mobileye business is headquartered and has most of its operations in Israel and could be similarly impacted.

▪Tensions between mainland China and Taiwan have increased significantly in recent years, presenting an elevated risk of hostilities. Many of our products and all of our more advanced products depend on suppliers in Taiwan for critical components, including various compute die, that cannot be easily or quickly replaced. Other of our products, including some of our most recently introduced products, are made entirely in Taiwan. As such, any disruption impacting Taiwan could significantly and adversely impact our ability to obtain critical components and supply our customers with products.

▪Russia’s ongoing conflict with Ukraine has resulted in the imposition of financial and other sanctions and export controls against Russia and Belarus that has caused us and other companies to limit or suspend Russian operations (we had no exports to Russia in 2023 and 2024). The conflict has also resulted in Russia-imposed currency restrictions and regulations and other retaliatory trade and other actions, increased supply, commodity, and other costs, and an increased risk of cyberattacks.

▪severe weather events and natural disasters, public health issues (including pandemics), and other catastrophic events;

▪inefficient infrastructure and other disruptions, such as supply chain interruptions, materials shortages or delays, and large-scale outages or unreliable provision of services from utilities, transportation, data hosting, or telecommunications providers;

▪formal or informal imposition of new or revised export, import, or doing-business regulations, including trade sanctions, tariffs, and changes in the ability to obtain export licenses, which could be changed without notice;

▪adverse changes relating to government grants, tax credits, or other government incentives, including more favorable incentives provided to competitors;

▪continuing uncertainty regarding social, political, immigration, and tax and trade policies in the US and abroad; and

▪fluctuations in the market values of our domestic and international investments, and in the capital and credit markets, which can be negatively affected by liquidity, credit deterioration or losses, interest rate changes, financial results, political risk, sovereign risk, or other factors.

The markets and use cases for products with AI capabilities have been rapidly evolving, are difficult to predict, and may impact demand for our products. For example, in the last few years, the demand for high-end GPUs for model training increased dramatically and has resulted and may continue to result in a significant shift in data center customer spend. The significant investments we have made and

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expect to continue to make to develop products and software to address what we believe will be increasing demand for AI capabilities, most notably in AI PCs but also in the data center and in GPUs, may be insufficient, and we face significant hurdles, including whether demand will materialize, whether third-party developers will develop the software to utilize the AI capabilities of our products, and whether we will be successful in developing products that can compete with offerings by established competitors.

Our use of AI technology may subject us to reputational, financial, legal, or regulatory risks. As we incorporate AI technology into our products and services, any failure to address concerns relating to the responsible use of the evolving AI technology in our products and services may cause harm to our reputation or financial liability and, as such, may increase our costs to address or mitigate such risks and issues. AI technology may create ethical issues, generate defective algorithms, and present other risks that create challenges with respect to its adoption. In addition, evolving laws, rules, regulations, and industry standards governing AI may require us to expend significant resources to modify, maintain, or align our business practices or products.

We have a highly complex global supply chain composed of thousands of suppliers. These suppliers provide direct materials for our production processes; supply tools, equipment, and IP (via licenses) for our factories; deliver logistics and packaging services; and supply software, lab, and office equipment, and other goods and services used in our business. We also rely on suppliers to provide certain components for our products and to manufacture and assemble and test some of our components and products. From time to time, we are negatively impacted by supply chain issues, including:

▪suppliers extending lead times, experiencing capacity constraints, limiting or canceling supply, allocating supply to other customers including competitors, delaying or canceling deliveries, or increasing prices;

▪cybersecurity events, IP or other litigation, man-made or natural disasters, public health issues (including pandemics), operational failures, or other events that disrupt suppliers;

▪increased legislation, regulation, or stakeholder expectations regarding sourcing, including with respect to national security, human rights and environmental impact concerns.

These and other supply chain issues can increase our costs, disrupt or reduce our production, delay our product shipments, prevent us from meeting customer demand, damage our customer relationships, or negatively affect our reputation. They may keep us from successfully implementing our business strategy and can materially harm our business, competitive position, results of operations, and financial condition. From time to time, our customers experience disruptions or shortages in their own supply chains that constrain their demand for our products. During the past several years, macroeconomic and geopolitical conditions, as well as outbreaks of COVID-19, caused supply chain disruptions and delays in obtaining tools and other components, and the semiconductor industry experienced widespread shortages of substrates and other components and available foundry manufacturing capacity. These shortages have previously limited our ability to supply customer demand in certain of our businesses, and have adversely affected customer demand for our products, as some customers have been unable to procure sufficient quantities of third-party components used together with our products to produce finished systems. It is difficult to predict the future impact of these shortages when they occur.

To obtain future supply of certain materials and components, particularly substrates, and third-party foundry manufacturing capacity, we have entered into arrangements with some of our suppliers that involve long-term purchase commitments and/or large prepayments. These arrangements may not be adequate to meet our requirements, or our suppliers may fail to deliver committed volumes on time or at all, or their financial condition may deteriorate. If future customer demand over the horizon of such arrangements falls below our expectations, we could have excess or obsolete inventory, unneeded capacity, and increased costs, and our prepayments may not be fully utilized, and in some cases may not be fully recoverable.

We utilize third-party foundries and component suppliers to manufacture or supply a number of our products and components necessary for our products that we manufacture. As part of our strategy, we expect to continue to rely upon third-party foundries. Delays in the development of foundries' future manufacturing processes could delay the introduction of products or components we design for such processes, and insufficient foundry capacity could prevent us from meeting customer demand. We typically have less control over delivery schedules, design and manufacturing co-optimization, yields, quality, product quantities, and costs for components and products that are manufactured by third parties.

Where possible, we seek to have several sources of supply. However, for certain products, components, services, materials, and equipment, we rely on a single or a limited number of suppliers, or upon suppliers in a single location, which can impact the nature, quality, availability, and pricing of the products and services available to us. For example, ASML Holding N.V. (ASML) is currently the sole supplier of EUV lithography tools that we are deploying in our Intel 4 and subsequent leading-edge manufacturing process nodes. These tools are highly complex to develop and produce, and increasingly costly, and from time to time there are increases in lead times or delays in their development and availability, which could delay the development or ramp of our future process nodes. As a further example, a limited number of third-party foundries offer leading-edge manufacturing processes, and these providers are geographically concentrated in Asia. Some of our most advanced current and future products are or will be either exclusively manufactured by TSMC or reliant upon critical components, including various compute die, manufactured by TSMC.

We are subject to the risks of product defects, errata, or other product issues.

From time to time, we identify product defects, errata, and other product issues, which can result from problems in our product design or our manufacturing and assembly and test processes. Components and products we purchase or license from third-party suppliers, or gain

Risk Factors and Other Key Information

through acquisitions, can also contain defects. Product issues also sometimes result from the interaction between our products and third-party products and software. We face risks if products that we design, manufacture, or sell, or that include our technology, cause personal injury or property damage, even where the cause is unrelated to product defects or errata. These risks may increase as our products are introduced into new devices, market segments, technologies, or applications, including transportation, autonomous driving, healthcare, communications, financial services, and other industrial, critical infrastructure, and consumer uses.

Costs from defects, errata, or other product issues could include:

These costs could be large and may increase expenses and lower gross margin, and/or result in delay or loss of revenue. Mitigation techniques designed to address product issues, including software and firmware updates, are not always available on a timely basis—or at all—and do not always operate as intended or effectively resolve such issues for all applications. We and third parties, such as hardware and software vendors, make prioritization decisions about which product issues to address, which can delay, limit, or prevent development or deployment of a mitigation and harm our reputation and result in costs. Product defects, errata, or other product issues and/or mitigation techniques can result in product failures, adverse performance and power effects, reboots, system instability or unavailability, loss of functionality, data loss or corruption, unpredictable system behavior, decisions by customers and end users to limit or change the applications in which they use our products or product features, and other issues. For example, during 2024, some of our customers experienced instability issues when using Intel Core 13th and 14th Gen desktop processors, which required us to undertake an investigation and deploy corrective actions. This adversely impacted sales volume during 2024 and may result in higher warranty costs in the future.

We or third parties regularly identify security vulnerabilities with respect to our processors and other products, as well as the operating systems and workloads that run on them and the components that interact with them. Components and IP we purchase or license from third parties for use in our products, as well as industry-standard specifications we implement in our products, are also regularly subject to security vulnerabilities. Our processors and other products are being used in application areas that create new or increased cybersecurity and privacy risks, including applications that gather and process large amounts of data, such as the cloud or Internet of Things, and critical infrastructure and automotive applications. The security vulnerabilities identified in our processors include a category known as side-channel vulnerabilities, such as the variants referred to as "Spectre" and "Meltdown." Additional categories and variants have been identified and are expected to continue to be identified. Security and manageability features in our products cannot make our products absolutely secure, and these features themselves are subject to vulnerabilities and attempts by third parties to identify additional vulnerabilities. We, our customers, and the users of our products do not always promptly learn of or have the ability to fully assess the magnitude or effects of a vulnerability, including the extent, if any, to which a vulnerability has been exploited. Subsequent events or new information can develop that changes our assessment of the impact of a security vulnerability, including additional information learned as we develop and deploy mitigations or updates, become aware of additional variants, evaluate the competitiveness of existing and new products, and address future warranty or other claims or customer satisfaction considerations, as well as developments in the course of any litigation or regulatory inquiries or actions over these matters.

Mitigation techniques designed to address security vulnerabilities in our products, including software and firmware updates or other preventative measures, are not always available on a timely basis—or at all—and at times do not operate as intended or effectively resolve vulnerabilities for all applications. In addition, we are often required to rely on third parties, including hardware, software, and services vendors, as well as our customers and end users, to develop and/or deploy mitigation techniques, and the availability, effectiveness, and performance impact of mitigation techniques can depend solely or in part on the actions of these third parties in determining whether, when, and how to develop and deploy mitigations. Export restrictions may impede our ability to provide updates or patches to customers in certain geographies or that appear on sanctions lists, potentially leaving systems unpatched and open to exploitation. Further, sanctions lists may include third parties with whom we need to interact for coordinated vulnerability disclosure, which may impair our ability to receive information about vulnerabilities and to deliver mitigations for them. We and such third parties make prioritization decisions about which vulnerabilities to address, which can delay, limit, or prevent development or deployment of a mitigation and harm our reputation. Security vulnerabilities and/or mitigation techniques can result in adverse performance or power effects, reboots, system instability or unavailability, loss of functionality, data loss or corruption, unpredictable system behavior, decisions by customers and end users to limit or change the applications in which they use our products or product features, and/or the misappropriation of data by third parties.

Risk Factors and Other Key Information

Security vulnerabilities and any limitations or adverse effects of mitigation techniques can adversely affect our results of operations, financial condition, customer relationships, prospects, and reputation in a number of ways, any of which may be material. For example, whether or not vulnerabilities involve attempted or successful exploits, they may result in our incurring significant costs related to developing and deploying updates and mitigations, writing down inventory value, defending against product claims and litigation, responding to regulatory inquiries or actions, paying damages, addressing customer satisfaction considerations, providing product replacements or modifications, or taking other remedial steps with respect to third parties. Adverse publicity about security vulnerabilities or mitigations could damage our reputation with customers or users and reduce demand for our products and services. These effects may be greater to the extent that competing products are not susceptible to the same vulnerabilities or if vulnerabilities can be more effectively mitigated in competing products. Moreover, third parties can release information regarding potential vulnerabilities of our products before mitigations are available, which, in turn, could lead to attempted or successful exploits, adversely affect our ability to introduce mitigations, or otherwise harm our business and reputation.

We face significant and persistent cybersecurity risks due to: the breadth of geographies, networks, and systems we must defend against cybersecurity attacks; the complexity, technical sophistication, value, and widespread use of our systems, products, and processes; the attractiveness of our systems, products, and processes to threat actors (including state-sponsored organizations) seeking to inflict harm on us or our customers; the substantial level of harm that could occur to us and our customers were we to suffer impacts of a material cybersecurity incident; and our use of third-party products, services, and components. Such an incident, whether or not successful, could result in our incurring significant costs related to, for example, rebuilding our internal systems, writing down inventory value, implementing additional threat protection measures, providing modifications to our products and services, defending against litigation or enforcement proceedings, paying damages, providing customers with incentives to maintain a business relationship with us, or taking other remedial steps with respect to third parties, as well as incurring significant reputational harm. We regularly face attempts by malicious attackers who attempt to gain access to our network or data centers or those of our suppliers, customers, partners, end users, or other third parties; steal proprietary, personal, or confidential information related to our business, products, employees, suppliers, or customers; sabotage our systems or those of our suppliers, customers, partners, end users, or other third parties; interrupt our systems and services or those of our suppliers, customers, or others; or demand ransom to return control of such systems and services. As we operate and expect to grow certain emerging business lines, such as our third-party foundry business and our cloud computing and SaaS offerings, we expect to collect or host significant amounts of highly sensitive customer data, which may increasingly make us a target of attempts to steal or corrupt that data. Individuals and organizations, including malicious hackers, state-sponsored organizations, insider threats including employees and third-party service providers, and intruders into our physical facilities, at times attempt to gain unauthorized access to and/or corrupt the processes used to design and manufacture our hardware products and our associated software and services. We are also a frequent target of attackers that intend to sabotage, compromise, take control of, or otherwise corrupt our manufacturing or other processes, products, and services. In some instances, we, our suppliers, our customers, and the users of our products and services may be unaware of a threat or incident or its magnitude and effects, or we may be unable to timely mitigate the impacts of an incident.

Cyber attack attempts are increasing in number, magnitude, and technical sophistication, and if successful, may expose us and the affected parties to loss or misuse of proprietary or confidential information or disruptions to our business operations, including our manufacturing operations, and could impact our financial results. We expect emerging technologies to contribute to the increasing sophistication of attacks and to lead to new threats. For example, threat actors are leveraging emerging AI technologies to develop new hacking tools and attack vectors, exploit vulnerabilities, obscure their activities, and increase the difficulty of threat attribution. The proliferation of generative AI increases the risk of these technologies being used by threat actors to impersonate authorized individuals, which may make attacks even more difficult to detect and prevent. Moreover, the increased adoption of generative AI models within our internal systems, processes, and tools may create new attack methods for threat actors.

As a developer of leading-edge manufacturing process nodes and widely utilized semiconductor processors and other products, we have been, and expect to continue to be, the subject of intense efforts by sophisticated cyber adversaries, including state-sponsored organizations, who seek to compromise our systems, disrupt our operations or those of users of our products, or steal trade secrets. As geopolitical or armed global conflicts escalate, attacks against us, our customers, or our strategic allies may similarly intensify. For example, from 2019 to 2021, we, along with other companies with meaningful operations in Israel, were targets of concerted cyberattacks. In the fourth quarter of 2020, our Habana Labs subsidiary's network was breached in connection with a suspected unsuccessful ransomware attack, resulting in unauthorized third-party access of certain confidential information.

We are also subject to risks associated with attacks on products, services, and components in our supply chain, such as the 2020 compromise of IT infrastructure management software provided by SolarWinds Corporation, and risks from vulnerabilities in using industry-wide software solutions and third-party components, such as the 2021 Log4Shell vulnerability and similar vulnerabilities that followed. The CrowdStrike outage that occurred in 2024 is another example of the risks we face from utilizing products and components that are widely adopted in supply chains. These providers can experience breaches of their systems and products, or provide inadequate updates or support, which can impact the security of our systems and our proprietary or confidential information. Since 2021, we have observed an increase in ransomware attacks in our supply chain.

We are required to comply with stringent, complex, and evolving laws, rules, regulations, and standards in many jurisdictions, as well as contractual obligations, relating to cybersecurity and data privacy. Any failure or perceived failure by us to so comply, or any compromise of security that results in unauthorized access to, or unauthorized loss, destruction, use, modification, acquisition, disclosure, release, or transfer of personal information, may result in our having to modify or cease certain operations or practices; the expenditure of substantial costs, time, and other resources; legal proceedings or actions against us (including class action lawsuits); or governmental investigations.

Risk Factors and Other Key Information

The theft, loss, or misuse of personal data collected, used, stored, or transferred by us to run our business, including data stored with vendors or other third parties, could result in significantly increased business and security costs or costs related to defending legal claims. Costs to comply with and implement privacy-related and data-protection measures are significant, and noncompliance could expose us to significant monetary penalties, damage to our reputation, suspension of online services or sites in certain countries, and even criminal sanctions.

We cannot always protect our IP or enforce our IP rights. We regard our patents, copyrights, trade secrets, and other IP rights as important to the success of our business. We rely on IP law—as well as confidentiality and licensing agreements with our customers, employees, technology development partners, and others—to protect our IP and IP rights. Our ability to enforce these rights is subject to general litigation risks, as well as uncertainty as to the enforceability of our IP rights in various countries and other geopolitical factors. We are not always able to obtain protection for our IP or enforce or protect our IP rights. When we seek to enforce our rights, we may be subject to claims that our IP rights are invalid, not enforceable, or licensed to an opposing party. Our assertion of IP rights may result in another party seeking to assert claims against us, which could harm our business. From time to time, governments adopt regulations and governments or courts render decisions requiring compulsory licensing of IP rights, or governments require products to meet standards that favor local companies. Our inability to enforce our IP rights under any of these circumstances can harm our competitive position and business. In some cases, our IP rights can offer inadequate protection for our innovations. In addition, the theft or unauthorized use or publication of our trade secrets and other confidential business information could harm our competitive position and reduce acceptance of our products; as a result, the value of our investment in R&D, product development, and marketing could be reduced.

Third parties assert claims based on IP rights against us and our products, which could harm our business. We face claims based on IP rights from individuals, companies, investment litigation entities, other non-practicing entities, academic and research institutions, and other parties. We have seen an increase in patent assertions and lawsuits initiated by well-funded non-practicing entities, including entities funded by third-party investment firms. These lawsuits can increase our cost of doing business, impact our reputation or relationship with customers, and disrupt our operations if they succeed in blocking the trade of our products. The patent litigation environment has also become more challenging due to the emergence of venues adopting procedural and substantive rules that make them more favorable for patent asserters and courts in which injunctions are available for non-competitors. For example, in February 2024, R2 Semiconductor, Inc., a non-practicing entity, was able to obtain an injunction and recall order against us and our customers in the Dusseldorf Regional Court in Germany that, if enforced, could have caused significant potential disruption to our and our customers’ businesses in Europe. In the past few years, we have faced costly and lengthy lawsuits across multiple jurisdictions selected by non-practicing entities with well-funded third-party investment support, including most notably the VLSI and R2 litigation, which have resulted in significant adverse judgments and settlements.

We are typically engaged in a number of disputes involving IP rights. Claims that our products, technologies, or processes infringe the IP rights of others, regardless of their merits, cause us to incur large costs to respond to, defend, and resolve the claims, and they divert the efforts and attention of our management and technical personnel from our business and operations. In addition, we may face claims based on the alleged theft or unauthorized use or disclosure of third-party trade secrets, confidential information, or end-user data that we obtain in conducting our business. Any such incidents and claims could severely disrupt our business, and we could suffer losses, including the cost of product recalls and returns, and reputational harm. Furthermore, in many instances, we agree to indemnify customers for certain IP rights claims against them. IP rights claims against our customers could also limit demand for our products or disrupt our customers' businesses, which could in turn adversely affect our results of operations.

▪pay monetary damages, payments to satisfy indemnification obligations, royalties, fines, penalties, or provide accommodations to customers such as through cash payments or discounts;

▪stop manufacturing, using, selling, offering to sell, or importing products or technology subject to claims;

▪need to develop other products or technology not subject to claims, which could be time-consuming or costly; and/or

We rely on access to third-party IP, which may not be available to us on commercially reasonable terms, if at all. Many of our products are designed to include third-party technology or implement industry standards, which may require licenses from third parties. In addition, from time to time, third parties notify us that they believe we are using their IP. There is no assurance that any necessary licenses or our existing licenses to such third-party IP can be obtained or are available on commercially reasonable terms or at all. Failure to obtain the right to use third-party technology, or to license IP on commercially reasonable terms, could preclude us from selling certain products or

Risk Factors and Other Key Information

otherwise have a material adverse impact on our financial condition and operating results. To the extent our products include software that contains or is derived from open-source software, we may be required to make the software's source code publicly available and/or license the software under open-source licensing terms.

We are subject to risks associated with litigation and regulatory matters. From time to time, we face legal claims or regulatory matters involving stockholder, consumer, competition, commercial, IP, labor and employment, compliance, and other issues. As described in "Note 19: Commitments and Contingencies" within Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, we are engaged in a number of litigation and regulatory matters. Litigation and regulatory proceedings are inherently uncertain, and adverse rulings, excessive verdicts, or other events have occurred and could occur again, including monetary damages, fines, penalties, or injunctions stopping us from manufacturing or selling certain products, engaging in certain business practices, or requiring other remedies, such as compulsory licensing of patents. An unfavorable outcome can result in a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition, and results of operations. Regardless of the outcome, litigation and regulatory proceedings can be costly, time-consuming, disruptive to our operations, harmful to our reputation, and distracting to management.

We must attract, retain, and motivate key talent.

We believe that hiring and retaining qualified executives, scientists, engineers, technical talent, sales representatives, and other professionals are critical to our business. The competition for highly skilled employees in our industry is intense, with the demand often exceeding supply. Competitors for technical talent often seek to hire our employees, and the availability of flexible, hybrid, or work-from-home arrangements has both intensified and expanded competition. In addition, changes in immigration policies may further limit the pool of available talent and impair our ability to recruit and hire technical and professional talent. From time to time, we have intensified our efforts to recruit and retain talent, such as during 2021 and the first half of 2022, and these efforts have increased our expenses. Further, we may not be successful in attracting, retaining, and motivating the workforce necessary to deliver on our strategy, and we have been required to curtail our planned hiring and reduce our workforce to respond to business conditions that have differed from our expectations, which can be disruptive, adversely impact employee morale, compromise our ability to deliver on our strategy and workforce goals, and impact our ability to recruit in the future. For example, we undertook significant headcount reductions in 2022 and 2024. To help attract, retain, and motivate qualified employees, we use share-based awards, such as RSUs, and performance-based cash incentive awards. Sustained declines in our stock price or lower stock price performance relative to our competitors have reduced the retention value of our share-based awards, which can impact the competitiveness of our compensation. To the extent our compensation programs and workplace culture are not viewed as competitive, or changes in our workforce and related restructuring, reduction-in-force, or other initiatives are not viewed favorably, our ability to attract, retain, and motivate employees can be weakened, which could harm our results of operations. In addition, significant or prolonged turnover may negatively impact our operations and culture, as well as our ability to successfully maintain our processes and procedures, including due to the loss of historical, technical, and other expertise.

Changes in our management team can also disrupt our business and adversely affect our results of operations, given the long development cycle for semiconductor process technologies and products and the large capital investments over a long time period required for semiconductor manufacturing operations. We have had a number of changes in our senior leadership team in recent years, including our CEO and other senior management positions. For example, in December 2024, our most recent CEO retired after less than four years with the company and a search is currently underway for a new CEO. To the extent we do not effectively hire, onboard, retain, and motivate key employees and leadership, our business may be harmed.

We routinely evaluate opportunities and enter into agreements for possible acquisitions, divestitures, and other strategic transactions. These transactions involve numerous risks, including:

▪our inability to identify opportunities in a timely manner or on terms acceptable to us;

▪failure of partners to satisfy financial or other obligations on which we rely;

▪our inability to exercise sole decision-making authority regarding a project, property, or entity;

▪failure to complete a transaction in a timely manner, or at all, due to our inability to obtain required government or other approvals on a timely basis or without materially burdensome conditions or mandated acquisitions, divestitures, or disposals, IP disputes or other litigation, difficulty in obtaining financing on terms acceptable to us, or other unforeseen factors;

▪our failure to realize a satisfactory return on our investment, potentially resulting in an impairment of goodwill and other assets, such as the $2.9 billion charge we recorded in the third quarter of 2024 primarily related to Mobileye goodwill, and restructuring charges;

▪our inability to effectively enter new market segments through our strategic transactions or retain customers and partners of acquired businesses;

▪our inability to retain key personnel of acquired or majority-owned businesses or our difficulty in integrating or separating employees, business systems, and technology or otherwise operating the acquired or majority-owned business;

▪controls, processes, and procedures of acquired or majority-owned businesses that do not adequately ensure compliance with laws and regulations and create complexity and inconsistency in application of controls, processes and procedures, and our failure to identify and/or address compliance issues, including accounting or tax errors, or liabilities;

▪our inability to resolve impasses or disputes with partners, including as a result of differences in our interests or goals;

Risk Factors and Other Key Information

▪our failure to identify, or our underestimation of, commitments, liabilities, accounting, tax, and other risks associated with acquired businesses or assets, majority-owned businesses, or novel transactions; and

We face risks related to sales through distributors and other third parties. We sell a significant portion of our products through third parties, such as distributors, value-added resellers, and channel partners (collectively referred to as distributors), as well as OEMs and ODMs. We depend on many distributors to help us create end-customer demand, provide technical support and other value-added services to customers, fill customer orders, and stock our products. At times, we rely on one or more key distributors for a product, and a material change in our relationship with one or more of these distributors or their failure to perform as expected could reduce our revenue. Our ability to add or replace distributors for some of our products is limited. In addition, our distributors' expertise in the determination and stocking of acceptable inventory levels for some of our products is not always easily transferable to a new distributor; as a result, end customers may be hesitant to accept the addition or replacement of a distributor. Using third parties for distribution exposes us to many risks, including competitive pressure and concentration, credit, and compliance risks. Distributors and other third parties often sell products that compete with our products, and we sometimes need to provide financial and other incentives to focus them on the sale of our products. From time to time, they may face financial difficulties, including bankruptcy, which could harm our collection of accounts receivable and financial results. Further, any violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act or similar laws by distributors or other third-party intermediaries could have a material impact on our business, including subjecting us to litigation or regulatory risk. Failure to manage risks related to our use of distributors and other third parties may reduce sales, increase expenses, and weaken our competitive position.

From time to time, our products are resold by third parties in an unauthorized "gray market." Our policies and procedures designed to keep our products away from the gray market may not be successful in achieving this objective. Gray market products can distort demand and pricing dynamics in our distribution channel and certain geographies, which at times adversely affects our revenue opportunities. Gray market activity is difficult to monitor and can make forecasting demand more challenging. Gray market products also sometimes include parts that have been altered or damaged, and our reputation may be harmed when these products fail or are found to be substandard.

We receive a significant portion of our revenue from a limited number of customers. Collectively, our three largest customers accounted for 45% of our net revenue in 2024, 40% of our net revenue in 2023 and 42% of our net revenue in 2022. We expect a small number of customers will continue to account for a significant portion of our revenue in the foreseeable future. The loss of key customers, a substantial reduction in sales to them, or changes in the timing of their orders can lead to a reduction in our revenue, increase the volatility of our results, and harm our results of operations and financial condition.

Industry trends, such as the increasing shift of data center workloads to the public cloud, have increased the significance and purchasing power of certain customers, particularly hyperscalers, in some of our data center-focused businesses. The cloud and cloud applications represent an increasingly demanding computing environment. The further consolidation of computing workloads in the cloud, and consolidation among cloud service providers, can heighten the competitive importance of factors such as collaboration and customization with cloud service provider customers to optimize products for their environments; optimization for cloud services and applications; product performance; energy efficiency; feature differentiation; product quality, reliability, and factors affecting server uptime; and product security and security features. Our competitive position can be eroded to the extent we do not execute effectively across these factors. We are operating in an increasingly competitive environment, including serving cloud service provider customers, and the competitive environment adversely affected our results in the last few years.

Some cloud service provider customers have also internally developed, and may continue to develop, their own semiconductors, including designs customized for their specific computing workloads. In addition, cloud services can be marketed to end users based on service levels or features rather than hardware specifications, or they can abstract hardware under layers of software, which can make it more difficult to differentiate our products to customers and end users. The shift of data center workloads to the cloud has also adversely affected, and may continue to affect, sales to enterprise customers when end users have elected to migrate workloads from their own internal data center infrastructures to cloud service providers. To the extent we differentiate our products through customization to meet cloud customer specifications, order changes, delays, or cancellations may result in non-recoverable costs.

Risk Factors and Other Key Information

We face risks related to transactions with government entities. We receive proceeds from both US and non-US governments associated with grants, incentives, and sales of our products and services, and we are seeking to increase our sales of products and services to governmental entities in the future. Government demand and payment are often affected by public sector budgetary cycles and funding authorizations, including, with respect to US government contracts, congressional approval of appropriations, and can be adversely impacted by shutdowns of the US federal government and changes in US administration, including administrative priorities. Government contracts are subject to procurement laws and regulations relating to the award, administration, and performance of those contracts, as well as oversight and penalties for violations. For example, certain agreements with the US government are subject to special rules on accounting, IP rights, expenses, reviews, information handling, security, customers, and/or employees, and failure or inability to comply with these rules could result in civil and criminal penalties and sanctions, including termination of contracts, fines, and suspension or debarment from future business with the US government.

We have incurred significant debt obligations that could adversely affect our business and financial condition, including our ability to fully implement our strategy. As of December 28, 2024, we had $51.0 billion in aggregate principal amount of senior unsecured notes and other borrowings outstanding. In addition, we have a commercial paper program of up to $10.0 billion and credit facilities to backstop these programs and otherwise provide access to committed capital of up to $15.0 billion. As we continue to pursue our strategy, we expect to incur additional indebtedness, refinance our existing debt, and issue additional notes or other debt securities in the future at a variety of interest rates, maturities, and terms. The semiconductor industry is a cyclical business and our revenue, cash flows, and outlook often fluctuate in accordance with this cycle, as well as prevailing macroeconomic conditions, our business strategy, and other risks described in these risk factors. These fluctuations, together with our debt level and related debt service obligations, could have the effect of, among other things, reducing our flexibility to respond to changing business and economic conditions and increasing the risk of a future downgrade in our credit ratings that can impact the value of our outstanding debt and increase our borrowing costs. During 2024 and in prior years, we suffered multiple credit rating downgrades that adversely impacted our borrowing costs and access to capital, and we may continue to suffer additional such downgrades if our business and financial results do not measurably improve. We may also be required to raise additional financing for working capital, capital expenditures, debt service obligations, debt refinancing, future acquisitions, or other general corporate purposes, which will depend on, among other factors, our financial position and performance, as well as prevailing market conditions and other factors beyond our control. Consequently, we may not be able to obtain additional financing or refinancing on terms acceptable to us, or at all, which could adversely impact our ability to finance our business strategy and service and repay outstanding indebtedness as it becomes due, all of which could adversely impact our business, financial condition, and the cost of borrowing.

We have ceased to return capital to stockholders.

In recent years, we have not made repurchases of our stock and reduced, and then suspended in the fourth quarter of 2024, our quarterly dividend. Further, we agreed under our commercial CHIPS Act agreement to forgo paying dividends for the next two years, and agreed to limitations on the payment of dividends for the three years thereafter. There can be no assurance that we will be able to pay dividends in the future. In addition, we are not obligated to make repurchases under our stock repurchase program and there can be no assurances as to the amount, timing, and execution of any future share repurchases, or that any repurchases will enhance long-term stockholder value.

We are subject to complex and evolving laws and regulations worldwide that differ among jurisdictions and affect our operations in areas including, but not limited to: IP ownership and infringement; tax; import and export requirements; anti-corruption; foreign exchange controls and cash repatriation restrictions; data privacy and localization requirements; competition; advertising; employment and labor; product regulations; environment, health, and safety requirements; and consumer laws. Compliance with such requirements can be onerous and expensive and may otherwise impact our business operations negatively. For example, unfavorable developments with evolving laws and regulations worldwide related to 5G or autonomous driving technology and MaaS may limit global adoption, impede our strategy, or negatively impact our long-term expectations for our investments in these areas. Expanding privacy legislation and compliance costs of privacy-related and data-protection measures could adversely affect our customers and their products and services, particularly in cloud, Internet of Things, and AI applications, which could in turn reduce demand for our products used for those workloads.

Our policies, controls, and procedures designed to help provide for compliance with applicable laws cannot provide assurance that our employees, contractors, suppliers, or agents will not violate such laws or our policies. Violations of these laws and regulations can result in fines; criminal sanctions against us, our officers, or our employees; prohibitions on the conduct of our business; and damage to our reputation. The technology industry is subject to intense media, political, and regulatory scrutiny, which can increase our exposure to government investigations, legal actions, and penalties.

We are exposed to adverse as well as beneficial movements in currency exchange rates. Although most of our sales occur in US dollars, operating expenses and capital expenditures may be paid in local currencies. An increase in the value of the dollar can increase the real cost to our customers of our products in those markets outside the US where we sell in dollars, and a weakened dollar can increase the cost of expenses such as payroll, utilities, tax, and marketing expenses, as well as non-US dollar capital expenditures. We also conduct certain investing and financing activities in local currencies. Our hedging programs may not be effective to offset any, or more than a portion, of the adverse impact of currency exchange rate movements; therefore, changes in exchange rates can harm our results of operations and financial condition.

Risk Factors and Other Key Information

▪changes in available tax credits, including non-US tax credits, R&D credits, and refundable tax credits;

▪changes in US federal, state, or foreign tax laws or their interpretation, including the global implementation of a minimum tax under Pillar Two of the OECD BEPS initiative;

▪changes in US GAAP and non-US IFRS; and

▪our decision to repatriate non-US earnings for which we have not previously provided for incremental taxes, including any local country withholding taxes incurred upon repatriation.

Our operations and business, and those of our customers and suppliers, can be disrupted by: severe weather events and natural disasters; industrial accidents; public health issues and global pandemics such as COVID-19; cybersecurity incidents; interruptions of service from utilities, transportation restrictions or disruptions, telecommunications, or IT systems providers; manufacturing equipment failures; geopolitical conflict; terrorism; or other catastrophic events. For example, we have at times experienced disruptions in our manufacturing processes as a result of power outages, improperly functioning equipment, and disruptions in supply of raw materials or components, including cybersecurity incidents affecting our suppliers. Our headquarters and many of our operations and facilities are in locations that are prone to earthquakes and other natural disasters. Global climate change can result in certain natural disasters occurring more frequently or with greater intensity, such as drought, wildfires, storms, sea-level rise, and flooding, and could disrupt the availability of water necessary for the operation of our fabrication facilities, including our facilities located in water-sensitive regions such as Arizona and Israel. In addition, to the extent we are unable to successfully manage and conserve water resources, our reputation could be harmed. In recent years, the west coast of the US has experienced significant wildfires, including in Oregon, where we have major manufacturing facilities, and in California, where we are headquartered. The long-term effects of climate change on the global economy and the technology industry in particular are unclear but could be severe.

We are subject to risks associated with environmental, health, safety, and product regulations.

The design, manufacturing, assembly, and test of our products require the use and purchase of materials and chemicals that are subject to a broad array of environmental, health, and safety laws and regulations. Our operations and those of our suppliers are further governed by regulations prohibiting the use of forced labor (e.g., mining conflict minerals), and restrictions on other materials, as well as laws or regulations governing the operation of our facilities, sale and distribution of our products, and use of our real property. The scope and interpretation of such laws and regulations, including the materials they govern, are complex and continue to evolve. The procedures and processes in place under our compliance program may become onerous or increasingly expensive to maintain and cannot guarantee compliance by employees or third parties to whom such laws apply. The amendment or expansion of these laws or regulations, as well as our failure or inability to comply with them (including as a result of acquired entities), can result in regulatory penalties, fines, and legal liabilities; increased costs; additional remediation obligations; suspension of production; alteration, suspension, or termination of our manufacturing and assembly and test processes, including due to an inability to find, afford, or attain adequate substitute materials, equipment, or processes; damage to our reputation; and restrictions on our operations or sales. In addition, the failure or inability to comply by our suppliers of these materials can require us to suspend or alter our production processes and sources, and result in increased risks and costs.

The failure or inability by us, our customers, or our suppliers to manage the use, transportation, emissions, discharge, storage, recycling, or disposal of hazardous materials can lead to increased costs or future liabilities. Environmental regulations, including with respect to the materials and processes we are permitted to use and as to air quality and wastewater requirements, may impede our ability to manufacture products or expand or modify our manufacturing capability in the future. Environmental laws and regulations sometimes require us to acquire additional pollution abatement or remediation equipment, modify product designs, cease the use of a particular material or process, remove or remediate hazardous substances, or incur other expenses or liabilities. Regulations in response to climate change could result in increased manufacturing costs associated with air pollution requirements. For example, semiconductor manufacturing uses perfluorocarbons, which have historically made up a large portion of our direct greenhouse gas emissions. New or increased regulations limiting the use of such compounds, or other greenhouse gas emissions, could require us to install additional abatement equipment, purchase carbon offsets, and/or alter, where feasible, our production processes and sources. In addition, new or increased climate change regulation could increase our energy costs, for example as a result of carbon pricing impacts on electrical utilities. Regulations in response to human health concerns may also limit or prohibit the use of a class of chemicals known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which are found in parts, components, process chemicals, and other materials used in semiconductor manufacturing. Such chemicals are critical to the manufacturing and functioning of many semiconductor products and there are limited

Risk Factors and Other Key Information

technically and commercially feasible alternatives. As we expand our manufacturing capacity, the impacts of future regulation could be magnified. Many new materials that we are evaluating for use in our operations are also subject to regulation under environmental laws. These restrictions could harm our business and results of operations by increasing our expenses or requiring us to alter manufacturing and assembly and test processes.

Our initiatives and new legal requirements with respect to corporate responsibility matters present various risks.

Our corporate responsibility initiatives could expose us to heightened scrutiny and numerous financial, legal, reputational, operational, compliance, and other risks, including lost customer opportunities, which could negatively impact us. Our achievement of initiatives, aspirations, and goals related to corporate responsibility matters, including those related to sustainability, is not guaranteed and is subject to numerous conditions, risks, and expectations, as well as standards, processes, and methodologies that continue to evolve. Further, any failure to set or achieve corporate responsibility initiatives that meet our stakeholders' evolving expectations could also negatively impact us.

In addition, we are or expect to become subject to various new or proposed climate-related and other sustainability laws and regulations, including, for example, the state of California's new climate change disclosure requirements, the EU's new Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, and the SEC's recently adopted climate-change disclosure requirements. Compliance with such laws and regulations, as well as the overall increased focus and scrutiny from regulators, investors, customers, vendors, employees, and other stakeholders concerning ESG and climate matters, could impose additional costs on us and expose us to new risks, including resulting in changes to our current ESG goals.

Sales and Marketing

Customers

We design, market, sell, and service CPUs and other semiconductor solutions substantially through our Intel Products business that are manufactured by our Intel Foundry business and other suppliers and are incorporated in computing and related end products and services, and utilized globally by consumers, enterprises, governments, and educational organizations. We sell our products primarily to OEMs, ODMs, and cloud service providers. ODMs provide design and manufacturing services to branded and unbranded private-label resellers. In addition, our customers include other manufacturers and service providers, such as industrial and communication equipment manufacturers and cloud service providers who buy our products through distributor, reseller, retail, and OEM channels throughout the world. For information on customers who accounted for greater than 10% of our consolidated net revenue, see "Note 3: Operating Segments" within Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.

Our worldwide reseller sales channel consists of thousands of indirect customers—systems builders that purchase Intel processors and other products from our distributors. Certain of our microprocessors and other products are also available in direct retail outlets.

Sales Arrangements

Our products are sold through distribution channels throughout the world. Sales of our products are frequently made via purchase order acknowledgments that contain standard terms and conditions covering matters such as pricing, payment terms, and warranties, as well as indemnities for issues specific to our products, such as patent and copyright indemnities. Because our customers generally order from us on a purchase order basis, they can typically cancel, change, or delay product purchase commitments with little or no notice to us and without penalty. From time to time, we may enter into additional agreements with customers covering, for example, changes from our standard terms and conditions, new product development and marketing, and private-label branding. Our sales are routinely made using electronic and web-based processes that allow customers to review inventory availability and track the progress of specific goods ordered. Pricing on particular products may vary based on volumes ordered and other factors. We also offer discounts, rebates, and other incentives to customers to increase acceptance of our products and technology.

In accordance with contract terms, the revenue for combined performance obligations and standalone product sales is recognized at the time of product shipment from our facilities or delivery to the customer location, as determined by the agreed-upon shipping terms. Our standard terms and conditions of sale typically provide that payment is due at a later date, usually 30 days after shipment or delivery. We assess credit risk through quantitative and qualitative analysis. From this analysis, we establish shipping and credit limits and determine whether we will seek to use one or more credit support protection devices, such as obtaining a parent guarantee, standby letter of credit, or credit insurance. Credit losses may still be incurred due to bankruptcy, fraud, or other failure of the customer to pay.

Distribution

Distributors typically handle a wide variety of products, including those that compete with our products, and fill orders for many customers. Customers may place orders directly with us or through distributors. We have several distribution warehouses that are located in proximity to key customers.

Risk Factors and Other Key Information

Seasonal Trends

Historically, our net revenue has typically been higher in the second half of the year than in the first half of the year, accelerating in the third quarter and peaking in the fourth quarter. In 2024 and 2023, our net revenue seasonality was directionally consistent with this historical trend. In 2022, we had a flatter trend than we historically observe as we experienced the uncertainty and impacts, including demand volatility and supply chain disruption, of macroeconomic conditions, the potential for a recession, and the risk for continued COVID-19-related disruptions or shutdowns.

Marketing

Our global marketing objectives are to build a strong, well-known, differentiated, and meaningful Intel corporate brand that drives preference with businesses and consumers, and to offer a limited number of meaningful and valuable brands in our portfolio to aid businesses and consumers in making informed choices about technology purchases. The Intel Core processor family and Intel Xeon trademarks make up our key CPU brands. This year we introduced our new Intel Core Ultra processors, powering the latest AI PCs, and our Intel Xeon 6 processors, built with AI acceleration in every core. Our foundry services business aims to offer leading-edge packaging and process technology, geographically balanced manufacturing capacity, and a world-class IP portfolio.

In addition to bringing new products to market in 2024, we focus on building brand awareness and driving demand through our own direct marketing and co-marketing programs with partners. Our direct marketing activities primarily include advertising through digital and social media, as well as consumer and trade events, industry and consumer communications, and public relations. We market to consumer and commercial audiences. Our key messaging reinforces the Intel brand pillars of exceptionally engineered, collaboratively innovative, and responsibly built, while emphasizing our ability to bring AI everywhere across data center, cloud, edge, and PC.

Certain customers participate in cooperative advertising and marketing programs. These cooperative advertising and marketing programs broaden the reach of our brands beyond the scope of our own direct marketing. Certain customers are licensed to place Intel® logos on computing devices containing our microprocessors and processor technologies, and to use our brands in their marketing activities. The program partially reimburses customers for marketing activities for products featuring Intel brands, subject to customers meeting defined criteria. These marketing activities primarily include advertising through digital and social media and television, as well as press relations.

Risk Factors and Other Key Information

Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk

We are affected by changes in currency exchange and interest rates, as well as equity and commodity prices. Our risk management programs are designed to reduce, but may not eliminate, the impacts of these risks. All of the following potential changes are based on sensitivity analyses performed on our financial positions as of December 28, 2024 and December 30, 2023. Actual results may differ materially.

Currency Exchange Rates

We are exposed to currency exchange risks of non-US-dollar-denominated investments in debt and equity instruments, and may economically hedge these risks with foreign currency contracts, such as currency forward contracts, currency swaps, or interest rate swaps. Gains or losses on these non-US-currency investments are generally offset by corresponding losses or gains on the related hedging instruments.

Substantially all of our revenue is transacted in US dollars. However, a portion of our operating expenditures and capital purchases are incurred in other currencies, primarily the Israeli shekel, the Malaysian ringgit, the European Union euro, the Japanese yen, and the Chinese yuan. We have established currency risk management programs to protect against currency exchange rate risks associated with non-US-dollar forecasted future cash flows and existing non-US-dollar monetary assets and liabilities. We may also hedge currency risk arising from funding of foreign currency-denominated future investments. We may utilize foreign currency contracts, such as currency forwards or option contracts in these hedging programs. We considered the historical trends in currency exchange rates and determined that it was reasonably possible that a weighted average adverse change of 10% in currency exchange rates could be experienced in the near term. Such an adverse change, after taking into account balance sheet hedges only and offsetting recorded monetary asset and liability positions outstanding as of December 28, 2024 and December 30, 2023 would result in an adverse impact on income before taxes of less than $54 million and less than $53 million, respectively.

Interest Rates

We are exposed to interest rate risk related to our fixed-rate investment portfolio and outstanding debt. The primary objective of our investment policy is to preserve principal and provide financial flexibility to fund our business while maximizing yields, which generally track SOFR. We generally enter into interest rate contracts to convert the returns on our fixed-rate debt investment with remaining maturities longer than six months into SOFR-based returns. We also entered into swaps to convert fixed-rate coupon payments into floating-rate coupon payments for a portion of our existing indebtedness. Gains or losses on these instruments are generally offset by corresponding losses or gains on the related hedging instruments.

A hypothetical change in benchmark interest rates of 1%, after taking into account investment hedges, would have resulted in a change in the fair value of our investment portfolio of less than $100 million as of December 28, 2024 and as of December 30, 2023.

Taking into account fixed-rate debt that is swapped to floating-rate debt, a hypothetical increase in interest rates of 1% would result in an increase in annual interest expense of approximately $120 million from debt outstanding as of December 28, 2024 ($120 million from debt outstanding as of December 30, 2023).

Equity Prices

We are exposed to equity market risk through our investments in marketable equity securities, which we typically do not attempt to reduce or eliminate through hedging activities.

As of December 28, 2024, the fair value of our marketable equity securities was $0.8 billion ($1.2 billion as of December 30, 2023). The substantial majority of our marketable equity securities portfolio as of December 28, 2024 was concentrated in securities traded on the Chinese Shanghai Stock Exchange Science and Technology Innovation Board. To determine reasonably possible decreases in the market value of our marketable equity securities, we have analyzed the historical market price sensitivity of our portfolio. Assuming a decline of 55% in market prices, the aggregate value of our marketable equity securities could decrease by $466 million, based on the value as of December 28, 2024 (a decrease in value of $418 million, based on the value as of December 30, 2023 using an assumed decline of 35%).

We utilize total return swaps to offset changes in liabilities related to the equity market risks of certain deferred compensation arrangements. Gains or losses from changes in fair value of these total return swaps are generally offset by the losses or gains on the related liabilities.

Many of the same factors that could result in an adverse movement of equity market prices affect our non-marketable equity investments, although we cannot always quantify the impacts directly. Financial markets are volatile, which could negatively affect the prospects of the companies we invest in, their ability to raise additional capital, and the likelihood of our ability to realize value in our investments through liquidity events such as IPOs, mergers, and private sales. These types of investments involve a great deal of risk, and there can be no assurance that any specific company will grow or become successful; consequently, we could lose all or part of our investment. Our non-marketable equity securities had a carrying amount of $4.5 billion as of December 28, 2024 ($4.6 billion as of December 30, 2023).

Risk Factors and Other Key Information

Commodity Price Risk

Although we operate facilities that consume commodities, we are not directly affected by commodity price risk to a material degree. We have established forecasted transaction risk management programs to protect against fluctuations in commodity prices. We may use commodity derivatives contracts, such as commodity swaps, in these hedging programs. In addition, we have sourcing plans in place that are designed to mitigate the risk of a potential supplier concentration for our key commodities.